SNOWMAN CHRISTMAS PARTY

We all know these girls love having a party!  So of course they were looking forward to our annual Christmas party.

This year the theme of our party was Snowmen.

I made sure to have the table all set up for them when our meeting started. 
 
Each place setting had a snowman plate and napkin and a little snowman figure that was used as a place card holder.  They could keep these and then put them out for Christmas every year.

There was also a snowman mug they got to take home to use with some hot chocolate they were also given.

A little snowman candy holder was full with hugs and kisses.

The centerpiece was a big snowman sitting on a bed of "snow" and two Christmas trees by his side.  Snow flakes also were laid out on the table.

I made goodie bags and had them sitting up on the bar area.  Each girl got a bag with a sparkly snowflake attached.  The bag was filled with little treats and gifts for the girls to enjoy. 

They also got a soft blanket with snowmen on it to cuddle up with on cold nights. 

There was a little bag with a snowflake cut out and a snowman on it that was full of candy they could snack on at home.

One of the little gifts they got from me was a snowflake coaster that had a picture of them from when they went Christmas caroling.

We had dinner first.  The excitement filled the air and they were all in a great mood and very happy.

At first we were going to have a pot luck dinner and each girl was going to bring something.

Then someone said they should have a spaghetti dinner with everyone bringing a different dish to go with it.

Then they said they wanted to get dinner and bring it in so they didn't have to worry about bringing something.

After checking with the parents to make sure it was OK with them, we went with getting a spaghetti dinner from a restaurant and bring it our party.

We got it from Haus of Pizza in Costa Mesa and it was very good.  Each girl got to pick if she wanted meat sauce or marinara sauce.  Garlic bread and salad rounded off the dinner.  They also had punch to drink.

After we ate and cleared off the table, they played Christmas Bingo. The winners all got a prize.  Of course, everyone won at least one game.

We made snowballs for dessert.

We took peppermint ice cream and rolled into a ball then put it back in the freezer to get hard again.  Once it was nice and cold, the ice cream was then dipped into melted chocolate (either milk, dark or white chocolate).

The chocolate then hardened up and they ate them.

Since everyone ate every bite, I will assume they were very, very good.

It was then time to open up gifts.  The girls had drawn names a few weeks earlier and they didn't tell each other who they got.  It was fun when they learned who got their name.

The girls were all thrilled with the gifts they got.  They turned out to be perfect gifts!

Liz got a bunch of bracelets, ear rings and a gift certificate from Charming Charlies.  Trinity knew just what she would love.

Verenice was very excited when she opened up her gift and found a darling Hello Kitty jacket from Nikki.

Diana gave Nikki cash!  Nikki said cash is her favorite gift!

Verenice gave Trinity a One Direction cosmetic bag and made her a cute little stuffed animal.  Trinity was very happy with her gifts.

All of the girls were very happy for their gifts but I don't think anyone was as thrilled as Diana.  When she opened up her present from Liz and saw it was One Direction books, she got so happy she cried. 

Everyone was so touched at the joy she felt.

Everyone was so happy and loved the party.  We all wished each other Merry Christmas and headed home.

I think 2012 was a very good year for Troop 746.  I'm looking forward to having as much, if not more fun in 2013!

FA LA LA LA LA ~ CHRISTMAS CAROLING 2012

After practicing for weeks, the girls were ready to go out into the neighborhood and bring some Christmas cheer to everyone.

The girls went out knocking on doors and singing Christmas carols. 

We went to different streets then we did last year.  This year, everyone was super excited when the girls sang to them. 

Many opened the door and called their family to come listen too.  Many of the homes offered to give the girls things like hot chocolate, candy and even money.

They told them "no thank you" and explained they just wanted to bring some Christmas joy to everyone and was not collecting anything.

One elderly lady pleaded with them to take some candy and after saying no a few times I told them it was OK to accept her offer.

Another house demanded the girl take her money.  She said she was a girl scout when she was their age and she remembered how fun it was to get money when they went out caroling.  Again, after telling her no it was not what they were doing, and her insisting they accept the money, they took it and agreed to put in the troop funds.

It was so fun to see all the reactions to the girls singing to them.  Some people would sing along, some even danced.  Everyone was a little bit happier then before they answered the door. 

Most people said they were so happy to see the girls carrying on an old tradition that has all but died out.  We promised to keep spreading the cheer every year we were together.

I'm not sure who was more happy about our outing, the people who got a visit from them or the girls.

I do know that there were lots of smiles that night and our time was over much faster then anyone was ready for it to be.

2012 HUNTINGTON BEACH CHRISTMAS PARADE

Once again, Troop 746 walked in the Christmas Parade in Huntington Beach.

As we waited to line up, it was raining on and off.  We were worried that it might rain on our parade.

But, the girls decided that they would walk no matter what.  They were going to be parade walking DIVAS!

Every year we have a different look in the Christmas parade.  One year we were snow flakes, one year the girls had Santa hats and green shirts with scarfs they made and this year it was reindeer headbands with darling shirts that Nikki's mom, Sara made for us!  Thank you so much Sara!  We loved the shirts.

Also, Diana's mom, Susie, purchased these cute little Santa buckets that the girls used to put their candy canes in that they would hand out to the crowd.  Thank you Susie, they were perfect!

The girls had as much fun waiting around for the parade to start as they did walking in the parade!

Before we knew it, it was time for the parade to start.  We were very lucky, it didn't rain on us at all!

The girls did a great job.  They waved and smiled at the crowd.  They handed out all their candy canes to everyone they could get to. 

We searched and found every one's family and friends in the crowds.  Of course, this put BIG smiles on their faces as they saw everyone.

It was all over before we knew it.  Another year of our tradition was added to the books.

Wonder what next year we will be dressed as?

I wanted to give one more shout out to Verenice's mom, Yalil, for taking the pictures for our blog.  Silly me, forgot my camera.  Thanks Yalil!

CHRISTMAS IN SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO AND A HOME TOUR

During Dec. we didn't do much but have fun.  The girls had been working hard on their Journey and so taking a month off to just bond and have a good time sounded like a good idea.

We went to San Juan Capistrano one night.  They were having a big celebration downtown.

In the town square, we enjoyed dinner and then watched a Christmas show with dancers, singers and Mr. and Mrs. Santa!

When that was over they had the tree lighting ceremony.  It was beautiful!

 They had some little booths set up with vendors selling different things.  We walked around and checked them out.

They we walked past the train tracks.  The buildings were decorated and people were walking all over.  They had many things to do there.

They had free train rides, the Mission was open and had crafts, tours and Santa there. 

They had hay rides being pulled by Santa and bears too.

The girls all wanted to go to Zoomars to watch the Living Nativity Play.

After spending a few hours in San Juan the girls asked if we could go to Nellie Gail to a house that is all decorated for Christmas.

We had stopped by there the night before but it wasn't open and the girls really wanted to see it.  So, off we went.

We were all happy that the house was open for the tour when we got there.

It had to be most decorated house I've ever seen. 

It started several years ago when the husband decided to put up lots of lights outside and set it to "dance" to music. 

The wife decorated the inside with all her collections she had. 

Once it was all finished the husband and his mother sat up chairs outside to watch the light show while they enjoyed sipping on hot cider and eating cookies.

Soon, neighbors started stopping by to watch the show with them.  The husband went inside and brought them out cider and cookies too.

The mother then invited the neighbors inside to see how her daughter in law decorated the inside.

The word got out about how beautiful this home was and each year since then, more and more people started to show up.

The couple thought they would still provide hot cider and cookies to anyone that wanted it.  They were thrilled to be able to share a place where families, friends and neighbors could come enjoy some Christmas cheer for free.

The news papers and TV stations somehow heard about this home and once that information got out, crowds started to come from all over the Country just to see this home.

It really is a fun place to go and even though the houses are million dollar homes, it has a small town feel to it as you walk up and everyone starts chatting with you. 

People were taking lots of photos.  Many were going to use them as their Christmas Card photos. 

We all had fun looking at everything and seeing how there were so many fun ideas we could do at our own homes.  Little details were everywhere.

It's a place where you could go nightly and every time see something you had missed before. 

We even joined in with the tradition of drinking hot cider and eating cookies as we watched the light show outside.

We all agreed we loved going here and wanted to go back next year.

We really enjoyed the night and everyone said they were all in the Christmas spirit because of it.