Christmas Day at the Cassinghams

Dommy poses in his new Christmas pajamas from Grandma Tighe next to his new rocking horse. He's still a little afraid of the bigger horse, but loved to push the buttons on the ears and make the galloping sound.

For Christmas Day Mass we went to the Cathedral in downtown San José, but could only make the Spanish-language Mass. It was very nice, if a little different.

Dommy in his Christmas duds (after we took off his sweater). He figured out how to open the wrapping paper by the end, and really got into it.

Christmas in downtown San José

On Christmas eve night we went downtown for the annual showing of the animated traincars. We took the real train down to the city center with the Allens, and it was Dommy's first time aboard.

There are a whole bunch of animatronix traincars that they set up each year that were donated to the city. They're pretty old and show things like elves making toys and Santa going down the chimney. Thousands of local residents come out to see them, and also to ice skate under the palm trees there!
We went into the ritzy Fairmont hotel downtown to use the bathrooms and saw their lifesize gingerbread house, too. Dominic was playing inside with random kids while we listened to some jazz. If you look closely, you can still see the flour on the gingerbread!

After walking around we went out for Thai food, since it was the only place open on Christmas eve. Thai food, just like Grandma Tighe used to make!

San José Sharks game

My biggest Christmas gift from Kirsten this year was to attend the San Jose Sharks vs. the Washington Capitals hockey game. It was at HP Pavilion in downtown San Jose, which is a great arena to see a game. Kirst, Troy, her Dad, and I went together and watched the Sharks dismantle the Caps 5-2. It was also the first game since 1987 to have 2 penalty shots successfully scored, which was really cool to see. I had never seen one of these live during the Hurricanes games in Raleigh before. Ovechkin spent some time in the box and was pretty much a punk the whole game. Great to see, though, and great memories!

Monterrey Aquarium

Kirst and I really wanted to see some more of CA during the holiday, so we snuck away to Monterey and Carmel for a day while Dominic stayed with Grandpa and Grandma. A good friend of the Cassinghams arranged for tickets for us, so we got to see the Monterey Aquarium and enjoy the seahorses, sea otters, and jellyfish. The coolest things, though (not pictured) were the sea dragons. These are crazy dragon-like sea horses that live in the Great Barrier Reef and are amazing.

After the aquarium we took a drive down to Carmel (where Clint Eastwood was mayor) and checked out the beach and fancy downtown. All we could afford was coffee, but it was really good coffee!

Take me to the river...

Yesterday Kathleen and Jeff "graciously" returned our Billy Bass toy that we left in TriCities over Thanksgiving. This is Dominic's talking fish that Grandma and Grandpa Cassingham bought him in California that he loves. It had been almost a month without hearing "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Take Me to the River." Oh, the time goes by so quickly....

Snowy Days and Windowshopping in Lakeview

Random pictures of Dominic in the snow this week.

We also went downtown to the True Value to check out the toys (the only store with toys in Lakeview!). They had a Santa and a toy train in the window that caught the bird's attention.

Devo, Divas, and Gnomes

This Saturday we had a nice snow overnight and it's also been warm (around 30 degrees). You know what this means--snowballs and snowmen! We all bundled up and spent a few hours in the yard enjoying winter together. We were a little short on corn cob pipes, button noses, and eyes made out of coal, so we had to make do. The first one we made together had Christmas nougats for eyes and scared the pants off all of us!

Mike made his "Frosty" with apricot eyes, a flower pot, and chocolate chips. It turned out a little more like Devo than Frosty--with a rockin' guitar.

Kirsten was intent to make an "equal opportunity" female snowman, so she softened hers up a little with an apron, a cranberry mouth and hair (flowers from the yard)!


The other project we finished was to repaint the gnome Mike received from Toots and Lori many years ago (long, funny story). The Raleigh rains did a number on it, and it needed some work, so Mike picked up some 25-cent discontinued samples at that hardware store and repainted him. We decided he'd be our new weather forecaster in the backyard. "If gnome is wet--rain. If gnome is dry--sunshine."

Well, here he is as we awoke on Monday!

Santa comes to Lakeview

Santa Claus came to Lakeview on Tuesday. He "arrived at Black Cap by helicopter," (the tallest peak overlooking town) then was delivered to the downtown square by the fire department. It was a great, free event held after dark that brought out ~75 of Lakeview's hardiest denizens. Really cool that it was noncommercial, but that also meant limited hot drinks and only a super tiny Christmas tree lighting. Dominic liked it all, though, including the Christmas carols played by the high school tuba section! He did great with Santa Claus, but probably didn't tell him that he really wants bath toys and a GI Joe with the action grip for Christmas!

Thanksgiving in the TriCities

For the "Día de la Acción de Gracias" we finally went up to the Tighe Family West celebration at Kathleen and Jeff's in Kennewick, WA. We've been jealously viewing fotos of this event every year from NC, and this year we were super excited to participate. It met all expectations, and was great to see everyone. Dommy got to play with all of his cousins, while Mom and Dad basically ate their way from one end of the house to the other. It was Jeff and Kats (with Nick and Madison), Colleen and Ed (with Annie, Hunter, and Erin), Tom and Carol (with Casey, Brady, and Tom-Tom), and Dave and Jenny. What a great group!

We donned the traditional felt Pilgrim outfits (except for Ed, who just brought his hatchet for scalping) and the kids sang some great Thanksgiving songs before dinner (see video below). Instead of a Pilgrim outfit, Dommy wore his new Thanksgiving bib from Grandma Tighe.

On Saturday we then did the traditional Thanksgiving rocket launch in a field near the Powers' house. It was a little chilly and we lost one rocket, but we got some exercise combing the sagebrush before the Antanavages had to return home. Dommy was really taken with his cousins from Tacoma, even Uncle Ed below who just barely beat him in a staredown.