Catching Up With Christmas Pt. 3: Birthdays and Pretty Lights

I forgot one important detail from my last blog post...not only did our family participate in a piano recital and a ward party one weekend, we also managed to buy and set up our Christmas tree in between those two events. We drove far (e.g., "drove five minutes to the local Fry's") in the cold, dark night, searching for the perfect tree. We managed to get it set up and trimmed in the front room that same night, with only one of our kids falling asleep during that time. Now I felt ready to start really celebrating Christmas!

Our crazy (and very long) weekend wasn't over, though...not if you count "the following Monday" as part of a long weekend. Which I do. Anyway, the following Monday, our family drove up to the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson to attend the annual Zoo Lights (as zoo members, we've been doing this for several years now). The Zoo Lights seem to have grown a bit less impressive in recent years; there used to be many live bands & choirs throughout the park, whereas now you'll only see one or two. In addition, most of the light displays are less elaborate and thematic...just pretty strings everywhere (with one big exception; more on that in a second).

These are nit-picks, though...it's still a nice experience. Besides, the zoo still has its "snow machine" by the old polar bear enclosure, and my girls just love the snow machine!

They did manage to catch a few flakes, but it was a pretty warm night, and there weren't many that survived the trip down. Oh, well...it was nice for those 30 seconds!

One big new addition was a large choreographed lights-and-music display in the old elephant enclosure. It would run every few minutes, and it was pretty exciting to watch. It was one of the biggest changes I've seen to the Zoo Lights for some time, and it drew quite a crowd. Here's a sampling:

The girls would have stayed & watched the whole night, but the hour was growing late (and it was a school night, anyway).

Later this same week, my amazing second daughter Celeste turned five years old. I can't believe it! She's almost a "big kid" now...she'll be attending kindergarten the next school year! Ugh...I can't bear to think about it right now. Instead, let me just show you how beautiful she looks in her new birthday dress:

Celeste and I are not much alike, but I have grown to be thankful for that. It is very neat to see the world through her eyes...a world in which seemingly small things can have such profound meaning, and bring such beauty and joy to my family. I am so grateful for a daughter who makes me dream of princesses, flowers, fairies and the like. Celeste is the oil for my creaky wheels of whimsy. She makes me wish (sometimes) that I were more of a lady...and that I dressed fancier...and that I threw glamorous parties. Even though I can't do all those things, I still want to bring beauty and glamor to her life. I am so lucky to have such a sweet, imaginative, and spunky daughter, who inspires me to discover new things and develop different sides of myself.

Here's the birthday girl tearing into some of her gifts (Celeste's presents are always the first presents under the tree in December):

 

The day BEFORE her birthday, Celeste was able to go on her first daddy-daughter birthday date...to a restaurant of her choice. Nathan wants to make this a tradition with all his daughters, once they're old enough to behave at a "proper" restaurant. She was so excited for the dinner; it was all she could talk about all week!

As you can see, she was overjoyed to have Daddy all to herself that night (due to a scheduling conflict, they went out to dinner the night before her birthday). And what restaurant did she choose? Red Lobster...because she "wanted to eat fish." A definite step removed from the sandwich-and-smoothie joint Lorelai and Daddy visited back at her last birthday. I guess Celeste will be asking for a prime rib dinner by the time she's ten years old.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful gal!