Family Portrait 2002

Here's our 2002 Christmas card photo.  Sienna had cut her own bangs and I had to fix them so they don't stick up, because her hair is curly.

My children look so adorable.  

Santa's Village

I wrote about this before, but not in as much detail.  

When I was little, my dad took me and my brother to Santa's Village. I think I still had hopes that there really was a Santa Claus, but I knew deep down he was fake as hell. I had a little friend named Amy Pacheco who said he wasn't real. That if I paid attention, the handwriting and wrapping paper should look familiar to me on each present. 

My dad used to love the mountains, and he took me to the San Bernardino Mountains all the time. I used to vomit on the way up there, because I got car sick, and he drove a stick shift. Switching gears only makes my motionsickness come on faster.

We got to the mountains, but people on the road were sending everyone to buy chains for the tires, so we wouldn't slide on ice in the mountains. I remember my dad took me to a store and bought me yellow mittens. I was in the parkinglot gagging over the snow. I didn't want to get back in his jeep. I was crying. He said it wasn't very long, that all we had to do was go up there, and he pointed to this hazy white mist with a mountantop sticking out of it. I said, "What's that?" He said, "That's a cloud. The mountain is so high up we'll be in the clouds." That facinated me.

I remember laying in the back of his jeep. He was telling me I was missing everything. My brother was like, "Yeah, you're missing everything." I just moaned in the backseat that my tummy was hurting. The jeep stopped. "We're at Santa's Village!!!" I couldn't wait to get out of the jeep. I remember looking around and seeing real snowflakes falling out of the sky. Kids were everywhere. The ground was cold, and the air was seeping into my black leather boots. My fingers were cold, and my mittens were getting a tear in it, where the thumb and index finger meet.

I don't remember the rides as much as I remember Mrs. Claus. She came up to me, grabbed my hand and led me to a machine that dropped all kinds of candy. My dad took me to Santa's Home. It was a house, but the line was going out the door. I remember getting close, and I was excited. I got up to Santa Claus. I got on his lap, and I remember seeing kids to my left, and a camera to my right. Santa said, "What do you want for christmas?" I looked at him and said, "I don't know." He looked at my gap, where the teeth had fallen out a few months before. He said, "How about some new front teeth?" Everyone started laughing, and during that laugh, that's when they snapped the Christmas picture of me. Santa gave me a candy cane.

After Santa's Village, I remember my dad taking us somewhere in the mountains. We had innertubes in the back of the jeep. My feet were frozen and I had been crying. I didn't have the right kind of shoes on for snow. I couldn't go out with them. I never got on the innertubes, but I sat in my dad's jeep, thawing out while his heater was on. I remember crying and watching them slide down miniature slopes. I wanted to go home.
 
I don't remember going home, but I remember that I didn't like snow. I remember being scared of snow, thinking about frostbite, losing limbs and stuff. Alas, that's one of the few memories I have spending with my dad. And still, he was not in a picture with me. I don't have any pictures of us together. I miss you dad.

Took My Kids to See Santa

Today was kind of busy, kinda fun, kinda blah, kinda...I dunno.

I decided to take my kids to see Santa Claus. I took them to the Huntington Center, thinking the place MIGHT be open. Nope. Instead a bunch of military men were playing catch in the mall, and there was an open door for Toys For Tots. Two Latino military men, l, dressed in cammies opened the door for me and said, "Do you need help?" I said, "I'm just wondering if the place was open?" One of the guys said, "No, just Mervyn's. The whole place is closed, except for Mervyns." I was like, "Okay, thanks." I turned away.

Then this brother comes out of a side door, and he goes, "They scare you off?" I said, "No. I hadn't realized the mall was closed." He was looking at my kids and smiling, looking me up and down and smiling, looking at my kids and smiling, and I say, "I need to get going now." Then says to me, "Have a nice day, ma'am." Ma'am! God, that is such a grandma word. I said, "You, too." I head out.

We go to Westminster Mall and it's crowded as hell. I didn't want to drive up and down the parkinglot looking for a spot up close, because that would take longer than if I parked out far away and walked. So, I parked far and walked. My kids were excited. We were going to see Santa. We stood in line for a long time and Santa was wearing his regular gear, this year. His house clothes and house shoes. It was different, but it was cute. I liked it.

After the picture taking, I took my kids with me upstairs, and I bought some pants and a shirt. Man, I never have taken my son with me to the mall before, without his father, and without a stroller. He's at the age where I don't really need a stroller. He's just like me when I was little, he hides in clothes and gives his mommy a near heart attack. I kept turning around to look for him and would get scared. If he found a rack of clothing, he had to go inside the clothes and hide. I bought a pair of pink drawstring pants, a pink shirt and some pink thongs to match.

We went to Mickey D's and I got us all Happy Meals. My daughter says, "Mommy, you are too old to eat Happy Meals and play with toys." Another OLD comment.

After all this, I had to go to work. I stayed with my kids and then my mom watched them, till their dad came home.