A California Christmas

Dave and I spent Christmas in California this year with his family, it was fun to experience a Hulihan Christmas and spend time with everyone!

Christmas Eve was spent at Tommy and Christine home (Dave's brother and his wife) along with the rest of Dave's family who were in California. It was a fun time and I really enjoyed celebrating with everyone!

(Dave's grandma Betty, sister Kelsy and uncle Doug)


In Dave's family on Christmas eve everyone sings carols, this is Kelsy and Doug practicing guitar! Kelsy is just learning to play and Doug was giving her a lesson.

The adorable nieces and nephew acting out the Nativity story (Another Hulihan tradition for Christmas eve) The 'angel' is Kalea and the little 'Joseph' is her brother Isaiah (they are Tommy and Christine's children) And the little 'Mary' is Shayla (Dave's sister Larissa and her husband Jon's daughter).

After a wonderful day with lots of socializing, good food and fun, Dave and I along with Dave's parents, aunt Sheelah, uncle Doug, grandma Betty and sister Kelsy all went to Glendora to spend Christmas morning together at grandmas Betty's home.

(Doug and Sheelah)


Christmas morning was really nice and everyone was very generous to us! We had a very nice time together and everyone seemed to enjoy what we got them!

(Dave and his toothbrush...)


This picture sums up Dave's obsession with his teeth... As soon as Kelsy went to check on breakfast for just a second (we were still doing Christmas morning presents) Dave saw an opening and he pounced at it... He hadn't even eaten breakfast yet but he had to get his teeth clean... He was very courteous though and stood in the doorway so we could resume our gift giving and didn't have to wait for him to finish.

We had a great Christmas and really enjoyed our time in California! Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas wonderful!

Disney After Dark

One of the things I was looking forward to the most at Disney Land was the fireworks! I didn't want to leave before they happened, we lucked out that the weather was good enough, the night before they had to cancel the fireworks due to the high winds!

Dave, Kelsy (Dave's younger sister) and I found a nice spot to watch. We avoided right under Cinderella's castle even though it is supposed to be the best spot. We decided to look else where when we saw it was completely packed an hour and a half before the fireworks even started! There were too many rides to go on to waste an hour and a half waiting for something we could see anywhere in the park!

I didn't get a picture of the huge Micky Mouse head firework BUT I did get one of the wishing star... That is almost as good right? We also got to see the parade, which I was really hoping we would be able to do as well!

As it got darker, it also got colder... We were dressed warm but not quite warm enough! We still had fun, even if we were a little chilly :)

We made sure we had time for the 'it's a small world' ride. It was decked out in Christmas lights and on the inside everything was decorated for Christmas as well (I would not want the job of transitioning back and forth between Christmas decorations and the normal decor! I can't imagine how long it would take to do!) one of the biggest advantages of that ride was the fact that it was heated (I know you thought I was going to say the best part was the music!) By the time we went on the ride we were half frozen, so it was nice to thaw out!

Dave seems to make friend where ever he goes... especially creepy ones... When Dave was younger he used to listen to the wind in the willows books on tape, so we decided to go on the wind in the willows ride. Mr. Toad seemed to take a liking to him..

We had a wonderful day (And night!) at Disney Land. We didn't get back until 1:30am because of driving time but it was well worth it!

Day Time Disney

Dave and I drove down to California to spend Christmas with the Hulihan side of the family this year. When we were down there, we had an opportunity to go to Disney Land! We weren't able to go the last time we were down (it was on the schedule but Dave got food poisoning!) So we decided that even though it would be super crowded, we were going to go! Kelsy (Dave's younger sister) was able to come with us too, so the three of us set off on the day before Christmas Eve. We got there at 11:00am and stayed until closing, which was midnight, we were determined to make the best of our trip and be there for as long as we could!

One of the first things we did was go into the Tarzan tree house. It is not a ride, just a cool tree house with rope bridges that you can climb around. It was neat to be able to overlook a large part of Disney Land. It was also not very crowded up there, so we got to wander around.

(Dave and Amber)

Still in the Tarzan Tree House!

The Haunted Mansion was all decked out for Christmas. After we went through the ride, Dave said that is was really different inside during Christmas because of how they decorated. I can't imagine being one of the people who have to put up and take down all the Christmas stuff! It was everywhere and very intricate, doesn't seem like my idea of fun!

(Dave and Kelsy)

We went on the spinning Teacup, the line was a little long but it moved very quickly. We didn't end up having to do too much waiting at Disney. We used fast passes and picked lines that were short... Well for the most part at least. We did wait in line for an hour to ride Space Mountain... but we really wanted to ride it! Everything else was pretty good :)

(Dave and Kelsy)

We didn't actually go on that ride but it looked so interesting that I wanted to take a picture of it :) Maybe I will try it next time. Even though we were there for 13 hours we didn't cover all of Disney Land, so I think we need to going back!

(Dave trying to look surprised while we waited in one of the many tunnels that took you to Indiana Jones)

One of our favorite rides was the Indiana Jones ride. The line was a little long but we had a fast pass and that made it way shorter then it would have been without it!

It was my first time at Disney Land and I had a blast! I can't wait to go back and see all the stuff we didn't have time for and re-enjoy all my favorites!

A Winter Wonderland

Before Christmas My family (along with a bunch of family friends), took a large horse drawn sled through the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point. It is a fun attraction that we have done before, we normally go through on a nice warm trolley but this year we thought we would try something new...

(Dave, Amber and David)

Even though it was cold and we really had to bundle up, it was still a lot of fun! Although I think next year I will request we go back to the trolley :)

(Chantel my younger sister and Mike her husband)

Traffic was really bad the night we went and Chantel, Mike, Jimmy and Annie almost didn't make it on time! Everyone was very relieved when they came walking up to the sled, we didn't know how much longer we could have stalled the driver!

(my brother Jimmy and his wife Annie)

The sled was three benches wide and held about 22ish people (all the seats were full!) So slightly larger then your average 'sled'

(Dad and his wife JoAnn)

After we went through the lights everyone went and got hot chocolate in one of the warm buildings at Thanksgiving Point! by the time we were done the hot chocolate was much needed! Everyone froze but it was well worth it.

The Finished Product

I know it is now January and I haven't really posted about all the fun Christmas stuff Dave and I have done yet... so I will just pretend that it is still December!

I wanted to show my Dad's tree, the one that I previously posted about, all finished! We had a (sometimes annual) Christmas tree decorating party, to help get the tree all pretty :)

(My sister Chantel and JoAnn is in the background)

It was a lot of fun, Dave had to put up all the high decorations (he was the tallest one at the party!)

(This is David my younger brother and next to him is Dave my... umm... husband)

Sorry Dave! I had to post this picture! David loves to do the tinsel on the tree and I was minding my own business, just trying to take some nice photos of the trimming of the tree... I said 'hey David smile' He made this face... and then Dave decided to join in the fun and make a face in the background... They are goofy but I love em'

I couldn't get a really good picture of 'the finished product' but I thought this one would do! As you can see the tree is pretty large BUT it could have been bigger.... :) The party was really fun and the tree turned out really nice!