JuliaBlog

It was such a nice surprise when Julia's best friend Katie arrived at Aunt Sandi's and Uncle Dave's house on Christmas Day (2007).


Katie's little sister Erin did her interpretive dance for everyone. So cute!

Aunt Sandi loved her apron decorated with original Julia Wineger artwork.


Grandma Dorothy got a mug from Julia.

Joanna and Steve like to watch.

Cousin Joel made Janet a very pretty Bloody Mary.


Megan models her new PJs.

Finally it was time to open all the Christmas (2007) presents at Sandi and Dave's house in Pacifica.

Cousin Shannon liked her art kit.

And Cousin Tyler tried out his new labyrinth right away.

Julia got a box full of "frog" presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

Giving is as much fun as receiving when the recipient is your favorite Aunt Sandi.

Josh (gobble) and Greg (gobble gobble) oversee the ritualistic frying of the Christmas turkey.

Before Christmas, Julia, Katie and mom did a big tie-die project. We made shirts, little bags, and lots and lots of bandanas. When we got to Sandi and Dave's house in Pacifica on Christmas Day (2007), Julia handed out the bandanas to all our relatives (and modeled her home-made shirt).

Grandma Dorothy got one....

... and Aunt Kathy ...

...and Aunt Sharon ...

... and Cousin Charlie...


... and Grandpa John and Grandma Dorothy...

... Cousin Charlie, Cousin Xandra and Uncle Stuart (looking downright groovy).

Enough with the tie-die already!!!!!

Julia woke up on Christmas morning in 2007 to a very special new pet. She correctly identified it as a Western hognose snake (we had scoped out snakes at the East Bay Vivarium three weeks earlier, but Julia's species recall was still impressive). She named the baby female snake "Hogsy."

Julia handled the snake very nicely.

We opened all our presents. (Don't worry, mom - aka photographer - got some too.)

Katie gave Julia another new friend, who she named "Ratty."

Dinner at our house with Cousin Shannon, followed a trip to the all-lit-up-at-night Tilden Merry-Go-Round, is becoming a pre-Christmas tradition for us. This year (2007), Julia got to ride a frog.

Josh and Shannon took a seat this time around.

On the day after Thanksgiving (2007), we ventured out of the Sweetbrier cabin and drove north to the national forest near McCloud to cut down our Christmas tree (we bought a permit, of course). There was plenty of snow for Julia and Cousin Tyler to mess around in.

We all walked a good distance into the forest to find the "perfect" tree.

Our little angel.
The pictures of "the cutting down of the tree" didn't come out very well, but the tree looked terrific after dad and Julia put it up and dressed it up at home.

Thanksgiving (2007) at Sweetbrier was a good chance for some quality time with dad....

... and Grandpa John.

The "red cabin" at Sweetbrier (Tyler's cabin) has a really fun swing. Julia went for a spin before Thanksgiving (2007) dinner.

We went up to Sweetbrier (near Mt. Shasta) for Thanksgiving (2007) with the Winegers. Aunt Kathy and Grandma Dot showed Julia how to dress a turkey.

The kids in Julia's class sang and danced for the parents during the Thanksgiving (2007) Harvest Breakfast. Left to right are Lily, Caroline, Justin, Isabella, Devon, Julia and Connor.

Although Julia mostly plays "rats" now, she still has time for her old friends, Cow-Cow and Ribbet-Ribbet.