Christmas Bells are ringing

 Our first Christmas with Smokie.  He/we loved it.

I don't know if Vince did this on purpose - but the bow says: "Love has kept them together for 82 years" (a premonition? a possibility?)  and the other bow says Tamale Season.  If you saw our freezer you'd know that we are definitely in tamale season.

My deconstructed bag wrapping.  I took a shopping bag and turned it inside out, stapled it back together and added bows and paper.  It looked cooler in person :)

Vince is the king of bows.  My packages are always so pretty.

Now that my record player is working I'm digging re-issued albums.  This one is blue!  

This is a reminder for me:  We visited so many people and sometimes I forgot to take photos...

Dec. 16 - Lorie and Gug's house and dinner at Santo Mezcal (delish!)

Dec. 23 - Nicole and Richie's house for dinner and games (Taboo - lot's of laughs)

Dec. 24 - Our usual celebration place - Don Cuco's for an early dinner

Dec. 25 - Marla, Greg, Mario pig out feast (tamales!)

Dec. 28 - Visiting with Mom in Santa Barbara.  Lunch at Lure.

At Don Cuco's:

Visiting with Mom in Santa Barbara.   Lunch at Lure:

Baking Frenzy and a little walk around Silverlake before the holidays "officially" start

I've been baking for days - I made Molasses Cookies, Italian Almond Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes and a Chocolate Pie.  Took the pie to Rich and Nicole's dinner party.  It was a big hit.

Before all the eating we took a spin around Silverlake and enjoyed the fresh air and big puffy clouds.  So pretty!  Then we made our way to Rich and Nicole's house for dinner and games.  We played "Taboo" with them - yes - our second time this week to play Taboo (we also played the game with Lorie and Gug.)  Such a fun night of eating a delicious dinner (thank you Nic - chicken breasts in a creamy mushroom cheese sauce) and then topping it off with lots of pie and whipped cream.  Then the games began.  We laughed a lot.  If you don't have this game I suggest you get one.  Super fun for a group to play.  We wound up at their house until midnight.  You know we were having fun because that was waaayyyy past my bedtime.  But as a Christmas Miracle will have it - our cat, who has been waking us up at 5:00 a.m. every morning since the day we've had him - curled and cuddled-up with us and let us sleep until 7:30!

 

24 hours in Santa Barbara

 Rain or shine Santa Barbara is so gorgeous, especially when you're hanging with dear dear friends.

La Quinta refresher

 After buzzing all year we really enjoyed our time away in La Quinta.  The air is so fresh and the views are outrageous in every direction you look.  We had a great time eating and walking around and shopping and hanging at the house we rented.  Very rejuvenating.

This putting green was in our yard.  Who could resist?  The fire pit was an added bonus too.  The moment we arrived I knew I was going to like this place.

We checked in on a Monday and it was like a ghost town.  We had the whole area to ourselves.

The energy was good :)

A gorgeous walk in the desert.  

The rising suns and sunsets are so picturesque.

Sunrise

View from the living room

Old town La Quinta is adorable and we really liked the food at The Grill.