Twas the Weekend of Christmas...

and our house, the puppies were stirring as if chasing a mouse.  The stockings were not hung by the chimney with care because St Nicholas would not be there (he came on our honeymoon.)  Moose and Dixie were nestled all snug in their beds as visions of raw hide and butcher bones danced through their heads. Ok, so a lame attempt at a rhyme but I tried.  So here is the recap of our first Christmas...

We kicked off the celebration a little early with dinner out on Wednesday night in North Hollywood.  Kenneth and I drove to Santa Clarita to meet up with another couple, Chris and Becca.  We toured a bunch of Santa Clarita neighborhoods that decorated for the holidays.  These people go all out for the holidays... the most lights you have ever seen on a house and then a neighborhood full of these crazy homes!  I swear their electric bills must be through the roof each holiday season.  Bless her heart, Becca is the best.  She made hot chocolate with Kahlua and marshmallows for all of the passengers!  After we drove through about ten different neighborhoods in Santa Clarita, we headed to North Hollywood to eat at Firenze Osteria, an Italian restaurant owned by Fabio Viviani, season five contestant on Top Chef and current contestant on Top Chef All Stars.  Not only did we eat delicious Italian food, we also met Fabio!  It was so exciting and he looks exactly like he does on the television in real life.  We had melon and prosciutto, crab fritters, poached pear salad, veal shanks, paella, and pancetta risotto. I was expecting to be a little disappointed but, the food and Fabio were delicious!

Thursday was spent baking and elfing around the house and neighborhood!

Christmas Eve was very mellow.  Kenneth and I watched Tangled and ate pizza, a family tradition.  Kenneth and I bought a fun looking bottle of wine at the store which we paired with Dominos... yum!  We also spent the whole day shopping at Target.  We spent about three hundred dollars on things off of our registry for our home!  Christmas Day was even more mellow.  Kenneth and I took the pups for a walk and then drove off to Bakersfield to see TRON Legacy in 3D.  Now, the movie was definitely what I would label as nerdy but it was AWESOME!  We came home to eat Chinese food and to relax by the fire.  Nicole commented that we had a very multi cultural Christmas: Italian (pizza) and Chinese (PF Changs) and the Jewish tradition of a Christmas movie.  Today we went post Christmas shopping at Home Depot to buy decorations and lights for next Christmas.  It was sad to not have a tree or stockings up, but to be honest, the honeymoon and wedding sucked a lot of energy out of us.  We certainly got enough Christmas cheer at Disney World.  It just didn't seem practical or necessary to make a big fuss out of Christmas this year.  Just wait though, next year we will have the tree, the feast, and the presents!  Kenneth did give himself a present though: a nice cut from his pocket knife that required liquid stitches at the E.R. today.  Everyone lived and the doctors let Kenneth keep the finger, but it sure was an eventful afternoon.  Lucky for us the Tehachapi hospital has a total of ten beds and was not busy.  We got out of the E.R. in less than an hour!

This week will be another quiet one.  Kenneth's office is doing a minimal manning schedule.  This means that Kenneth only has to go to work on Monday and Thursday.  Right now the plan is to go visit a friend in L.A. for New Years Eve! It is hard to believe that in the last few weeks I got married, went on my honeymoon, and celebrated my first Christmas with my husband!  From our house to your house, I hope that your Christmas was very merry and full of the best things: friends, family, and fun!