Living in Munchkinland

My mom and I took Grandma to the airport yesterday while the rest of the family played at Twirl, ate lunch in town and went sledding. We got her off on the plane and then drove into Santa Fe. We tried several different restaurants for lunch, but everything was so crowded! We eventually found a fabulous restaurant right on the plaza called Tabla. They sat us even though they had finished seating. We were thrilled! The food was amazing and I had a perfect Rose. After lunch and wonderful conversation, we walked around the plaza, window shopping. We made our last stop at my favorite olive oil store and I bought a fabulous butternut squash oil. Then we got in the car and headed back toward Taos. We stopped at the Rio Grande at sunset and dropped some of Dad's ashes into the river. My mom called his name and I said "water is life" and we watched his ashes disappear down the river. We got home at dinner time to a house full of family. Marcie had made dinner and we munched an

The weather outside was frightful, but the fire was so delightful. And since we'd no place to go, Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow. It snowed during the night and we woke up to gusting winds and freezing snow. We stayed in by the fire and enjoyed a boozy, relaxing, foody Christmas day, playing with our toys. I missed my dad. Of course I did, we all did. But the day was lovely and I enjoyed the family that I had with me. My mom gave Tiffany and I quilts made with Dad's old shirts which I loved. Mom made an epic pancake breakfast with all the toppings. We played games. Marcie and Ann and the kids drove in that afternoon and we did another round of presents and then played ping pong in the garage while Keith grilled and had a fantastic Christmas dinner of steak and tuna. It was a lovely white Christmas.

Christmas Eve dawned with a lot of screams of "Christmas Eve Gift!". The kids each opened a present and had breakfast. Keith and Tiffany headed up the mountain to ski and Michael and I took Kade and our boys up the other mountain to sled. After a wonderful sledding trip, we had lunch at five star burgers before picking up tamales for our Christmas Eve dinner. That evening, we left Keith and Kade and GG at home and the rest of us drove out to the Pueblo for their Christmas Eve procession of the Virgin Mary and the bonfires. We had to park pretty far down from the Pueblo and walk, but we all had on snow boots and warm clothes so it was fine. The pueblo was filled with people and huge, towering piles of wood. Several were lit and were flaring against the darkening sky. About a minute after we arrived, the procession came through with the Native Americans walking through the crowd, shooting rifles, carrying the Virgin statue and singing on a path to the church. It was something

It continued to snow through the night. Marcie and Amelia and Cruz had spent the night and the kids all rolled out of bed to play in the thick, powdery snow. After a while, we rolled into town for a visit to Twirl and the plaza and lunch at Bella's which was absolutely amazing. The sun had come out and begun to melt the snow, and the temperature was perfect for a huge snowman so the kids got to work in the driveway, making a six foot tall snow man. It took Michael and all the kids to roll and lift the portions of the snowman. It was great fun! Tiffany and Keith and Kade arrived that evening, making our party complete just in time for Christmas Eve. It was so fun to unload their truck and pile presents around our tree. It was a wonderful day.

The next morning we had a huge amount of new SNOW! Michael and Davis were up on the mountain for day two of Davis's Christmas snowboarding lessons and the snow poured down. We made Christmas cookies and Sam make snowmen and we had a lovely day by the fire. Marcie and Ann came down with the boys and we loved being with them.