Christmas Weekend

 Christmas was hard!  My first Christmas away from family and Larry's second.  We were both in a funk!  We agreed not to exchange gifts and focused on yummy foods and drinks.  We called and FaceTimed family.  Just not quite the same as being together in person.

Friday, the 22nd-I chopped my hair and we had a gorgeous sunset.

Saturday, the 23rd-I made a yummy charcuterie board for us and a fun snowglobe drink.

Sunday, the 24th-Our neighborhood had a get together at the pool.  It was nice to socialize and get to know our neighbors more.  I made a meatball gnocchi soup that is to die for.

Monday, the 25th-We gifted the dogs a new toy each, they are our babies afterall.  We went over to Lorne and Joy's for a wonderful meal and lots of laughter.  We took zero pictures...ZERO!  We had ham, pierogis, salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus, and so much more.  We were there until 10 p.m.!  Getting together with neighbors was so nice and turned the day around for us!  

Christmas Date

Larry and I decided to take a break from our dogs and go out for a Christmas day date yesterday!  We started at Patio Peninsula with guacamole, chips, tequila shots, and beverages.  We did a little window shopping, but also found a pair of blingy flip flops to buy.  We walked all over and went down the oddest street where we walked past video games on the sidewalk with people playing them, then cages with loads of parakeets, then a store with millions of pinatas hanging so low we had to duck underneath them, then an area with an obscene amount of graffiti, and lastly signs telling us expats to go home!  We made our way to Mucho Gusto where we ate an early dinner and had a few drinks.  After dinner, we walked up the malecon and looked at the Christmas displays.  It was a fun day!

Christmas Decor

 We have to order everything weeks in advance of when it's needed because shipping times are tripled (or quadrupled) here compared to the states.  I've been working on gathering Christmas decor for two months now!  Carson was able to bring a few items when he visited in November which helped too.  We have a 4 1/2 ft. tree in the living room and a small table top tree in our bedroom.  I decided to go untraditional and went with bright colors and sugar skulls.  I have some ideas for things to add next year, but I love the way it turned out.  Of course, I had to quickly order Shadow a stocking the day Larry brought him home so it would get here before Christmas.  We wanted to decorate to keep our spirits up and for some normalcy.  Thankfully, everything should fit in one bin plus the box with the large Christmas tree.  We have minimal storage so have to keep it sort of simple!

Coromuel Beach in December!

Wow!  We went to the beach today with Lorne, Joy, and Darren and it was gorgeous!  Feels so nice to have sun in December!  Plus, it was warm enough to get in the water!