Christmas Day

 We woke up around 6:15 a.m. and were out of the house by 6:30 a.m.!  Larry wanted to catch the sunrise at the beach.  We stopped at Oxxo for a drink and dog food for the stray doggies.  Larry fed the doggies that seem to "live" there.  We stopped on the Malecon for a quick picture.  We made it to El Coromuel a little after 7:00 a.m. and it was beautiful.  We were the only people on the beach and it was so peaceful.  I searched for sea glass and Larry actually got in the water.  We used my new snacklebox for snacks.  It was a lovely morning and the start to a new tradition.

We came home for coffee and chocolate donuts.  We relaxed a lot of the day, but Larry made us an amazing beef brisket, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli, rolls, and cranberry sauce for dinner.

Christmas Eve

We had a foodie Christmas Eve!  I made a fruit "wreath" that turned out so pretty.  I also made a Rudolph the reindeer cheese ball, but it looked more like a mouse!  Ha ha ha!  I used my new Christmas tree charcuterie board for veggies and made a Christmas tree meat and cheese tray.  We had festive flowers too.  We gave the dogs their new toys and of course that started the fighting!  Shadow wanted all the toys for himself.  We watched the sunset and had a lovely day, just the two of us (plus three doggies).

Christmas Date

 Larry and I went on a little Christmas date last night.  We wanted to see all the Christmas displays at night, but there was a huge Christmas parade that changed our plans a bit.

First, we went to a new wine shop (Salud) that we loved.  We spent two hours there talking to the owner and sipping wine.  Then we walked by the cathedral towards the Malecon.  We ended up looking through a big Christmas market with several booths/tents.  We finally made our way to the Malecon and it was incredibly crowded.  We went to Patio Peninsula for dinner and watched the parade from inside the restaurant.  After dinner, we walked the Malecon a bit and realized with the crowds, we were not going to be able to get to the Christmas displays.  We made the trek back to the car and headed home to our doggies.

Mom Visits~Dec 7-14, 2024

 We had such a great week with my Mom!  Lots of visiting, relaxing, and fun!

Saturday, December 7th-Mom arrived in La Paz!  She had a fall in Portland earlier in the day and complained about pain in her big toe.  We got home, got her shoe off, and immediately elevated her foot.  We applied ice too.  She sat with her foot elevated and watched us open all of our goodies that we ordered or she brought for us.  I helped Mom get unpacked and settled.  Larry made us steak that we paired with potato salad that I had prepared earlier in the day.  We caught up and went to bed early as Mom was tired from her travel day.

Sunday, December 8th-We chit chatted over coffee and decided to get out of the house for a bit.  We hit up the local Sunday market, but didn't buy anything.  We tried an ATM for cash, but no luck!  We went to Waldo's where Mom found a Christmas decor item.  We headed home for a smorgasbord lunch...summer sausage, cheese, crackers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, chips, and cantaloupe.  We visited, relaxed, and napped the afternoon away.  Larry made us chicken tortellini for dinner after we watched the sunset.

Monday, December 9th-Beach day!  We headed to El Coromuel and got a palapa so we would have shade if needed.  We had lunch at the beach.  We came home and relaxed for a bit before grabbing pizza for dinner.

Tuesday, December 10th-We chatted over coffee and then went to the Malecon.  We went to Patio Peninsula and had a great lunch.  We checked out all the Christmas decorations on the Malecon and took a lot of pictures.  It was VERY windy and Mom was a little uneasy on her feet so we headed home.  We had to have our nap time and then we had leftover pizza, melon, cucumbers, tomatoes, and chips for dinner.  

Wednesday, December 11th-Mom and I drove to Todos Santos to do a little shopping and check it out.  We went to Hotel California, a few shops, and the Todos Santos sign before deciding that we needed lunch.  We went to Todos Santos Brewing for lunch and had amazing chicken chimichangas.  We napped and watched the sunset.  I made chicken, cheesy rice, and roasted carrots for dinner. 

Thursday, December 12th-We had a lazy at home day.  We had our coffee, worked on a few responsibility tasks on Mom's phone, and visited.  We spent the afternoon on the roof with veggies ranch dip, and chips.  I made spaghetti and corn for dinner.

Friday, December 13th-Another beach day!  We went to El Tesoro where we had excellent burgers for lunch.  The tide changed big time while we were there and the water almost disappeared.  We watched the sunset and I ordered Chinese food delivery for dinner.

Saturday, December 14th-We got Mom packed up and hit La Eaquina Deli for brunch.  Then we took her into the La Paz airport and said our goodbyes.  Later, Larry and I watched Mom's flight take off from our roof.

Oh Christmas Tree...

We continued with the sugar skull tree this year, but added a few cactus ornaments, bows, and garland for fun.  I also had the sugar skull topper made back in February and it turned out soooo good.  The clear lights went out on our artificial tree so I cut them off and we bought a strand of 500 multi-colored lights.  I was iffy about the colored lights, but they turned out to be perfect.  I love our tree....bright, fun, quirky, and unique!

December Friend Date

We went out to dinner with friends (Lorne Joy, Rick, and Trish) last night at Merken.  Pol Gaynor's band played and it was such a fun evening.  I will never get over sitting outside in December and enjoying the weather; such a different lifestyle.

A Mile of Rope...

Our Temu sunshades only lasted seven months in the Baja sun so Larry came up with an idea to use rope to cover our pergola.  That idea turned into quite the project!  We used 1/4 inch rope which didn't cover a lot of ground, so we cut 450ish pieces of rope and taped each end.  That's 900 little pieces of tape!  Larry then hammered a u-shaped nail over each piece, weaved each piece, and hammered again!  It sounds easy, but the weaving took hours with his arms above his head and on a ladder!  We figured out that he used almost a mile of rope!  His hard work paid off and it looks amazing!  After all of that work, we hope it lasts for years!