the lead-up to Christmas

I'm writing this after dinner on Boxing Day, leftovers from Christmas (of course!).  It's a nice, easy evening, which aligns with the past couple of days.  Rain aside (and we do need rain, but less at one time and more often), it's been just the most delightful Christmas in some time.  No entertaining, little cooking.  A really good time of it.

Christmas Eve eve, the 23rd, Conrad and I took ourselves to Maestro for the last time this year.  We're heading out of town Sunday, and we have leftovers still to eat, so yes, our last time.  We sat at the bar, as usual, and had drinks to start.  I've been loving the Fall Sour that they've had as a seasonal cocktail lately, so I had that. 

Conrad went with a Last Word. 

I love that he loves those so much.  We shared plantain chips with guacamole

and then the lamb shank, which was a huge portion, wow!

It was an early dinner, and we had the rest of the evening to enjoy, so we came home and put on some Christmas music and read.  I enjoyed a chocolate martini as well. 

The night wound down, we headed to bed, eager for Christmas Eve.

And then it was Christmas Eve.  And it was raining. 

We have a rain gauge on our roof, and it recorded almost 5 inches of rain on December 24 alone.  Official records are sure to be less, but we still had a month of rain in one day, more or less.  Conrad and I made our way - with umbrellas! - to Amara to enjoy breakfast sitting inside,

then came home to toss our clothes in the dryer and relax before heading out on errands.  We got things done on Wednesday:  picking up food, wrapping a few gifts, setting the table for Christmas. 

An accomplished day, not an overwhelming one.  We even made time to swing down by the Rose Bowl to see how much water was running in the channel through the arroyo. 

The answer:  clearly more than usual!

By the end of the afternoon, we were organized and packing up the car and heading to Van's for the evening an overnight.  We had presents to put under his tree

(and one to open early

so that we could use them for the cocktails).  Pre-dinner drinks,

and then a BC wine with dinner (2023 Joie Noble Blend). 

Van made us lobster tails and baked potatoes and peas,

and we dined very well, indeed.  Bellies full, we unwound after dinner (and Olive found her way over to her favoured Plan C). 

There was dessert, but even better, there were Grasshopper cocktails to sip after dinner.

We went to bed by 11, awaiting Santa.  No, not really, but the nostalgia of that is fun!  Just the same, though, we'd had a lovely couple of days in the lead-up to Christmas, and more enjoyable time was to come.