The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
A Quiet Christmas in Tucson
Christmas seems like forever ago! We had a quiet Christmas in Tucson. Here we are with Dan and Dawn and their kids (who are deliberately avoiding the camera), a few days before Christmas:
Our kids didn’t come visit this year because the remodel wasn’t done yet. In particular, the hall bathroom, which is the guest bathroom, was torn apart and not functional.
Here’s Laura’s photo that she had originally sent for my holiday photo contest, which I’ve since cancelled due to lack of interest. It’s titled, “The season of giving” complete with her purple blood donation bandage 🙂
This year our family deliberately cut back on materialistic gifts. John and I spent much of Christmas weekend cooking. We still didn’t have countertops but that didn’t stop us. We’ve been using a mishmash of plywood and leftover floor tiles as a makeshift countertop for awhile. It wasn’t great, but it worked.
John made a fantastic grapefruit cake.
And several yummy meals.
I made a lemon pie:
John made a truly fantastic tom kha gai (Thai coconut soup with chicken).
We didn’t do a tree this year. Instead, we put lights on a houseplant and our presents on a table.
First up, Biska got a new chew bone to keep her occupied.
Which she promptly threw into the swimming pool.
She was then desperate for help retrieving it; running in and out of the house whining and barking about the catastrophe. We wonder sometimes what goes on in her head.
I got a very apropos cookbook from a good friend of mine:
Well, Biska, would you like something else? You would?
Ok then, but don’t throw it into the pool.
John got a cordless saw for pruning the palm trees.
We bought ourselves some art by a friend of mine in Albuquerque. We already have three of her oil paintings and were happy to add three more to our collection. Her work is abstract, earthy and genuine, and seems to fit well with the style of our house.
This one is particularly hopeful and a good note to start the new year.
Merry Christmas everyone! Biska sends you best wishes for whatever is your equivalent to a pink and green, fuzzy squeaky toy.
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