Hot Chocolate and Christmas lights

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to make huge mugs of hot chocolate and venture out to see Christmas lights. We weren't disappointed....The neighborhood went all out this year.





We took along one of Gavin’s buddies, Bryan.













OK, seriously, it took almost an hour to tear the boys away from this mocker of humans.









My abstract attempt....ha ha ha....





And finally....The reason for the season..
Jesus left His throne not to become a yard ornament but to bear the sin of the world.
Beautiful reminder though.. ;-)

HaPpy Birthday Dave

My cousin's awesome hubby is celebrating his birthday today. Have a great day Mr. Meehan :)

With love from the whole Vargas family.

HaPpy Birthday Paige

Our little cousin Paige is celebrating her 7th birthday today. We hope your day is as special as you are sweetie.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Although it arrived much sooner then I'd expected, I couldn't help but get into the spirit of things when the decorations started going up. We always make hot chocolate and popcorn when we decorate. It's a special family time and we all look forward to enjoying it.

I'm looking forward to more family traditions and getting together with those we love in the weeks to come.

Truly Giving Thanks

Tis’ the season to be thankful….and I am.
We hosted Thanksgiving for Kevin’s family at our house this year. I love to entertain, stressful as it can be, it’s still something I really enjoy doing. We actually made TWO different turkeys this time. One was deep fried courtesy of our friends the Azpeitias and the second was slow roasted in the usual way after soaking all night in a brine made of salt, sugar, vinegar, and more spices than you can shake a stick at (still waiting for someone to clue me in on the origin of that expression).

Here’s mommy’s lil’ helper chopping apples and celery.





Half of the celery goes into the sausage and onion mixture.



The other half along with the apples gets tossed into the breadcrumb mixture. This year I used sourdough, wheat and rye for some extra flavor.



So here is the turkey soaking delightfully in herbs and spices…poor guy, he has no idea what’s coming next. I keep picturing Bugs Bunny soaking in a pot, chomping of a carrot while natives dance around expectantly.



My handsome hero ready to lift this monster out of the tub for me.





Ok, so next I prepared it the way I usually do. I buttered the outside, salted the inside and sifted out some of the spices from the brine bath and rubbed it over the turkey before stuffing it.



Then into the over it goes, 350 for the rest of the day, FACE DOWN and completely covered. We usually flip it over for the last 20-30 minutes to brown the breast.

I’m so mad that I didn’t get a shot of it coming out of the oven. It was truly a beautiful thing if I do say so myself but the natives were getting restless and we started carving right away. I also neglected to get a shot of the deep fried bird which was also yummo! It looked burned on the outside but man-o-man, the inside was fantastic. Things couldn’t have turned out so perfectly if not for the help of my two sous chefs and the delicious side dishes brought by the family. Thanks guys, the pies, potatoes, salads and cranberries were awesome.








I love California because it’s still 80` outside on Thanksgiving.
I hate California because it’s still 80` outside on Thanksgiving.

It was a gorgeous day to eat on the patio and also about thirty degrees cooler than my dining room. Some of us chose the refuge of the outdoors.



I didn’t get too many family shots here because we planned to do them after the meal…which we did and some the following day. You can see those on the posts below.

I hope you all found many things to be thankful for. I had some issues bothering me earlier in the week but waking up on this day and making a gratitude list before my feet ever hit the ground really put things into perspective. Life is good! And at the risk of sounding bossy…get out there and LIVE IT!