merry christmas

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Peas and Thank You, and she reminded me how imperfect-yet beautiful the first Christmas was.  

Things were far from perfect the night our Savior came into the world.

I’m sure Mary and Joseph weren’t in the best of spirits that Christmas Eve.  They were tired, cold and hungry.  Mary wasn’t exactly self-administering an epidural either.  She was riding, rather uncomfortably, I’m sure, on the back of a mule.  But I’d bet she didn’t turn to Joseph as another door was shut in their face, and say sarcastically, “Merry Christmas, right?”

Things were far from perfect the night our Savior came into the world.

We were undeserving, and yet He still came.

We were undeserving, and yet He still came.

That last line is so simple yet so profound.  Amongst the stress of Christmas shopping, fighting traffic in shopping centers, questioning whether or not you have gifts for everyone, the true reason for the season outweighs it all.  

This Christmas is extra special as my family and I are traveling to Arizona to visit my grandma.  This is the first Christmas ever that all of my mom's family is together for Christmas and the excitement is uncontrollable.  After Arizona we're heading up to Reno to visit good friends of ours for NYE.  From my home to yours I wish you all the merriest of Christmases and I hope the rest of your 2011 is joyful!

Merry Christmas!

a chocolate fix

Christmas lights, The Christmas Story, and basketball, oh MY!  I'm soaking in as much relaxation time this week as well as making joyful memories.  I may have stayed in my PJ's Tuesday till 1pm, watched far too many episodes of Friday Night Lights than I can say without being embarrassed, but decided to make up my own magical chocolate recipe in the spirit of baking.  

Something magical happens when you take dark chocolate, pistachios, dried cranberries, and sea salt...

Melt the chocolate...

Line your pan...

Pour the rich, velvety dark goodness in...

Add in some nutritious pistachios...

Sprinkle with a touch of sea salt and dried cranberries....

and ENJOY!

I let it sit overnight and then broke it up into bark the next morning.  This stuff is SO good and I can't keep my hands off of it.  It's the perfect healthy fix during the baking season.  

This week we had to get in the Christmas cheer so we went out and looked at some lights, it's one of my favorite traditions.  

Our favorite house was themed after "A Christmas Story", too funny!

Another house had a great sign for you to Elf yourself!

Christmas time always means the return of Nathan (and drinking lots of espresso).  We also met up with his family and went to the SDSU basketball game.  

These boys are the sprinkle to my cupcake!  

when kylee comes to play

There is no greater joy than being with the ones you love most.  My heart was overflowing this past week because my beautiful friend, Kylee, came in town again!  You can read all about our adventures this last time she was in town here, here, and here.  I love that her job is based here in San Diego so I get to see her every couple of months.  Although she was in town for a week we both had pretty busy schedules so we squeezed in as many of our favorites as we could.  

First stop was our absolute favorite restaurant, Cucina Urbana.  If you live in San Diego and love food-you have to eat here!  Your mouth and your tummy will thank you.  On the menu was a cheese and board, a gorgonzola mouse vasi with roasted pears, and a pear and arugula salad.  (We LOVE cheese!)

Our last day together we continued on with our tradition of eating breakfast at Claire's on Cedros.  It really doesn't get much better than this: best friends, husband, delicious food, and an abundant heart.  

After breakfast we headed down to Seaport Village.  This is a treasure.  As I'm writing this I just can't get over how lucky we are to live in this beautiful city and see the beauty everywhere.  The weather could not have been better and the skies were so clear for most of the day.  

Our last stop for the day was to a little wine bar downtown to enjoy, you guessed it, cheese!

It may seem like all we do is eat, especially cheese, but we just had to soak up our favorite places to eat at in such a short amount of time.  Festivities that weren't chronicled were:

watching "Elf" 

quoting "Elf" lines over email all week

making dinner together

staying cozy in our PJ's at 7pm at night

planning our trip up to Reno to visit them

laughing over "Whitney" together

sharing a pot of coffee

laughing until our bellies hurt