I hope each of you has had a beautiful holiday season.  As usual, it has been a whirlwind here.  Back over the Thanksgiving holiday we took Liesl to her favorite hotel in Santa Barbara.  We had been there back in July and loved it so much we decided to go back over Thanksgiving.  Liesl loves that it is across the street from the beach.  It was so funny because when we went back in November and we made the turn onto the street where the hotel is, I looked back to check on Liesl.  She had a big smile and was shaking really hard with excitement.  I wondered how she remembered when so many months had passed.  We had a wonderful time and it was nice to have some time before the Christmas holiday.

Christmas was beautiful.  We had about three days of holiday activity.  It started on Wednesday evening.  We went to see Chanticleer at the Carmel Mission.  Chanticleer is an amazing men's chorale group.  They are so incredibly precise.  The concert was amazing and the setting of the mission made for a magical evening.  It was such a beautiful concert.  I had to work the next day, Christmas Eve, but got off in time to go to services.  After worship, it was off to my best friend's family's house for the annual Norwegian Christmas Even dinner.  It was such a blessing.

Christmas was lovely and spent with the entire family.  Liesl gets very excited about the family being here and goes into her herding dog behaviors.  She has to keep everyone together in one room and has to follow anyone who strays off from the pack.  She was pretty tired from having to keep the herd together.  LOL  In fact, we were all pretty tired and went straight to bed after everyone left.  I feel so fortunate that my adult children live close by.  I love being around them and feel so fortunate to be their mom.

It has been lovely to have a couple of days to slow down a bit.  I have been wanting to get back to my stitching.  I have tidied up all of the aftermath of Christmas, packed away the holiday china and cleaned have the house closely resembling what it looked like pre-Christmas.  I am hopeful that I will get to stitch over the New Year's holiday weekend.  I am counting the days until I get to count stitches!