Christmas Recap

Another lovely Christmas, made lovelier by the fact that I will be having a very extended weekend...until 2012! The weekend:

Began my Christmas Eve at the Los Angeles State Historic Park in Lincoln Heights/Chinatown.

[Pretty wildflower]

[With a very happy Bennet]

The park is on-leash, but I rebelliously let Bennet run in the middle fields without a leash for about 5 minutes.

The St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store is nearby, so we dropped by.
They have a huge selection of furniture, and I haven't seen the clothes section, but I think it's large too. They have a lot of dressers and a good number of sofas. I didn't find anything I wanted to take home, except these Thonet Bentwood replicas, but I didn't do it. I already have my mismatched set, and buying these would have been superfluous. Nevertheless, I was contemplating for a long time. $15, because they were having a 50% off Chairs sale!! Maybe if you go now, you can still scoop them up.

[My fave - Bentwood chairs!]

Finished the day off with hours of cleaning and baking.

[Coffee buns]

Began Christmas with some more baking, and headed to church and saw an amazingly entertaining Children's Christmas Program. The star of the show was an elementary aged student - a chubby little boy dancing enthusiastically and pirouetting (the freestyle was amazing!). You can imagine how hilarious it was.

[We ran out of helium after 5 balloons...]

Headed over to my parents' house, where our entire extended family ate ourselves to bliss and did our Secret Santa exchanges. All the gifts I received were just perfect for me, including this new mandolin from my wishlist.

[Very Sharp New Mandolin]

We finished the night with 3 games of Mafia (I was Mafia once & we won!!!). For me, Christmas means family time, and I definitely had a very full Christmas. How was your Christmas?

[New vintage glass ornament from my sister & my fave Santa ice cream ornament]