Noël C'est L'Amour

Tis the Season to be Jolly, and I am. This Christmas has been great, surrounded with friends and family. Everyone happy and healthy...

Noël C'est L'Amour
On Dec 14th before coming home for Christmas, I sang in the stake christmas choir in Versailles. It was a melange of ages - I was the oldest soprano by about 15 years :-)

Some of the French translations were a bit funny - e.g. Do You Hear What I Hear? turns out to be Ecoutez-vous comme moi? Hehe. Some of the songs were uniquely french. My favorite was Noël C'est L'amour. Here's a little clip of the song sung by Tino Rossi with a nice French nasal twang. Very French and very beautiful.

Kookoo
Later that week I flew home. Upon arrival to San Francisco, I was greeted by some kooks. Why does San Francisco have so many weirdos?

This guy was waiting for his luggage in bare feet, a kilt, and a tie. I got a good look at him while I waited for my fabulous parents who'd been driving around the terminal loop for 2 hours due to my late plane arrival which didn't come in until 11:00pm.

Blue skies and oak trees
I awoke the next day to California in it's glory and relished the scenery as I drove up my favorite highway - 280 - on my way to San Francisco, windows rolled down.


MMmmmexican food! Once in SF, I met met fav old roommate, Jane, at our fav neighborhood taqueria - Pancho Villa.

Diet Coke compliments super nachos nicely. Oh. That reminds me. My mom and I stopped into Burger King on our way to Oregon and they actually had signs at the soda machine that said which sodas pared best with which meals. REALLY! E.g. Sprite goes well with Meal #5: Double Whopper and fries; whereas, Diet Coke goes well with the BK Tendergrill chicken sandwich and side salad. Glad to see that fast food is classing it up a bit :-) Please don't think that I, as a typical American, eat fast food a lot. But I must admit, I did get one more fix of mexican food before heading back to Paris - a burrito al pastor from La Bamba.

Roommate Reunion Lives On
4 of my mom's good friends (and old roommates from back in the day) have maintained their friendship over the years and our families have vacationed together at Pine Mountain Lake every summer as well as celebrated Christmas together every year for the past 25. What once entailed a nativity reenactment, progressed to a talent show of trombones, karate demos and hawaiian dances. And now has settled into a casual pizza party with whatever kids are in town.

This year that turned out to be just Ryan and me and Mike Mentes + the parents.

The Reason to the Season
The next day, my mom and I drove up to the Oakland Temple and were a bit early for the session so we popped into the visitor's center where they have a temporary sculpture exhibit on the Healing Powers of Christ. It was super refreshing to infuse the season with some more meaning and depth than shopping and Santa.

Oakland Temple

The Cleansing of the Leper

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, thy leaves are so delicious!
As I was walking in my old neighborhood on my way to a Christmas party at Kirsten, Rita, and Steph's apartment on Hancock Way - 10 minutes walk from my old place - I passed this Christmas tree displaying in a bakery window made entirely of bread. I miss you Castro/Dolores/Mission triangle :-)

San Franidazzle
Our Christmas party consisted of glittery Christmas ornament making, a violin/piano duet of The First Noel, a game of reverse charades, and a 5 course Christmas dinner. Let me disclose our menu - planned and prepared by master chef Andrea Pimental.

• Course #1: Salad greens with pomegranate seeds, grapefruit, avocado, and hicama cut out in little snowflakes.
• Course #2: Pear slices baked with brie and wrapped in proscuitto with a honey glaze
• Course #3: Homemade ravioli stuffed with butternut squash and pistachios and drizzled with a browned butter and sage sauce aside a dollop of alfredo cream.
• Course #4: Beef Wellington - filet mignon and pate baked in a pastry shell that had little star decorations on top.
• Course #5: A trio of desserts. Homemade baklava. Orange chocolate mousse. And a white chocolate tartelette topped with candied cranberries.

Wow, right?! It took her one week to prepare.

Dinner Dazzle

Glitter Dazzle

Pinewood Panthers '98!
On Saturday I had my 10 year high school reunion. Mmhmm. I think everyone (12 of our graduating class of 49 were there) was pretty much the same as ever, only mature, non-cliquish, and successful. I did get a few "you are so different" comments after looking through our old yearbooks. Thankfully!



Ford's First Christmas
The next day my family drove up to Oregon to see my grandma. We spent the whole time watching my 10 month old nephew (AKA my son that I left behind to go to France) and trying to get him to smile.
He's sort of the serious and curious sort. Only his mom and dad can get him to smile, but we'll keep trying.

I'll be Home for Christmas
After a few days we drove back home and celebrated Christmas again with my other grandma. Whenever I think of Christmas, I think of our living room with our stockings, nutcracker, poinsettias, and the Christmas tree all lit up and shining against the backdrop of our backyard. Love it!


Next adventure
New Years in Switzerland with Steph :-)