We wish you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

This Christmas flew by! Both of us worked through the 22nd, which I guess is the same as always, but made Christmas fly by. On the 23rd, we went out for our annual Christmas Eve Eve date, which has previously been to a play or musical and then out to dinner, but this year we felt more like seeing a movie, so we saw Up in the Air (not uplifting! but good) and went to dinner at a new favorite restaurant of ours called Chilam Balam, a traditional Mexican tapas restaurant on Broadway and Wellington. The chef is a previous sous chef of Rick Bayless'. Rick Bayless owns Frontera, Topolobampo, and Xoco, which are all great restaurants, and he obviously taught his sous chef's well because Chilam Balam is fantastic!

On Christmas Eve, we usually have our families over for dinner, but both of our parents hosted Christmas for their families this year, and we decided to post-pone our Christmas Eve celebration to the day after Christmas so they could prepare. Bill and I had a romantic dinner on our own, beef short ribs with a raspberry glaze (my fav), mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts, purple califlower, and two kinds of squash that I don't know the names of. Yum! Then we watched our all-time favorite movie, Love Actually. Our place is so festive and romantic right now with our Christmas tree, candles, and other holiday decorations, my favorite thing is to be inside, cuddled up on the couch with Bill or a book.

Christmas Day was especially nice because we got to go to both of our parents homes to celebrate. We spent the afternoon at the Soukups' and the evening at my parents' house. It was very fun! We got great gifts from everyone that we have used all of at least once by now. My mom made stained glass angel ornaments for everyone that came over (and if you know my family, that's a TON of people), which were really special and so pretty. I love Christmastime.

I love this place! That nook in the couch, where all of the pillows are... the best spot.

Bill's delicious Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas Shopping Day with the Soukups in early December! Everyone gets money to go shopping with and we all come back for dinner and share what we bought.

A Soukup Tradition!