Opening Presents for Thanksmas!

After we returned from our visit to REI, we settled next to the fire in Aunt and Uncle's casita to open up our Christmas stockings and presents to each other. The girls were so excited to get started and tore into their stockings. Sofia was super excited to get two new dinosaurs and Olivia loved her puzzle and chicken toy. Santa brought me some Mexican hot cocoa mix that I can't wait to try and CK got chocolate bar and beef jerky. After stockings, we all opened our gifts and Aunt and Uncle brought us a lot of great goodies from their trip to Italy over the sumer, including a beautiful pasta bowl that they brought all the way from Italy to Washington DC to Santa Fe. I can't wait to use it with our array of yummy pastas and truffle oil and sauces! CK got a new leather wallet and a framed picture of Olivia that he took and which is one of his favorites.

After opening presents, we ate chicken and hatch chili tamales which were delicious and headed out to watch the Circus Luminous at the Lensic Performing Arts Center right near the Plaza. Apparently the Circus Luminous is a Thanksgiving Weekend tradition (none of us had heard of it before, despite spending many Thanksgivings in Santa Fe) and is a small-scale Cirque du Soleil with amazing human acrobatics and various acrobatics. It had a storyline that included two women - one who woke with the moon and the other was up with the sun so the one who woke with the sun kicked the moon out of the sky so she could spend more time with her friend. Then they go searching for the moon. It was cute and the acrobatics were amazing but the story line ending was pretty weak. One of the best parts of the show was the live orchestra that was great! Also, the break dancers and street dancers were amazing! About 20 minutes into the show, Olivia, who was sitting with Sofia in front of us in the first row of the balcony, crawled into my arms and fell asleep. She ended up sleeping for over an hour and wasn't even disturbed by the music or applause.

After the show, we headed to the Plaza and CK and Uncle Steve took the girls to the shops that had all the cut stones, so the girls could buy a stone heart and stone shell. Meanwhile, Aunt Shirl and I walked around the Palace of the Governors to look at the Native American jewelry. Finally, we decided to go up into the Bell Tower of the La Fonda Hotel to watch the sunset. However, it was closed for the winter so we returned to the restaurant and had dinner - our final meal together before leaving the next day. It was really good and the girls tried to sing Katy Perry's "Roar" to entertain us. The girls had a huge dance party earlier in the day when Uncle Steve played Katy Perry for them and other songs. They loved dancing and trying to sing along!

This morning we packed up all of clothes and Christmas presents and packed up our SUV. We said our goodbyes to Aunt and Uncle and headed to The Plaza Cafe for our final Santa Fe meal. I had their Mexican Hot Cocoa, which was delicious! After a great meal, we headed to the airport and flew home. It was such a fun trip!

Girls going through their stockings

Sofia with a new dinosaur

Olivia digging deeper

CK has a new chili pepper pot holder

Aunt Shirl's pot holder

Olivia with her new puzzle and Sofia with a new dinosaur book

Olivia with her new chicken toy

And a new frilly skirt! She was so excited!

Our sweet big girl

Santa Fe Cowgirl

Terrific seats at the Circus Luminous

The Plaza after the show

CK takes the girls to look at little souvenirs

La Fonda's Bell Tower

Santa Fe Farmer's Market

Yesterday morning we decided to go to the Santa Fe Farmer's Market for breakfast and to look around. It was another clear and beautiful day and we walked over to the Farmer's Market and went inside. We decided on some coffee and breakfast burritos while the girls had donuts. The donuts were a bit unusual with red chili and bacon or lavender and vanilla. After we all ate, we enjoyed walking around with Sofia sticking with Aunt Shirl and Olivia with Uncle Steve. It was really lovely to walk around and test out the handmade soaps and lotions, etc. The Santa Fe Farmer's Market has so many great things and it's fun to get a sense of the local goods. We bought a few Christmas gifts as well as a native doll for Sofia and a unicorn puppet for Olivia. The girls also found the balloon animal guy and Olivia got a flower while Sofia got a horse (she wanted a unicorn but the balloon guy said a horse was better).

CK bought some local honey and I got a hand lotion bar and we enjoyed walking around the farmer's market for a while. As we headed back, we needed to go to REI so the girls stuck with Aunt and Uncle and went back to the casita where we joined them later. It was a fun start to our day!

The chili and bacon donuts

Checking out the goodies with Uncle Steve

Sofia hanging out with Uncle Steve

Olivia and Uncle Steve

Sofia and her new doll

The balloon guy, his bike and his dog

The balloon guy

Headed back toward the casitas

Meeting Santa!

We had Thanksgiving leftovers at Aunt and Uncle's casita which really hit the spot, then headed to the Plaza to watch the tree-lighting and see Santa and Mrs. Claus. We decided to drive and find a parking spot near the Plaza, which ended up being a little bit of a mistake. We finally parked a good walk from the Plaza and missed the tree lighting by maybe 15 minutes, but it was spectacular once we arrived! Because the weather was so nice, the Plaza was full of people! We made our way into the crowds and found the line for Santa and Mrs. Claus. We asked a nearby visitor to take a photo of us and it actually turned out to be one of the best of all of us!

The Santa line moved much quicker than in past years and it was nice not to be freezing in 30 degree weather while we waited. Sofia was super excited to see Santa and told us that she planned to ask for three things: a model of Krakatoa (the largest volcano to erupt in history. Indonesia, 1883), "some" plastic dinosaurs, and a model of the solar system. She wasn't sure what she was going to ask for earlier in the day, but in the past two or three weeks she's been very focused on the solar system and volcanos in general. However, Krakatoa (I'd never ever heard of it before) totally fascinates her. Olivia, on the other hand, wasn't so sure she needed to talk to two strangers she didn't know and was certain she didn't need to sit on their laps. We asked her what she was going to ask for and she said Anna and Elsa dolls (she already has some). As we got closer to the front of the line, Sofia got more excited while Olivia became less and less certain. Finally, I told her that Mrs. Claus had small candy canes that she passed out to kids who talked to her and Santa. I told her she didn't have to sit on their laps and could just talk to them.

It was the girls' turn and both of them were up in Santa and Mrs. Klaus' lap before I knew it! I guess Mrs. Klaus is very disarming to Olivia because she didn't even pause before she was sitting in her lap talking away. Sofia, of course, didn't even blink before she was in Santa's lap. The girls enjoyed a long chat with Santa and Mrs. Claus before they were handed their little candy canes and were on their way.

The Plaza really seemed to clear out quickly so we hung out and listened to the band while the girls danced with Uncle Steve and CK. They all had a great time and loved dancing. We enjoyed just standing around under the lights and listening to the music and I was able to get a few pictures of the dancing girls. We also took some photos of all of us together before we headed back to the casitas and went to bed.

The Plaza as we arrived - it was already lit up and looking beautiful

All of us - the best photo of the entire trip!

Meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus

Sitting in laps

Olivia shows off her candy cane

Sofia giving some last advice to Santa

With Aunt and Uncle while having a bathroom break and getting a little warmth inside

Dancing with Uncle Steve!

Sofia and her Papa!

Olivia loved just holding a hand and running around in a circle. Not sure how she didn't get dizzy!

The girls also loved to just run!

All of us together

The girls with Aunt and Uncle

CK and me

Snow!

Friday morning we woke up and decided to eat at The Plaza Cafe, surprised we were actually hungry after such a great meal! We walked up to The Plaza with CK giving Olivia a "piggy" (piggy back ride) and Uncle Steve giving one to Sofia! I'm not sure how he did it since she weighs nearly 60 lbs. and it's an uphill walk! We enjoyed a great breakfast at The Plaza Cafe and watched as Santa arrived by firetruck! The girls waved and then had a chance to talk with Santa after breakfast. His firetruck stopped on one side of the Plaza and Santa was there to talk with anyone who wanted to talk. After visiting for awhile, the girls ran around and played in the Plaza.

Our plan was to watch the tree lighting that evening and we wanted to drive up into the mountains to see how much snow is left. Both girls were so excited to see and play in snow. We loaded into the massive Suburban CK rented and drove up into the mountains. Sofia started to feel a bit queasy but we made it to the walking path in time that she was fine. Olivia fell asleep just as we left the casita and was able to get maybe a 30-minute nap while we drove. She was a bit out of sorts when we woke her up but we had no other way to get her jacket, hat and gloves on. There was snow in the shadows as we drove up the mountain and the walking path was covered with some depth in the shady areas. Sofia LOVED it. She kept up with CK and Uncle Steve and played in the snow or climbed up the bank of the mountain to explore fresh snow, look for unique rocks and check out the trees. Meanwhile, Olivia wanted me to carry her and refused to wear her jacket, hat or gloves! I don't know how she wasn't freezing but she never complained about being cold. Olivia enjoyed the snow, but not nearly as much as Sofia did. They played in the snow a little together but mainly Olivia wanted me to hold her or wanted a "piggy." Sofia made a quick snow angel, which she said was too cold to make another one. We also explored a series of hut-like structures that someone has gone to a lot of work to build. There were several along the ridge we walked on and it wasn't clear why they were made. It actually started to feel pretty warm up on the mountain by the time we were done walking around and exploring.

As we returned to the car, there was a tiny snowman someone made and I really wanted to get a picture of both girls with it, but Olivia was completely done by that point. We loaded up and headed back to the casitas. I'm pretty sure Sofia would have stayed on the mountain exploring and playing in the snow for hours more, but we wanted to get back to watch the tree-lighting.

Olivia gets a "piggy" from CK

Sofia gets a ride from Uncle Steve - I'm sure his knees loved it.

Watching Santa arrive on the firetruck

Visiting with Santa

Sofia in the snow

Sofia and Aunt Shirl walking and talking

The gang

Olivia finally plays in the snow

Aunt and Uncle

The beautiful aspens

Olivia and me

Sofia our little billy goat

The tiny snowman