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