Pining for the Fjords

After our llama-related adventures of the day before, we planned to just chill at the cottage for Christmas Day, and we very much enjoyed doing just that.  We all got moving around 8am or so, and we popped the breakfast casserole in the oven, so it could start doing its thing.  We also got the day jump-started with some adult beverages: With fancy candied bacon! Chris and Risa work on the Christmas Kringle from Trader Joe's -  that thing was delicious! After breakfast, we gathered around the front room to open presents, and we spent most of the morning watching the parade of holiday movies on the Freeform channel - more A Christmas Story , Elf , and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation .  And eating more food.  And drinking more drinks. Eventually, we shifted to the dining room table, where we played Rummikub for a few hours and ate lunch - smoked turkey sandwiches made with the awesome gravy-miso-mayo recipe Chris discovered and left...

As I mentioned in the last blog , on my birthday (December 23rd), Chris, Dad, Risa, and I packed up their Nissan Rogue and headed south to Julian, CA, where we'd be spending the holiday weekend.  When we were planning the trip, I happened to run across the website for one of the local B&Bs; although we'd already lined up lodging, the other item at this particular B&B intrigued me - they had a pack of llamas onsite, and they offered llama tours!  Mom and I did a llama hike when we visited Taos, NM a few years back, and it was awesome, so I jumped at the chance to do it again.  I spoke with the folks on the phone before we made the trip, and we planned our hike for the morning of Christmas Eve. To whet your llama-related appetites. That's Jet up there with Dad. Jet's the furry one. We knew the hike with the llamas would be about 4-5 miles round-trip, so before we headed to the Wikiup B&B to meet our livestock, we strolled into town (read: walked d...