The holidays have been great so far. Lots of family time, so much in fact that I haven’t had time to blog (no complaints). Christmas eve my folks came over and we made our traditional tamale feast. Last year there was some disappointment regarding the amount of masa I got and the shortage of tamales it yielded. Not one to make the same mistake twice, this year john and I picked up 20 lbs of masa! ya. 20.
I think we made about 100 tamales (three varieties: green chile and cheese, fake chicken and red sauce and pork in red sauce), with extra masa to spare this year. Christmas was a magical whirlwind, doing our personal Christmas at the house, then rushing off to the Jenkins-Stark’s house , before rounding the night off at the Mangrums. Full house this year at the Jenkins-Stark’s. Two fiance’s (myself and Lindsey’s fiance Drew) and Kelly’s non-english speaking boyfriend Francesco visiting from Italy. Day after Christmas the Jenkins-Stark family went to see Wicked which was fun. And Thursday John and I are gearing up to hit the road for Carpinteria with my folks for New Years. So excited, as they have never been to the Carp house!

As evident from this post, Christmas is not about “things’, but while we are on the topic, I thought i would share a few of my favorite gifts.

The LuLuSplendor necklace I had swooned for! (john spoiled me!)

the Johnathan Adler bird ornament I blogged about, also courtesy of john

A pleasant surprise. Papa lurked my goodreads and got me 79 short essays on design

Vllg.com For Like Ever poster from John, I’m hoping to display it somewhere at the wedding.

Erica Weiner bow locket necklace from john. I have been eyeing this for quite some time, love the delicate antique nature. Now I need to choose a picture of Johnny to put in the locket.

While this last one isn’t really my gift, I am so excited that John’s folks bought him his wedding suit! The JCrew three button Ludlow Suit.
So amazing! Cant wait!

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday, full of good food, good family, good friends and hopefully a few good gifts and some relaxation.