Favorite Things: Christmas 2016

2017 is officially here, but not before I slipped away for a much needed Christmas break in Texas. We made some usual stops at some of our favorite places:

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HOT GLAZED AND A CHERRY ICED PLEASE.

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Caught up with some friends:

Enjoyed the perks of a “green” Christmas. Even if it did mean it was almost 80 degrees the whole visit.

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I love our orange tree.

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Also this weird fruit tree.

We tried to be a little festive:

If you know us, you know that is definitely not our house, haha. We keep it simple when it comes to Christmas lights. Dad showed us this crazy Christmas house that’s on his usual biking route.

Bella, our dog, had to have surgery recently and to help her not interfere with the healing process she’s been forced to wear turtlenecks. I convinced my mom that she should have  at least have a Christmas one for the holiday season.

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This day after Christmas we hit the road and headed to San Antonio. We stayed in a cute little house and had fun playing tourists for a few days.

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House fridge magnets.

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I loved the decor in this house, it was a colorful, but very clean aesthetic. The spirit of the Mexican influence on San Antonio was well displayed and the owners also seemed very inspired by spiritual elements [there were multiple nativities, a buddha, and some Hindu deities represented]. However they also did not have a tv and said they intentionally do so to encourage people to do things like play boardgames instead … but nobody’s perfect I guess haha.

We visited the mercado where I did some nativity shopping and enjoyed window shopping and churros.

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We checked out some bikes and rode the path between the missions. Of course, we also paid a visit to our favorite publication in town, Buena Suerte.

However, we mostly just ate our way through as many tacos as possible.

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My mom is obsessed with the taco garage baby.

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One of our eating highlights was Maria’s. It’s a small cafe that was right around the corner from the place we stayed [our Airbnb host recommended it]. The BEST brisket nachos ever.

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And naturally, we had to take a stop at the Alamo and the Riverwalk. We’ve been to the Riverwalk many times, but this time we decided to do the boat tour and it was a lot of fun.

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Boat tour highlights: When they pointed out the bridge where Jennifer Lopez filmed a scene of Selena! Also when they pointed out the stage where they filmed part of Miss Congeniality and no one cared but me. I then unsuccessfully tried to get everyone to watch this movie all weekend.

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Mom and I waiting for the boat.

But of course my most favorite thing about visiting Texas is just hanging out with my favorite people. None of which want to be photographed at the same time. Or sometimes at all. BUT I DO IT ANYWAYS.

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Hope your Christmas was wonderful and 2017 is treating you well!

Bonus LEAST Favorite thing of Christmas 2016: Getting a stomach flu type bug on Christmas Eve! Thankfully it was a 24 hour thing and I was still able to say hello at Noche Buena that night and enjoy some pie with some of my favorite Nelsons and DelaMares on Christmas Day.

Currently watching: Waking Ned Devine

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