Christmas!

And at last I'm posting Christmas photos! We had a total blast in Los Altos over Christmas and New Years - couldn't have asked for a better holiday. We left Friday, December 21st and returned Tuesday, January 1, and squeezed so many good things in there:

I worked on knitting Evelyn's Christmas present on the drive down. Here's a photo of a sock I started JUST as it was starting to snow and before we got stopped past Yreka. At that point, little did we know they would close I-5 and we weren't going to make it to Los Altos that day.... 

BUT, we did of course arrive on Saturday mid day (after spending the night in Yreka). After a bite to eat and catching up, we got down to the important business of decorating the Christmas tree! So cozy. 

Ashley and Fritz catching up by the fire. 

THE table! We were of course excited to see the completed wedding present: the table Fritz made with walnut from great grandparents' farms that he brought back to Los Altos decades ago. So so so pretty. 

With the craftsman himself.

Went to the farmer's market with Fritz on Sunday. This is NOT what the Portland farmer's market looks like right now. So much good food...

Went for a Christmas eve morning run at Deer Hollow - a park by Fritz and Susanne's we usually go hiking at when we're there. 

SUN

Dad - gingerbread and Bonneau - took this one for you : ) 

Cleaning Dungeness crab for Christmas eve dinner 

Christmas eve dinner

Carmen made herself at home....

And helped Fritz open some presents on Christmas morning 

Ashley and Fritz playing with a new tablet

Ashley opening a gift 

Christmas dinner! Another wonderful meal and wine.

 

Susanne and Tim carving the roast 

Obligatory Golden Gate photo as we drove to Marin for a hike after Christmas

So pretty

We met up with a friend from Portland who was staying with his parents in Mill Valley (near Pt Reyes).
(Their names are Jonny and Rebekah - Mom, I think you met Jonny when you were visiting in summer. He worked at PECI, went to CU Boulder when Ashley was in school there, and lives a block from us. His brother and sister in law came with as well - they went to UW and live in Madison : ) So much randomly in common with them! 

Hiked to the town of Stinson Beach (you all probably drove right by this on the way to Pt Reyes for our wedding). 

Stopped at this beautiful old pub for a snack before we turned back around. 

View of San Fran in the distance on our way back. 9 + miles in all. Gorgeous day for a long hike!

We then went to the city to meet up with Sean and Amy (you all probably met them at our wedding - Sean is a childhood friend of Ashley's who lives in San Fran). We went to dinner, stopped at pubs, and generally hiked all over Pacific Heights. Horrible picture of me here, but the view and the lights were really pretty! 

Another morning, Ashley ran 12 miles from the base of the valley up to a ridge called Monte Bello. I ran on some trails at the bottom, then drove to the top to meet and pick him up. It was a pretty morning.... 

Stretching at the top after his run. I'd take photos of the view, but it was intermittent - lots of fog and clouds rolling around. 

On the way down, we stopped at Ridge winery in our running clothes to taste wine. 

Tasting room

Here's Ashley applying a final layer of wax to the table... 

For New Year's Eve - our last night there - Susanne cooked a delicious meal for Hector, Juanita, Sophia, Fritz, Ashley and I. We hung out, walked around the house with Sophia (we saw her take her first steps while we were there!), and met up briefly with some other friends before heading to bed early so we were rested for our long drive back to Portland the next day.

Returning to gloomy Portland was a bit of a chore, although we've fallen back into our routines, and thankfully I had my Wisconsin trip to look forward to. Even MORE photos to come! I'm totally bogarting this blog right now : )