It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Now that Chanukkah is officially over, I can start gearing up for Christmas. Chanukkah and Christmas are so far apart this year I've really been focusing on just Channukah. Growing up. I only celebrated Channukah, but since Jon's Catholic, ever since we've been together I've celebrated Christmas with his family. As much as they hate the fact that I'm Jewish, it works out very well for them because there's never any fighting about where we'll spend Christmas.

Last year was our first married Christmas, and first Christmas living together. We marked the occassion with a tree and the entire selection of Crate and Barrel Ornaments. Unfortunately, we had to wait and get our tree until after finals, so we had slim pickings. This year we went early and got an amazing tree. Jon thinks its one of his favorites.
We also have loads more ornaments this year, like the ones from my Secret Santa, our Mammoth trip, and the one Lucy brought back for me from Salzburg.
The tree is decorated, the stockings are hung, it's time for Christmas!

The day we decorated was also the day we took a fieldtrip up to LA with our favorite tour guides, Liz and Bill. "Lill" or "Biz" as they are known by the papparazzi, had been talking about Ethiopian food for ages and how much they loved it. We were finally able to join them for a jaunt to their favorite restaurant.
The story begins like a classic horror story. It was a dark and stormy night. There were 6 of us piled into the car (Kim and Corey were also up for an adventure that night). As Bill navigated his way to a back alley parking lot behind the restaurant we followed nervously. The restaurant was small, but warm and after several attempts, the entire group was able to sit correctly on the chairs....well except for Jon. He flaunts convention. We place our order with the waitress who cautioned us about our multiple raw meat choices (Corey is apparently a vampire). The food came out in large gobs on a large pancake.
It was definitely intimidating. But our fearless leaders showed no hesitation before diving in and scooping up the piles so we were quick to follow. The food was delicious. Very fragrant and flavorful. Don't ask me what we had, I couldn't even begin to tell your. But by the end of the night we were all stuffed, warm, and happy. What a successful adventure!