In 2020, the best gift will be hand Santa-tizer.
So, Miss Mary called first thing, like 6:00 AM, and said, “Get your buns over here, we must decorate!”. I quickly got ready and off I went in a cloud of dust. The Silver Fox was belching fire and dark black smoke at the very thought of visiting Miss Mary! He is a happy Lexus! Upon arriving, I found breakfast had been made and she was in her Christmas sweat clothes outfit ready to decorate. But first, breakfast!
I took a look at her concoction and thought I had died and gone to heaven, Quiche, potatoes al a Cote, fruit, and a glass of morning eggnog! Oh boy, oh boy!
She packed it full of calories so I could work them off all day!
I was mostly in charge of moving boxes and hang up the tall goodies. We listened to SirusXM channel 73, traditional Christmas music all day!
BY 3:00 PM we were mostly done and I went to cleanup because we are going to dinner at Robin’s home and then off to the Mission Inn in Riverside to see the “lights”.
We headed out toward Corona and in a mere 20 minutes we have arrived at Chez Duda.
Miss Mary and Robin are great friends, I am very lucky to have them in my life!
As we rounded the corner into the kitchen it reminded me of the poem where it said, “There arose such a clatter, I jumped up to see what was the matter”. It was Bob, a.k.a. Super Chef, doing battle with the perogies. I think the perogies were winning!
Also called perogi or perogy, Polish pierogi (pronounced pih-ROH-ghee) or homemade pierogies are small half-moon dumplings. They’re also chock-full of fabulous fillings. Interestingly, the word pierogi is actually plural. But the singular form pieróg is hardly ever used
The Super Chef in action!
Nick wandered in and said hello and showed us his project from the set design class he is taking in college. The detail was magnificent. We took a good look at it, pretty amazing.
Nick shows off his final report for the art class he is taking.
We had a fabulous dinner laughing our way thru multiple helpings of perogies and neat veggies and turkey bacon! Nick said the Grace and did a wonderful job. We are all so lucky to have each other in our lives.
Mary thanked the chef for a marvelous meal!
Having a wonderful time!
So next on the agenda is a trip to Candy Cane Lane, a local lighting spectacular. It was about three blocks long and we oohed and awwed the entire time.
A stroll down candy Cane Lane.
Then off to Riverside, only a twenty minutes drive from Corona to visit the Mission Inn and see what they have done this year. As with everything else this year, it was disappointing but at least they had some decorations up. We walked around and had fun.
We made it!
The girls were feeling a little bit frisky this evening, maybe it was the champagne?
It will take the workers two hours to wipe the smile off the tin soldiers face!
AAfter thirty minutes we finally got the girls to “cease and desist” an we continued our exploration of the missions grounds.
Romance is in the air!
The cameras were going ninety mile-an-hour.
Cute couple!
The kids are really cute! Bob visited the inside of the Mission Inn to converse with the executive Chef and tried to sell his perogie recipe. No luck!
The Duda’s, a team to watch our for!
Bob and Robin knew about a donut shop that was open so we wandered down there and stood in line to select our treasure. Mary and I split a Chocolate Wham Bam (or something like that). She said she would share it with me. When we got outside and she saw that magnificent piece of caloric beauty, she suddenly, without warning I may add, changed her mind. She drew the plastic knife and dared me to come close to her donut. I settled for a whiff of her napkin when the donut was demolished.
“Get near my donuts and I will cut you”
We tried to continue our walk but alas, the girls viciously accosted Santa, who by the way, was NOT smiling when they started. Now he is a happy Santa with the world biggest grin.
Girls are giving Santa a BIG smile!
Santa was in front of an antique store so we went in. The three of them kept asking me what everything was. I guess they thought the elder of the group would know everything. Well, as a matter of fact id did (and then I didn’t know, I made it up). They caught on when I described a little tool as a “left handed screw driver”.
We returned to their home and sat for a few minutes discussing the upcoming plan including my birthday and Christmas dinner. We are going to do Christmas dinner at my home and play “The Christmas Story” like we usually do but with fewer people and will get Chinese takeout form One Hung Low’s Chinese Restaurant.
Goofing off with my daughter.
Mary and I headed home around 10:00 PM and watched some TV sharing a glass of wine before turning in. Tomorrow is a big day as we are going to Mary’s work and packing up her office. After thirty-three years at the VA, she had a large collection of books and goodies. I got twenty packing boxes which we hope are enough. Between Mary’s truck and my van we can probably do this effort.
