This beer is SANTA size. I had no idea when we agreed to the large, that THIS is what it meant. Too big for me to drink all of it, could barely lift it. But it made me laugh and I loved our start to the night.
Life isn’t always what you expect
Mark and I had SO much fun last year Christmasing in Solvang, that we planned to return this holiday. BUT a series of bumps in the road drained our holiday savings and made us need to be nearer to home. At first we glumly thought to go get a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and make do with leftovers in our fridge for Christmas dinner.
There’s usually options
BUT we live very near to downtown Burbank, so it’s a quick drive. And I remembered that I have some frequent stayer hotel points that would get us a room for free. So we packed up our Christmas train from last year and headed out for an impromptu Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning for me – blogging in front of our holiday train that we got on last year’s Christmas trip.
Stop 1 – Beer and Bar Food
We usually don’t have the luxury of stopping off for happy hour. And many of the restaurants in downtown Burbank were closed for the holiday (good for them!). But we saw Gordon Biersch was open, so we popped in. We ordered large beers to save money – but OMG! This beer (which is my top photo) was so big I couldn’t lift it. So we laughed, I leaned over to sip what I could and enjoyed my first order of wurst sliders in memory of my dad, who LOVED German food.
Stop 2 – Enjoy the Town Decor
We didn’t have any plans, but decided to walk around enjoying the holiday spirit. Long time since we wandered hand in hand. Usually our adventures involve hiking with poles or riding bikes. This was kind of romanic and fun!
We stop to snap a pic in front of the Burbank town tree before the movie.
Stop 3 – We decide to see a movie we knew NOTHING about
One of our writing friends, Gabe, had strongly recommended The Big Short on FB. As we passed the movie theater, we saw a showing was about to start. So in we went!
Snuggled up getting ready to watch The Big Short – not usual holiday fare, but a surprisingly entertaining and educational film about the fall of subprime mortgages. Recommended!
For once we didn’t eat popcorn either. We wanted to save room for a late dinner, in case any restaurant would be open after.
Stop 4 – Thank you Market City!
The good folks at market city took pity on us and let us in a whopping 5 minutes before the end of dinner service. Having been in the restaurant biz, I know what a pain THAT is, but all of the servers and cooks were wonderful and we thanked them mightily for providing a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.
After the movie we have fancy Merry Cherry Cosmos and a late supper
Enjoying our late Christmas Eve supper at Market City in Burbank – I LOVE the decorations – we didn’t decorate this year, so we depend on the decorations of others.
Stop 5 – Back to our holiday port in the storm
Time for the mistletoe! Mark and I return to our Christmas home away from home and take a last snap before letting sugar plums dance in our heads.
Stop 6 – Christmas Day in Burbank
Lovely Christmas view to wake up to!
Our tiny stockings are hung by the hotel door with care (Thanks writing group leader Samantha for giving us these cute little stockings)
Now as I finish up this post and click send, we will pack our things, bid our holiday adventure adieu, but savor these unexpected memories forever.
However you celebrate we wish you joy and happiness, not only for the holidays, but for every day.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Aaaaawwwweeeee. SUPER lovely Laurie. So awesome you made the best of it. As it turns out your adventures seem better than if you would have ‘planned’ something!!!
I really enjoyed reading your recap as I e been dealing with a little unexpected/unexplained sadness lately. So thank you greatly.
Oh Miss Dawny you are a marvel to read and comment on Christmas Day! I’m glad you enjoyed our little outing, and I’m worry to hear the winter blues is nibbling at your toes. That can be a painful struggle and is no fun. Luckily your ‘Ugly’ present is a wonderful way to wrap yourself in love. We love you too.
xoxoxoxo
You guys have such a gift for being able to turn any day into an adventure! I want to be just like you guys when I grow up! 😀
LOL! Thanks GF – I think we tell a good story 😉 Hope your holidays were wonderful. xoxoxoxox
They were certainly uneventful…
Well in some circles, uneventful is the greatest Christmas gift of them all! 😉 Most days his Markness and I are on such opposite schedules I need to go look at the old blog photos just to remember what he looks like! xoxoxox
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