Merry Christmas to Jew

‘Twas sometime around Christmas, and to make the day jolly,
I went to LA to go visit Molly.

There she is!

’twas the end of December and we noticed a lack of traffic in her ‘hood.
“We could go to the beach,” said Molly, “we won’t but we could.”

So avoiding the sand, we went for something delicious,
A breakfast at Millie’s to celebrate Christmas.

Intensive air quality.  Also, I know, you know, my phone needs to be charged.

After breakfast I got to hug both Dave and Pace
And we all laughed and played, none of us keeping a straight face.

Later on at dinner, we ate sushi and sake
The three of us Jews continued to get talky.

The next day we split my visit all around
Visiting with Al and Betsy in their new hometown!
(Congratulations!!!)

Betsy made soup,
It was pure veggies for our group.

Contentment.

Now before I continue, it’s important to know…
That for Christmas, I switched places with Katie Barbaro.

I sent Katie to Amsterdam for a total travel mystery
to celebrate with Soyara (See: My Singapore history)

Katie creating Love Mischief before sleeping on a house boat.

To stand in for Katie while she was away…
I went to the Barbaro’s to spend one Christmas day.

Jumping in an Uber with a loud Chinese man
We brought the family a tulip, origin: The Netherlands.

Guess who’s coming over for Christmas dinner?? 

Molly, Dave, and I had a WONDERFUL time with Katie’s parents and brother
You’d never know it was the first time for all of us to meet each other

Over text I’d been introduced as a “best friend” to the “best mom”
It felt like we were participating in our very own Freaky Friday sitcom;

Maggie, Bruno, and Bruno Jr. ❤

The Barbaros were so generous and the night was sublime
I’m glad having that much fun and food isn’t considered a crime.

Once dinner was over, there was exquisite dessert
Dave (who’s vegan) couldn’t eat it, which had to have hurt.

So to add to the fun, Molly and I described without fail
how the dessert tasted in very complex detail.

Adopted by a family for Christmas ❤

From now on, this is what I will  think Christmas dinner looks like.

When the plates were all empty and the wine just as so
Everyone was tired, it was time to go.

Our goodbyes at the doorway were such a sore sight
The three of us could’ve stayed with Katie’s family all night!

‘Twas truly a Christmas like never before
But you shouldn’t stop reading, because there’s definitely more…

Although, this next part doesn’t include rhyming for a couple of reasons:

1. It’s about a lucky, luxury vacation. And the word “luxury” is kind of like the word  ‘orange’ — Does anything rhyme with it?

and

    2. No one needs to be rhyming for this long.

Okay, so this luxury vacation came about because I found myself in the right place at the right time (a Christmas miracle!) and because my generous friends Molly and Dave have equally generous friends in all the right places.  Zach (hi Zach!), had invited Molly and Dave to spend a few days at a luxury resort outside of LA, and I got to be the plus-one to Zach’s plus-two.

Molly, Dave, and I made some potted plants to give as gifts.  ‘Twas the season of giving, after all, and when someone gives you a weekend at a luxury resort, the least you can do is offer small terrariums to the family in return.

The next day, we drove to a gorgeous oasis in the greater Los Angeles area, taking special care of those sweet potted plants along the way.

Christmas with a view.

When we got there, Zach gave me yet another present; a nickname he thought people called me in high school: Samster the Hamster. Classic.  And potentially my new fursona for next year’s furries??  Hilarious, adorable, and rhyming?!  Be still my heart ❤

Anyway, the resort was massive, and all of us had an incredible time exploring the complex, which had a variety of pools to choose from (one of which Molly and I used simply to spin around in). We enjoyed going to fun dinners, playing games (like adding “hole” to the end of words), getting to know everyone better-hole, and perhaps the most luxurious part of it all: taking the shuttle in our robes #teamrobe.

One of the many pool-holes.

It didn’t take more than 36 hours for Molly and I to really get into character– to really embody the essence of fancy, at least for a few hours. And how did we do this? We went to a windowless spa (windows are so last year) and chowed down on some delicious blondie brownies. And let me tell you, you know you’ve made it when every beautician in the spa comes up to you a comedic amount of times asking if you’re Ms. Jackson.  She sounds great, we mused, as we headed back outside, probably to find ourselves at yet another pool.

On December 25th it rained briefly (God’s present to earth), but you can’t tell from this sunny photo.

Our last night in the villa, we had a smashing time (I say words like ‘smashing’ now because of how fancy I now am).  The group of us made up our own Jack the TV game before engaging in a rousing karaoke session.  Zach. the gift that keeps on giving, sang a karaoke rendition of Man, I feel Like a Woman!  It was such a delight.

I think most of the pictures are with Dave and Molly.  But the memories are in our hearts 🙂

The next morning, we parted ways.  Some of the group took their private jet back to Las Vegas where they live, and since my private jet is still in the shop (jk…jk..), Molly, Dave, and I drove to wine country.

The wining part of wining and dining.

We checked into our airbnb and then took an uber (yay for safety!) all over wine country to, duh, drink wine.  At the end of the night, happy and hungry (what’s new?), we asked our Uber driver, Pedro, if we could stop and get a bit of food at the grocery store.  Pedro was (dare I say, more than) happy to oblige.  He seemed to really like our company (or was super into the assortment of snacks were picked out) because he decided to stop working and hang out with us.  The Pedro hangout was fine… but after he left Molly hit the nail on the head when she finally pinpointed the source of mild discomfort: “Pedro wasn’t well traveled enough… in his mind.” Well said, Moodel. 

Hangin’ with Pedro: Christmas edition — the only edition.

The next day, we headed back to LA where more presents awaited.  One gift was the experience of going to my first ever weed dispensary, which was like the Apple store…so sleek, so fancy. So luxurious. It must’ve spent the weekend in a villa too.

The other gift was the business name that Molly and I got to name when we went on a solo adventure after Dave got back from the DMV.  Molly and I landed on a possible business name (but no actual business).   The Betas! “I feel beta with my dog.”  said Molly.  And, my parting gift, getting to sift through a leftover clothing exchange that Molly had hosted before I had arrived in LA.  It was like I went shopping and picked out new outfits for free. Thanks for everything Moo ❤

Clothes that are new to me.

Merry Christmas to Jew,
Sam(ster the Hamster)