Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas Eve

Spent my afternoon in Old Town celebrating a Christmas Eve lunch with a friend and thought I'd share the sights with you.

We started with lunch at Cafe Coyote and I had tamales. Forget fruitcake (many people do!) but the making of and finally eating tamales is a Christmas tradition in many Mexican families. I decided to forgo my usual carnitas or enchiladas for chicken tamales and I was not disappointed, it was soooooo yummy. I topped it off with a Margartia blended to perfection.

Cafe Coyote y Cantina



A wonderful meal like that needed to be walked off so we headed to the many shops that help to make up Old Town San Diego.

I know a lot of cities have their versions of an "Old Town." Our Old Town is considered the birthplace of California. San Diego is the site of the first permanent Spanish settlement in California.


I always have to visit the Wells Fargo Museum because I find it so fascinating. It is so Wild Wild West! Can you imagine traveling by stagecoach?



The marketplace in Old Town all decked out for the Christmas holiday.


I was so happy to see an actual nativity scene without any controversy surrounding it

Festive Mexicanpaper cutout banners line the walkways


Cute water feature




Some of the gorgeous landscaping



The interior of a friend's garden shop



An interior shot of the Whaley House according to the Travel Channel's America's Most Haunted, the house is the number one most haunted house in the United States.





You can see it's a clear day in San Diego BUT it was chilly!





I love Victorian houses and there are a few in Old Town in a section called Heritage Park



The Immaculate Conception church built in 1917

Beautiful, isn't it?

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Hope you are taking time to enjoy the holiday and Holy Day with your friends and loved ones.

Peace, love and happiness from Bonnie, Sadie & Kitty

20 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you Bonnie! Hope you have a joyous day. Loved the tour of Old Town, it's beautiful. We will be having tamales tomorrow, along with turkey. Only in Texas! Kathy

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  2. Oh Bonnie, you brought back some precious memories for me! First of all, the tamales. My dear parents and aunt and uncle are long gone, but they were the ones behind the scenes of our annual Christmas Eve tamale bash. Everyone in the kitchen under the supervision of Uncle Daniel, a half Irish half Mexican chap that was the life of the party. The tamales were the best around and the cheer, dancing, music by my father on the accordian and more. Your Christmas Eve landscape is surely different from my snow-laden scene, but the love and the tradition of this most important of forces abounds!!! HAVE A GREAT DAY! Anita

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  3. Hi there-thanks for sharing such beautiful pictures my dear!! Wishing you a very Happy Christmas too!

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  4. Goodmorning tita... Merry Merry to you.... chuck has chantel wrap my gifts from him and when we left her house last night we forgot to grab it so... she'll bring it to Joel's and chuck and i will open gifts after bowling. Santa was really good to Chantel this year. Among the gifts she got was a opal w/ diamonds ring, a diamond necklace and a new mp3 player. she loved those best. i told her the K girls scored this year. she was smiling through the phone. Gotsta get ready I'll call you when i get back! love yah!

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  5. Hi Bonnie! Thanks for the wonderful tour! San Diego is on my "places to visit" list for sure! I hope that you, Sadie and Kitty had a very merry Christmas! Here it was rainy, but that didn't stop Santa. I spent the night with my daughter, sil and my grandson and his six dogs! lol I think I was as excited as he was...didn't sleep! I hope yours was happy! Sending Christmas hugs...Debbie

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  6. merry christmas! my grandparents live in san diego and our family loves visitng old towne when we go to cali! it is so much fu! =)

    http://pinkchampagnefashion.blogspot.com/

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  7. Dear Bonnie
    We haven't been to San Diego in so long, I forgot how beautiful it is. (Course it's probably really changed since our last visit.) Looks like you had a great time and the pictures are fabulous. I can't believe how sunny and blue it is there. Here it's definitely winter, but with beauty of its own. Snow everywhere. I do hope you are doing well and I look forward to our continued friendship in the coming New Year.
    Ruben

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  8. Hey there! I see you came to my writing blog! Today, at 12:00noon my time, I sent my adviser my final revision copy of my entire thesis....reference page, abstract and table of contents included. I feel FREE! Now, my defense will occur in mid-January. I am not out of the woods just yet! But I look forward to dedicating more time to what I want to do. I hope you are well dear friend. Anita

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  9. Oh Bonnie...do you draw as well? A woman of many talents, you are!!! I can't wait. Maybe Paisley Bunny has a story to tell?

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  10. AHHHH! Speaking of Paisley Bunny...the Great Gesunheit would love to warm his little paws at her hearth! Carrot cake? Did someone say carrot cake? He is catching the next train to SD; carrot cake beats eating tree bark!!! Bisous, Anita

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  12. Hi Bonnie,
    thank you so much for visiting and leaving your kind comment. Love your post.never visited San Diego so I was delightd to get a glimpse of what it looks like this time of year. Those victorian houses are just stunning - thanks for sharing.
    Have a happy and most blessed new year and happy blogging.
    rita

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  13. Hi there-hope you enjoyed your Christmas and are having a good week! Wishing you a very Happy and Prosperous 2010 my dear!!

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  14. Dear Bonnie~ Thank you for this lovely post. How fun it is to *visit* places!*grin*
    ((( Thank you dear)))) for visit me in my little world!Happy New year!!! Love~

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  15. Bonnie,

    The pictures of the houses are beautiful! I hope you and your family have a happy New Year!!!

    Blessings,

    Kim

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  16. Dear Bonnie
    So nice to meet you.. What a beautiful nativity scene. I love that old church.. Old town San Diego must be a wonderful place to spend a day..
    Thank you for sharing.
    Bebe has asked me to send her regards and say hello! and yes, she would love to come for tea.. Let us know where and when.. we will be there!
    Blessings, Penny and Bebe

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  17. Bonnie dearest! Paisley is a princess! I love that she found the Cup and Saucer! I believe that is where Tea and Rattus ended up. I believe they are going to have quite a story to tell the others when they find them. The gnome happened to be O.K. He was a friend of a friend of Tea's third cousin, twice removed.....the gnome let them through!!! Keep posted on Nocturne....Paisley is going to make an appearance! Bisous my dearest one! Anita

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  18. Hi Bonnie!!


    I enjoyed the stroll through Old Town. The pictures are beautiful. There is SO much to do and see there!! The chicken tamales sounded like a great lunch choice. Do you know there is an Old Town in Chicago? Probably one in every city! lol!!

    My sons lived in San Diego for two years. I wish we had visited this area.

    Wonderful photos. It sounds like you had a lot of fun! Happy New year to you, my friend and a big hello to Sadie from Milo and Layla!! :-)

    xoxo
    Janie

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  19. I have a niece living in San Diego! After your "Christmas tour" I think I need to plan a trip. While so different from the scene at Christmas-time here in Indiana, yours seemed quite exotic, colorful, and MOST beautiful.

    Happy New Year. I look forward to lots more visits with you in day to come.

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  20. I saw you in Sarahs blog and I thought I'd come to visit! Oh, I love tamales....and your beautiful pictures. Thank you.

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