Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright.*

Today was full of things I love the most: eating out at yummy restaurants, a Starbucks holiday drink, shopping at an outlet mall, cheesecake for dessert, and watching a Christmas movie. Mom and I started our day with breakfast at the bagel shop across the street followed up by a stop at my bookstore to take advantage of our employee extra discount days. (Sometimes that giant corporation of drones actually appreciates the peons who work for it!) We bought a lot of books and DVDs and a few special Christmas CDs for our ride in the car. If it's after Thanksgiving and my mom is in your car, you had better have a Christmas CD at the ready. Today's selection was brought to us by Patty Loveless (for a little bluegrass Christmas), Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (it does NOT get any better than them), and Bing Crosby (total classic). We drove into LA to shop at the one and only outlet in the city, The Citadel. I resisted buying anything at the Coach store, despite their oh so tempting coupon. My mother, however, gave in to the siren's call and bought a lovely new purse. I did purchase some things at The Gap as I am my mother's daughter and cannot resist a good sale. Leaving with a slightly fuller SUV than we drove in with, we headed to our favorite seafood restaurant in Dana Point. It sits high on a hill, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Dana Point Harbor.

A lovely view, and I don't just mean us.

A photo shoot before dinner.

After our awesome meal of lobster bisque and stuffed shrimp (me) and coconut shrimp and scallops (her), we headed home for a slice of cheesecake and an equally cheesy Christmas movie. It was a good end to our fun-filled day. Tomorrow I work (boo!), but I'm sure my mom will have her fill of Target shopping before my shift ends.



Mateo loves cheesy Christmas movies, too.

*Mele Kalikimaka!