Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, bloggy friends! We spent Christmas with my parents this year, drinking Costco eggnog (delicious) and playing Mexican Train Dominoes. We didn't even bother to decorate our house, lazy folks that we are. Actually, I did put out a holiday hand towel. Does that count? (Totally counts.) Christmas (2020)  It's unusual for SN and I to spend a New Mexico Christmas at home, all alone. As much as I'd like to say we made the most of it, celebrating another COVID holiday with just the two of us seemed a bit...old?  Repetitive? Pointless? We had our tinsel in a tangle. At first, it seemed like Christmas was just going to be like any other day. Another boring quarantine breakfast followed by another boring quarantine lunch. But then... We were visited by Santa's reindeer! What do you mean that's just a normal deer outside our window? It's clearly Blitzen. Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,  Olive and Bernadette were consumed by holiday m...

My Thanksgiving, 2020 blog post ended up being one of the most popular on my site this year (thank you!), so here's a quick Christmas Eve update, filled with photos.  Christmas, 2020 hasn't looked like it has in previous years... My younger self (with  braces !) was excited to wear that purple flower pin, which had been recently purchased at a consignment shop. My old lady self questions my previous sense of fashion while simultaneously wondering whatever happened to that purple flower pin. Though, to be fair, our Christmas celebrations often seem a bit untraditional. There's certainly no snow for Santa's sleigh when your family lives in Arizona. I'd had a light jacket, but it was so sunny and warm in Scottsdale the year we visited Frank Lloyd Wright's  Taliesin West. It would just be SN and I for the holidays this year. No homemade lasagna, no tamale brunch, and no Christmas cookies. Imagine my surprise when I received a card from my aunt saying to enjoy the p...

2020 has been quite a strange year. If you've spent the last 12 months catching up on your favorite movies and TV shows, you'll have no trouble beating my Christmas Movie Trivia . Fair warning - it's not multiple choice, so you'd really better know your stuff! Christmas Movie Trivia   We all get into the Christmas spirit (even my boss, who is Jewish), but no one takes it quite as far as my coworker. She encourages our patients to wear her musical hat, but with one rule - they must also dance. Even the most sullen teenagers join in! As profitable as running this blog is (ha ha), I have a "real job" working for the best Albuquerque pediatric dentist . Next month will mark 15 years with her - I was practically a baby when I started! I've been working on some fun holiday Facebook posts for our patients to enjoy, including trivia questions about their favorite Christmas movies.  I originally published everything at once and was disappointed when no on...

Christmas Movie Trivia   We all get into the Christmas spirit (even my boss, who is Jewish), but no one takes it quite as far as my coworker. She encourages our patients to wear her musical hat, but with one rule - they must also dance. Even the most sullen teenagers join in! As profitable as running this blog is (ha ha), I have a "real job" working for the best Albuquerque pediatric dentist . Next month will mark 15 years with her - I was practically a baby when I started! I've been working on some fun holiday Facebook posts for our patients to enjoy, including trivia questions about their favorite Christmas movies.  I originally published everything at once and was disappointed when no one reacted or commented.  Then Facebook suggested again and again that these were such great posts that I should  pay to turn them into ads. Well no wonder none of our patients responded. Facebook hadn't allowed anyone to see my holiday posts! If that doesn't get your...

Sexy Nerd and I said goodbye to chilly Albuquerque and flew off to Tucson to see my family on Christmas Day. There wasn't much of a line going through security, but I was selected to be one of the *lucky* passengers inspected by the airport's new body scanner. Sexy Nerd says it's because I cut in front of him in the security line. Supposedly, the scanner can't see beneath sequins. Doesn't everyone wear sequins on Christmas? After being scanned, I was also required to be "patted down" by the hand of a large, stern woman. Phooey.  Christmas photo! Note the plethora of black sequins all over my chest.  What's the matter, Sexy Nerd?  Oh, that's right. It's time for a Neal family Christmas. There, there!  So many Neals! So very, very many Neals! Honestly, I'm just being dramatic. They're all fun, friendly people and it was wonderful to spend Christmas with them. (And who knows if any of them will read this post!) Sexy Nerd's...