The annual Holi-DAZE...

Daze is right.

So this year was a bit weird.  I was actually really dreading the holiday because this is the 1st year without now both my grandparents.  It's been hard enough without Papa and now Gramma has joined him.  The other loss is Shane and D.  They have left us in SoCal for Oregon.  So - needless to say - I wasn't totally looking forward to the holiday this year.  I've also been completely slammed at work due to being extra busy, going through a conversion and not having any help.  Let's just say Jami has put in a lot of overtime hours this December.  I also got sick.  Of course.  I made it all the way through 2016 without catching a flu then right after Thanksgiving - BAM.  Got nailed with the cold/cough that's spreading around like wildfire.  DAZE doesn't even begin to describe this month.

BUT - I will say this - With all the heartbreak and tears I still had a great season!  Mom and I were pretty determined to just play a game of distraction all through the holiday and overload the Xmas which was awesome.

I even threw out a few decorations.

I love my pink tree!!!!

We'll start with our early Xmas:

Shane and D came down early December - the weekend of the 10th to be exact.  Although they filled their time here with visits with friends, we did get a Sat with them and had our own little Xmas.

Miss this man terribly

Mom of course went all out as usual.  I adore her for this so very much.  Shane and D got me a really cool presie too!  A limited edition picture on tin from Norman Reedus's Instagram account signed by him!  Super unique and cool.

Moms famous coffee cake

Danelle got Shane a signed Cubbie bat!!  So cool!

My favorite!

They were here a Wed through Sun.  Shane, mom and I went to dinner their 1st night here while D was out with friends.  We then all spent the Sat Xmas and headed to Todds that night for a party.  I didn't stay but it was nice to say hello to everyone.  Then breakfast early Sun morning with Dad, Mom and the two of them followed by a tearful goodbye.  I miss them so much and really do wish they were still down here.

One night I saw little Miss Hailey in her play!  She was a dancer in one of the pieces and absolutely adorable!  I was a very proud auntie!

My little star!

Another evening Cesar and I did our usual - he made dinner, I baked dessert and brought wine and then we took the pups for a walk.  This is one of my favorite things to do with one of my favorite people!  This particular night Cesar gave me a beautiful alpaca scarf he brought me from Peru and it was a very pretty Xmasy walk!

Love this man and his pups!

We had to do a Disneyland trip to see the decor so we headed out probably the latest we possibly could before the insane crowds.  It was pretty nutty and way more crowded then I prefer but we still had a great time!

She loves D-land so much!

Robin joined us this trip!

Yay a wine drinking buddy!

The castle did look exceptionally gorgeous this year!

We waited an hour to ride this since we missed it at Halloween

Loved all the lights!

I love this picture!

We saw "snow"!!!

Although I had to miss a bunch of fun holiday stuff at work due to me being so friggin slammed, I did still host our Cookie Exchange and made it our EVP's annual holiday party!

I tried a new recipe!!  Yum!

Beth always goes all out and wins most Festive every year!

My boss got convinced to sing a little diddy!

I also made sure to keep my tea date with Becks.  We wanted to do something fun and maybe Xmasy for lunch so we hit up Paris in a Cup and had tea!  It was so fun and beautifully decorated!

Xmas High Tea!

One Saturday night mom and I went and saw my dear friend Rick perform as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol!

Mama/Daughter Date

For my Xmas present Taylor bought us 2 tickets to see Sinister Pointe!  This was a Halloween Maze he went to earlier in the year and they did up a holiday version!  Well of course I had to go!!!  It was super creative and so fun!  It wasn't so much as scary rather than raunchy.  We had a blast!

My best horror buddy!

Now that Taylor is working at Knotts he was able to sign us in for Knotts Merry Farm!!!  This was so damn fun and probably my favorite so far.  I've only been to Knotts over the years for Haunt and haven't been to just the park or rather Merry Farm in years!  Probably since I was a kid!  It was so much fun!!!

I seriously love the Knotts Xmas decor!

I actually beat both of them!  I must be getting to be a good shot!

She's so cute

Pretty!

Love my Taylor!

Christmas Eve mom and I hosted an open house at her place from about 1 until 9pm.  The only bad thing was I didn't take any pictures!  Ack!  Julie posted 1.  Her and Art and her littles were the 1st guests.  Mel and Simon, Tully, Ber, Noel, Lisa and her mans, Susan and Fam, Cori and fam, Libby and fam, friends of moms and so many others dropped by.  It was so awesome!  Some brought snacks and/or wine and it was a day/night filled with laughter and love.  I made a mulled wine which I should have made way more of!  We had munchies and cookies galore.  It was such a perfect way to spend Xmas eve this year since mom and I were having a bit of a tough time.  It was a beautiful event!  Next year more mulled wine and pictures!

Christmas Day found mom and I at Who-Song for brunch.  We should have made reservations.  Whoops!  Who knew so many people brunched on Christmas Day!  None the less we had a great time and ate tons of delicious food.  We landed back at her house for chill time and that night I headed to Dad and Lori's for dinner.  Lori made an amazing steak and we had a great night!

The boys in their holiday best!

I kept busy during the holiday break.  Monday mom and I went and did some after Xmas shopping.  I promptly spent my gift cards from dad and Lori.  Tuesday I had to work but that night my friend and old co-worker came over with dinner and we ate, drank and visited.  Wed morning brought a hike with Cori and her son.  That was very cool and they both did so good!

A perfect day for a hike!

Wed afternoon I went out with Lisa to Old Vine in Costa Mesa.  We had an awesome lunch and great convo.  They also had a 6 for $60 bottles of wine special all hand picked by the chef.  Um OK!

Thursday I de-Christmastized and got some random things in my house organized but did take one last shot the night before of my favorite part of my Christmas decor.

Thursday was actually also Libby's birthday!  So - I took her to dinner to one of her favorite Italian Restaurants.  Mom joined us as well and the staff gave us fun little blinky jewelry!  Talk about a perfectly fun evening with my 3 favorite women!

Friday I actually had to go into work...boo.  Then Fri night just chilled.  Saturday came and low and behold - New Years Eve.  I've fallen a bit into the holiday blues this year for many reasons and the topper being that I've been ghosted by "Sleeves".  Remember him from the end of the last dating blog?  The I hope I hope I hope?  Yeah.  I should really just stop fucking hoping at this point because I honestly think I'm doomed to be single.  New dating blog I'm sure will be short to follow this one.  But for now - this is my life.  Forever it seems - taking pics with my cats.

I mean...Tabitha is pretty fucking cute right?

Anywhoo - moving on.

So New Years Eve came and went and I had one party invite which I almost went to but the blues got to me so I decided to say fuck it.  My computer was also on the fritz so I bribed my dear friend Noel with sushi lunch (hella expensive sushi lunch because we both damn love it) to see if he could help my sad little laptop.  It was a perfectly lovely lunch with lots of saki and damn delicious sushi and they gave us a cute little dessert on the house due to the holiday!

Then before I headed out we took a couple of New Year pics to pretty much sum up how we both feel about 2016.

FUCK YOU 2016

Seriously.  Fuck off.  Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Hashtag #fuckyou2016.  RIGHT??!

Later that evening I sat on my ass watching TV, drinking wine and passed out by 10pm.  I of course was woken up by the midnight fireworks but didn't even get out of bed.  Nope.  This is year I'm out.  I hate to end on a bitter note, but sadly that's where I'm at.  These past few days have actually been a bit rough and I know "this to shall pass" but right now.  Evs.  I'm grabbing another glass of wine.

BUT - This holiday season has had its down's but also it's ups as you see above.  I'm, as always, super damn grateful for the wonderful friends and family I have in my life.  I seriously could not get through this life without them.

May 2017 bring us some good dammit!  We do have Trump...UGH!!!!  But let's all band together and be ready!  I'm in fighting mood friends!  Let's take 2017 by the balls and conquer it!  Woot!