Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Another Christmas Past -- Tues., Dec. 25

Let's back up and finish Bob's birthday celebration from yesterday. Bob wanted to head over to the Riverwalk for lunch. I thought, "Oh, no, crowds, expensive parking, yadda, yadda." I was way wrong. 

No traffic into downtown San Antonio; the streets were practically deserted at 1:30 p.m. We found a metered parking space next to the Riverwalk. I got out to see if we had to feed the meter. Someone started honking at me. I thought we weren't supposed to park there. Wrong again. A city worker was letting me know the parking meters were free through Thursday. Wow. No expensive parking!

We headed down the stairs to the Riverwalk and no crowds. Still remembering Saturday night, it seemed the Monday before Christmas would be packed. Nope. 

We chose Zuni Grill restaurant and were seated immediately. The temperature was a nice 72 degrees and the sun was shining on us.


Bob perusing the menu.

Prickly pear cactus wreath.
I chose the special of the day which was blue corn enchiladas with chicken which was very tasty indeed. I would come back any Monday to eat these again. Bob had chicken quesadillas which he rated mediocre and dry.
 
Blue corn echiladas, no sour cream, extra guacamole.
With lunch complete, we headed over to Mission San Jose. Bob had not been there and this was as good a time as any. We got there at 2:40 p.m. The next introductory movie was scheduled at 3:00 so we had time to go through the Visitor Center museum. After the movie, we walked around the mission. I had to take more photos since this restored mission is pretty photogenic.

Convento.




Love all the arches.
Cool caterpillar!


Susan outside granary.

Bob and rooftop cacti.

Indian quarters.
After the mission, we made it our mission to buy a few items at Walmart. The store was crowded but we were in and out in a reasonable amount of time.

Back at the 5er, Bob went to the hot tub while I started making his birthday spaghetti dinner. Lots of prep work--chopping garlic, onions, red peppers and mushrooms. I put on my beautiful Christmas cat apron and got to work. No sooner had I started peeling garlic when Bob popped in the door to tell me he had met a fun couple in the hot tub and did I want to join them. Reluctantly, I declined. It was already 7:10 p.m. and if we were going to eat dinner by 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., I had to get cooking--literally.

We ate right around 8:45 p.m. He was happy watching his football game on TV. I was happily playing Scrabble.

We had a very nice day.

December 25: We slept in and had a leisurely morning, ate lightly because at 1:00 p.m. the RV park was having Christmas lunch. The park provided turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and all the rest of us brought veggies, salads, and dessert. All in all, 110 people had lunch in the clubhouse. I made mashed yams with fresh lemon juice squeezed in. We had everything from Oriental salad, to deviled eggs, to macaroni and cheese, to fruit salad, to grilled Brussels sprouts. The dessert table was laden with lemon bars, pecan pie, chocolate cream pie, banana pudding, nut bread and apple pie.

At 4:00 p.m. we went to see "Silver Linings Playbook" and enjoyed it. There were some funny scenes. It deals with mental illness, romance, family dysfunctions, and following your heart. If you don't like foul language, I wouldn't recommend this movie to you.

We spoke to our families on the phone and heard about their day and dinners. It sounds like everyone is happy and healthy. Bob and I did not exchange gifts this year as our Australia trip was not only for my birthday but also for a number of birthdays and Christmases to come. LOL.

I hope your holiday was enjoyable as well. 

Travel Bug out.