a first xmas in a modern house

As we spent the day cooking (and eating), we reflected on what a busy and eventful year it has been, not the least of which we built (and moved into!) a house. With the (newly connected) cooktop roaring, holiday tunes whispering, and the cat purring, it felt good to be home for Christmas.

Santa brought the cat some hypoallergenic-vegan-gluten-free rodents to play with:

As well as a grumpy cat companion:

"I can't wait to vomit on this chair"

On the architectural side, Santa also brought a 20+ pound tome on Corbusier:

"I can't wait to vomit on this book."

as well as a less weighty Neutra:

And there's a Schindler on the way (a book commemorating his 100th birthday in the late 80s).

Our pal Bf drew up the house (something he did with our old house):

which cleverly includes the cat, the car, the landscaping plan, and hypothetical explorations of wifi radii.

We cooked up a meal for friends that featured, appropriately enough, New Mexican Christmas cookies (biscochitos) and New Mexican enchiladas Christmas style (some with red chile, some with green chile) preceded with slow-cooked carnitas and postceded with a festive pumpkin roll made lovingly by our friend Ih.

And the award for xmas card o the year goes to this freaky beauty:

Hard to say what the new year will bring. The home tour is coming soon, we'll (hopefully) finish moving in (we still have stuff in storage....), the little cars will come home, we're talking about going to Europe to visit friends (and sneak in visits to Corbusier's houses in Paris and, perhaps, visit the old modern homes in Stuttgart).

We hope your holidays were safe and enjoyable and that the new year holds great promise and adventure.

All Hallow's Eve

Enjoyed our first Halloween in the house! Didn't do much decor wise except place a tombstone in the sand pile out front.

When we bought our previous house, our first house, in our early twenties, we were so excited to host trick-or-treaters as new homeowners. We bought a big bowl of candy, turned on the porch light, and waited. The first treater came five years later... In the 19 years we lived there, we had three trick or treaters. Last night, we had well over 100. We're clearly in a more kid-friendly neighborhood.

We heard a lot of compliments on the house, including a tiny little boy who, is the most serious of tones, stated "You have a nice home." We also got comments on our entry art:

"Did you just hang that up for Halloween?" After replying that it was a permanent fixture, we were generally greeted with silence. If only they could have seen the zombie bandito around the corner.

We had to make two emergency runs for more candy. Next year we will be better prepared...