Thanksgiving in The City

It was a first -- Thanksgiving at my daughters' apartment in San Francisco!  And it was wonderful!  From the time I arrived on Wednesday until I sadly drove back home on Saturday, they treated me like a queen and we had so much fun together. 

Lys had to work on Thanksgiving morning so Ash and I threw on some clothes and decided to grace the coffee shop with our presence as well!  On our way to the shop we passed pieces of sheet music papering the sidewalk, so our imaginations went wild envisioning all the reasons why there would be Russian piano music tossed around. 

We were surprised at the number of other people out and about for coffee on Thanksgiving morn.  Then again, what delicious hot cocoa!

In the afternoon we hung out at their apartment and they made a savory turkey dinner. Ash even made a fantastic apple cake for dessert.

Friday morning Lys had to work again (she was earning brownie points so she can get more time off at Christmas^^), so Ash and I decided to get out very early to hit the Black Friday Sales.  We had never gone to the Black Friday Sales before -- the media hype about people clawing their way through the deals and elbowing people into hospital size injuries scared the bejabbers out of us -- but we decided to give it a try this time.  Wow!  It was so very worth it!  Fewer people than we ever encounter by waiting to do our shopping later, we lucked out with close up parking at every store, and with 40% off many items my Christmas budget was stretched further.  It was fabulous!

After meeting Lys around noon back at the apartment, we dressed up and went to A Dickens Christmas at Cow Palace.  What fun to stroll the snowy streets of London, transported back in time to Victorian days. 

To give you an idea of the "streets" we wandered....

 

The shops sold everything from brooms to parasols to candy and jewelry.

 

Singers, dancers and merchants were all in full costume, but even many guests got into the spirit and attended in period costume!

It was jolly good fun and I hated to see the weekend come to an end.  Now it's December -- my Christmas cards await my hand this weekend, but the house is decorated.  The girls were here last weekend and we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it with both white and colored lights and all of our favorite ornaments. 

It's the season of warmth and love -- my favorite season of all!