Christmas in Taos

Three giant banners proclaiming Peace On Earth greeted us as we drove along bumpy County Road B007 to Mesa Sea. A lovely sentiment, but what we liked even more were the mini-banners underneath arranged in Burma-Shave fashion:

Raven and Rabbit

Cedar and Sage

Singing in Solstice

Sun Touching

Hearts and Hearths

On Our Hondo Mesa Home

We entered our Hondo Mesa home to find a few troubling leaks. Even though Steve had patched the roof thoroughly in October (or so he thought), the freeze-thaw cycle of snow and ice opened a few vulnerable spots around the canales, allowing water to seep down the walls and stain the plaster. Steve spent an hour or two nearly every day of our three-week stay sealing the seams with roof cement. This winter an unusual amount of heavy wet snow has fallen on the mesa, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that those patches will hold until our next visit in March. We'll try the patch-and-pray method one more winter; then it'll be time for a new roof.

Christmas was truly remarkable, despite the roof worries. First, there was our genuine New Mexican Christmas tree--a white fir nearly ten feet tall:

Then Drew, Liz, and Lyra arrived, just in time to make farolitos,
drink a little bubbly,
and play Christmas carols on their guitars.We enjoyed the Christmas Eve festivities at Taos Pueblo (no cameras allowed), a few movies, a new card game, our favorite board game, Scene It, and dinner at Hunan Restaurant. The morning of their departure was crisp and sunny:
and we waved goodbye as the Mini chugged along Mesa Sea, headed back to Las Vegas.