Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I had forgotten that Pensacola had a distinctive smell. It's kind of like a salt marsh, only watered down a little by humidity. When we got home last night I noticed it and remembered the first time I stepped out of a car to look at our apartment building. It's been over a year, but I suppose it took a full two weeks away from the smell for it to be surprise enough to my nose for the memory to pop up. The above is irrelevant, except that it sums up coming home after a long and active absence. It seems a long time since we've been home.

It has been a truly wonderful Christmas, though, and I will share snippets of my favorite parts... actually just the parts I got pictures of that were my favorites. I didn't get many pictures.


Food sweet food. At Sweet Christina's in downtown Fairfax (10409 D Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030). We stumbled upon it by accident, as it is tucked around a corner, but were very pleasantly surprised. It was Christmas Eve morning and we had Starbucks in hand, so we felt obliging when we were told by a passing customer to try the Malva at Sweet Christina's. It's a South African bread pudding. Bonnie, the owner, overheard and brought out a sampler for the three of us (myself, the Hus and the Mother in Law) to try. It looked like this when it was half-eaten:

And. It was yummy. I wholly recommend Sweet Christina's and the Malva, which, as Bonnie informed us, is her adapted version of the traditional recipe. Her's isn't as sweet.

But, oh my. It is sweet.


More Christmas to come. The Hus just fell asleep on my shoulder. This is not condusive to typing. No need to explain why my shoulder is an attractive pillow when I am semi-recumbantly laptopping. I shall simply enjoy.