We had a late morning flight, but with the holiday fast approaching, we wanted to be at the airport with plenty of time, so we called for an early ride. With Mandy being an in-cabin pet, they wouldn't let us check in online, so we needed to get all three of our boarding passes and check a bag, take Mandy to the pet relief area, go through security, and still have time for breakfast before boarding. It was a good thing we got there extra early, because the line to check a bag was longer than I've ever seen it. It wound all around, using up all of the normally "optional" queue space, then wandered out into the main terminal, and wrapped around two corners with a long corridor between them. United did a great job of keeping it moving, though, and it didn't feel like it took that long. The line for security wasn't so bad, since we both had our TSA Precheck clearances. Once we got to Concourse B, we had breakfast at my favorite restaurant in Denver International Airport - Pour La France! 
Mandy was a super good traveler, once again. She put her head down before takeoff, and slept until after we had landed, and people were starting to get off the plane. Then she looked up inquisitively, with one of those "are we there yet?" kind of faces. 
I snapped a few pictures while we were flying, but this one was the most interesting to me. The Sierra Nevada mountains had a lot of snow!
We started our visit with another of those delightful walks around Atascadero Lake near my sister's house. My grand-niece is getting to be a real "little person" with a personality of her very own. She's such a sweetie, when she wants to be! 
My sister had "no room at the Inn," so I booked us a room at the Carlton Hotel in downtown Atascadero. I've been wanting to try this place. We liked it a lot! The king size bed was super comfortable, with a down quilt, and all the other amenities were very well executed. They also had done a wonderful job of decorating the hotel lobby for Christmas. Did you notice Mandy peeking out from behind the arm of the chair? 
My nephew and his wife (they married last summer!) hosted a delicious Christmas Eve dinner, in their cozy basement apartment. They worked so hard to make it an amazing experience for all of us. 
We spent Christmas morning opening gifts at my sister's house. Sis didn't want to be cooking breakfast that morning, before preparing her big Christmas dinner all the rest of the day, so I texted everyone before we left the hotel, and offered to bring whatever people wanted to order from the nearby Coffee Shop. Nobody responded, so I figured nobody wanted anything. At the last second, one of them asked for something, and then they started giving me everyone else's order. I think we finally got everyone covered for breakfast. About two hours later, when we were finishing up our gift-opening frenzy, everyone started announcing that Sumner wanted to know everyone's breakfast order. It turns out that it took two hours for my group text to be delivered on Christmas morning! Maybe it got delayed with all the Merry Christmas mobile phone traffic? Good to know for future holiday mornings! 
We stopped by Morro Rock, the last of the Nine Sisters peaks in San Luis Obispo county. When I was in college, we used to go to Morro Rock, to try to see the Peregrine Falcons, a protected species that was known to nest there. I don't remember ever seeing them back then, but we sure got to see a lot of them on our visit this time! It was a real treat! My pictures of the falcons showed them very small and unexciting, so I'll just show you this pic of us by the Morro Bay inlet, with the harbor in the background. It's exciting to me, to know that the falcons are flying right over our heads here! 
The friendly concierge offered to take this picture of the three of us travelers in the nicely decorated hotel lobby, before we flew back home. We really did enjoy our trip, and especially this place. It didn't feel so bad, having to leave my Sis's house each night, knowing we were coming back to such nice accommodations. The evening concierge took a real interest in Mandy, which made our comings and goings all the more pleasant. 
Home safe and sound! Even with as much fun as we had visiting family, we were happy to get back to Littleton, and our cheerily decorated home. There were a bunch of Christmas cards waiting for me when I got home. I am glad for the real-time updates that social media like Facebook provides, but I have to say, I really *love* looking at the delightful pictures that people choose to send at the end of the year, and reading the summary notes about how they've been doing - it's one of the highlights of my year! For many years, I was too emotionally overwhelmed to send out my usual Christmas letters, or even to handle the logistics of getting some cards sent. I'm starting to perk up a little lately, and feeling like I'm able to send out a few cards, but I still get overwhelmed, when I start thinking about what to say in a holiday letter.
