The girls decorated this saguaro cactus for Christmas.

Mara made macaroons for Mathilde’s Christmas gift.

The most amazing 1985 Vintage Port. Our friends truly spoiled us.

That we drank with Stilton blue cheese, figs and dark chocolate. It was heavenly.

JF’s delicious Mascarpone orange chocolate pie (from Jamie Oliver).

Served in Pascale’s grandma’s ice cream bowl.

Leg of lamb for New Years served with a 2005 St-Julien. Spoiled. I tell you.

Our traditional fireworks in the backyard!

Our very sick puppy on Christmas morning.

As per tradition, we spent December in Tucson, parked in our dear friends’ yard, enjoying our time with them and sharing daily meals, playing board games, watching movies and riding bikes together. It is always a pleasure to slip back into our simple rhythm and to see our girls and their boys connect and grow together. It was heartwarming to see the girls go on bike rides with Antonio or Pascale by themselves and learn from them.

However, our celebrations were tainted with lots of sadness since our beloved Stout is very severely ill from late stage disseminated Valley Fever (VF), a fungus that is found in the soil in the desert. He likely contracted it in November and the fungus quickly spread everywhere in his body. He has heart failure from the VF and fluid build up around the heart, lungs and intestines. He has had seizures, which tells us it is in his brain too, and he moves with difficulty, which means it is everywhere in his bones. He has lost 17 pounds in 10 days. On December 26, we were pretty sure we were losing him. However, he responded pretty well to the treatment. He is on 4 different meds right now to try and control the VF, but the heart failure requires surgery, a very complex, pricey and risky surgery in which they remove the sac around his heart.

A friend has set up a Go Fun Me to try and raise money to pay for all the vet fees and possible surgery. If you can help even just a bit, we would be incredibly thankful. Here’s the link.