December 31, 2025: Welcome to our December cocktail hour. Let’s have some rum and goat milk egg nog. We can enjoy breezes and sunset views, and maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see rainbows or a Cold Moon. You can even come along vicariously on our trip to Costa Rica’s Central Highlands, and celebrate a belated Christmas and New Year’s Eve with us. Sunset is is now at around 5:30 every night and if it’s not raining, we can enjoy some magnificent painterly skies at sunset.
I have a variety of soda, seltzer water, or bebida de aloe for those of you who don’t drink. Mike can also whip up some excellent smoothies. Thanks for joining us in our escape into a peaceful corner of the world.
December marked our seventh month in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It was more laid back than our usual month since Mike had his carpal tunnel surgery on the 2nd, and we were limited as to what we could do. However, we did manage to carve out a 5-day road trip to the Central Highlands of Costa Rica. We made the most of our one and only Christmas in Costa Rica.
Homebody stuff
On Tuesday, December 2, we drove to Liberia where Mike had carpal tunnel surgery on his right hand with Dr. Andrés Ugalde Cordero at Orthocell. During his recovery time of 4-6 weeks, he had to refrain from using his right hand, so it fell to me to take over the driving, the cooking, the cleaning, and even tying his shoes. He got the stitches removed on Thursday, the 11th, but he still had strict orders from the doctor to refrain from using his hand for most tasks including cleaning dishes “until next year!”
We enjoyed beautiful views of the Cold Moon on Thursday, December 4, as well as many magnificent views from our new condo. We bought ourselves a small fake Christmas tree on the 12th, which we plan to take to Ometepe when we go visit in January.
I had a pedicure on the 13th and we finished our “Skull Whispers” puzzle on that same day.
We got our car washed for only the second time since we bought it at Lavacar Vargas; it now looks spanking new!
I finished 4 books in December, bringing my total to 48/48. I especially enjoyed Rules of the Wild: A Novel of Africa by Francesca Marciano. I found enlightening the books The Girl in Grey (by Annette Lyon) about the 1939 Winter War between Russia and Finland and Madness Visible: A Memoir of War (by Janine Di Giovanni) about the war in the Balkans which has got to be one of the most confusing and brutal wars in modern times. We watched two movies: Champagne Problems (France) and A Merry Little EX-MAS, both of which were a bit hokey. We also watched the 1945 movie Christmas in Connecticut. We started watching a couple of new series or new seasons of old series: Home for Christmas (Hjem til jul) (S3), Emily in Paris (S5), The Manny (S3), Grantchester (S3), and Untamed (Yosemite). We finished watching The Morning Show (S4), Unforgotten (S6), Nobody Wants This (S2), The Diplomat (S3), and The Asset (Legenden) . We continued watching Younger, Seinfeld, Platonic, The Beast in Me, and A Man on the Inside.
Dining out
We went out to lunch at Eden’s new unnamed restaurant in Tronadora for its “soft opening” on the 3rd where we met a table full of Americans and Canadians who I didn’t know, other than Bev who we’d met there before and Darrell and Kirk from the gym. We went there again on the 20th for its grand opening – now under the name “Lava Lake Café.” On Saturday night the 6th, we went with Anne and Jack to Paseo del Viento where it was crowded with families and children. At 7:00, two singers performed Christmas music in what was billed as “Gran Velada Navideña” (Grand Christmas Evening) with Andru & Anapau y “coro voces venti” (twenty choir voices). We ate lunch one day at Marisqueria Lago Arenal, where we met some tourists on their way to La Fortuna. We got take-out pizza from Cafetería y Pizzeria Guadalupe near Rio Piedras and had Anne & Jack over to see our new condo. Darrell & Farida came up for a visit and then Darrell drove us all up the hill from the condos to Brisas de Tilawa, a cute restaurant with mediocre food.
Exploring Costa Rica’s Central Highlands north of San José
We took a road trip on Monday the 15th to Costa Rica’s Central Highlands northwest of Alajuela. First we stopped in La Fortuna where we enjoyed massages at Serenity Spa, soaked in the hot tub in our room (since it was raining and we couldn’t go to Baldi Hot Springs as planned) and ate dinner at Sunny’s Indian Restaurant. We did some Christmas shopping for each other and came back to our room at Yellow Tree Suites to find an invasion of ants. We won’t be staying there again!
The next morning we drove to three small towns: Zarcero, Sarchí, and Grecia. Each town offered something different.
Zarcero displayed whimsical topiary art in its Parque Francisco Alvarado and is known for its progressive organic farming practices. It also has a beautiful church, Iglesia de San Rafael.
Sarchí is the artisan capital of Costa Rica and displays thousands of models of brightly colored model oxcarts – including the world’s largest oxcart. We admired the oxcart in the town square, ate a healthy lunch at Enrrolato, and then visited the cool oxcart factory: Taller Eloy Alfaro e Hijos.
We drove on to Grecia, where we went straight to La Terraza Guest House B&B, which sat on tropical grounds and had cottages covered in brightly colored murals. We ordered take out from Andaluz through Uber Eats.
On the 17th, we visited Parque Nacional Volcán Poás with timed tickets to view the caldera. The volcano has erupted as recently as 2017. Visitors have a maximum of 20 minutes to view the principal crater and its Tiffany -blue pool in the center. We didn’t see a thing because of steam and gas from the volcano.
We then drove to La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park, which has an animal sanctuary and a series of waterfalls. Before exploring, we ate a lunch of an empañada trio and a chicharrón bowl at the on-site Tortillas Restaurant. Our first stop was the bird aviary where we saw toucans, peacocks, Scarlett Macaws, pink-footed ducks and parrots. We also saw butterflies, an ocelot, a mountain lion, and jaguar and a grey fox. We enjoyed the series of waterfalls along a well-maintained paved walkway.
Later that afternoon, we strolled around Grecia, where we found a park decked out for the holidays and a merlot-red church built entirely out of metal, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Mercedes, which adorns the town. We walked through the city market and had an early tapas dinner at Andaluz.
Our final day, we drove an hour to Bajos del Toro, a tiny village in a cloud forest west of Volcán Poas. From there, we explored two waterfalls: Catarata del Toro and The Blue Falls. Though the Blue Falls has 6 waterfalls altogether, we only visited Poza Azul (the blue pool) and Cataratas Las Gemelas (the twins). This was a fabulous day!
On Friday the 19th, we drove 3 1/4 hours on another route home (the unscenic route) skirting the west side of San José and coming up on Route 1 back to Cañas and on to Tilarán. I let Mike drive the last third of the way.
Drives, walks and local explorations
The weather here has been windy, rainy and rather chilly, so we haven’t been on many walks. On Saturday the 14th, we walked around the town of Tilarán and saw neighborhoods we’d never seen before. On Tuesday, the 23rd, we walked up on a ridge near Tisú Farm where it was so blustery that we were knocked off balance numerous times. It was a gorgeous walk with amazing views. We walked another day on the ridge near Parcelas above the condos.
Our holiday celebrations: Christmas & New Year’s Eve
To celebrate Christmas Eve in Costa Rica, we went out to eat dinner at Gingerbread. We exchanged a few gifts on Christmas morning, talked to all the family by WhatsApp, and then had our friends Anne & Jack come over for wine & cheese & crackers. We enjoyed ceviche and Christmas decorations at Cevichera La Pasadita on Friday after Christmas, and then went to Anne and Jack’s for a home-cooked international meal on Saturday. On Sunday, we went to Moya’s Place in Nuevo Arenal to eat and listen to Christmas songs in “especial de navidad” with singers Andru y Ana Paula.
On New Year’s Eve, we went to Chafi’s for an early dinner. We’re not ones to stay out late on New Year’s Eve, but it was fun to be in a local Costa Rican restaurant.
Finishing up the Fall Bingo Card and creating the Winter Bingo Card
This month, I completed more things on my Fall Bingo Card, including the following:
- Got a bronze-flecked pedicure
- Finished our “Skull Whispers” puzzle
- Made a lentil soup (the last of my bean soups)
- Created my Fall playlist on Spotify: Fall in Costa Rica & Panama 2025
- Drives: Zarcero (topiaries), Sarchí (oxcarts) & Grecia (red metal church)
- Stay in a cabin (cottage) in the mountains (La Terraza Guest House B&B)
- Spa Day & Massage (at Serenity Spa in La Fortuna)
- Stay in a cabin (cottage) in the mountains
- Volcán Poás, Catarata del Toro, Cataratas Las Gemelas
- Plan next year’s goals & get 2026 calendar and complete 2026 bullet journal
- Finished The Girl in Grey by Annette Lyon
As of December 20, the end of fall, I achieved 5 Bingos, and read 11 out of 13 books I had hoped to read. I never wrote 3 fall poems, never visited a botanical garden in Bocas Town in Panama, and never hosted a wine & cheese evening. I also never managed to take a boat ride on the Tucan Arenal and never made any squash or root vegetable recipes.
As of December 21, with the beginning of winter, I created a Winter Bingo Card, shown below. Some of the items revolve around our upcoming January visit to the family in Nicaragua, my daughter’s visit in February and our trip to Guatemala & Belize in the first two weeks of March.
On my Winter BINGO card, I did a couple of things:
- Started a new journal for our last 6 months in Costa Rica
- Made 1 of 3 hot soups: white chicken chili
- Watched two more Christmas movies: Christmas in Connecticut from 1945 and My Secret Santa. We continued watching season 3 of Home for Christmas (Hjem til jul)
- Celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
- Finished three books: Rules of the Wild: A Novel of Africa by Francesca Marciano, Getting a Life: Stories by Helen Simpson, and Madness Visible: A Memoir of War by Janine di Giovanni.
Birds, flora & other Costa Rican wildlife
We saw a band of coatis on the road to La Fortuna, as well as a lot of animals at the sanctuary at La Paz Waterfall Gardens; however, those were all in captivity. We did encounter a new bird at La Terraza Guesthouse B&B, a Lesson’s Motmot.
Family Happenings
Andrea celebrated her 12th birthday on the 12th in Nicaragua and Mía turned 9 on the 18th. Allie had a fun time in day care making pizzas, helping her parents decorate the tree, and watching the Christmas scene on TV with her nose to the screen. All the grandchildren seemed to have a happy Christmas.
On my Costa Rica blog, you can find my weekly recaps of our lives in Costa Rica for the month of December:
- settling into our new home in lake arenal condos & mike’s carpal tunnel surgery {week 27/52}
- removal of mike’s stitches in liberia, double workouts & our first guests {week 28/52}
- a costa rican road trip: three towns, volcán poás & waterfalls galore (& wrapping up the fall & starting the winter BINGO cards) {week 29/52}
- christmas in costa rica {week 30/52}
*********
I hope you’ll share how the year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for the winter and the upcoming new year.
How did your December go? Did you have any special family gatherings? Have you welcomed any new additions to your family? Did you celebrate any birthdays or anniversaries? Have you read any good books that can inform your worldview, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or had any winter or holiday getaways? Have you dreamed any dreams? Have you gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you marked off activities on your Fall Bingo card? Have you created a Winter Bingo Card? Have you made any new friends? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines? Have you marched or otherwise participated in political protests? Have you been battered, or alternately, uplifted by any news?
Please share your December with me by giving me the plot below, or a link to a post in your blog that tells about your month.
~ wander.essence ~ 
You must be logged in to post a comment.