Here Comes Santa Fe. & 134 town & country

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1 Here Comes Santa Fe Chile wreaths, parades by candlelight, enchiladas two ways: the holiday season in new Mexico s capital is unlike anywhere else. By Diane Tegmeyer Photographs by Miki Duisterhof 134 town & country &

2 & Local actress Aimee Dale and her family at play at the San Miguel Mission, just steps from Santa Fe s Plaza. Opposite: Lili and Lucien Dale pick out ristras, wreaths made with chiles, a Santa Fe tradition.

A view of the Inn and Spa at Loretto, in the center of town. Below: Chef Charles Dale, the maestro behind the Encantado resort s Southwestern-inspired Terra restaurant.

3 A view of the Inn and Spa at Loretto, in the center of town. Below: Chef Charles Dale, the maestro behind the Encantado resort s Southwestern-inspired Terra restaurant. It Is the second week of December, and my husband, Brooke, and I are lying in bed at Encantado, the year-old Auberge resort just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, feeling like children getting an early Christmas present. During the night, a fine layer of fluffy snow has blanketed the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains, adding a magical sparkle to the fifty-sevenacre former ranch in the upscale suburb of Tesuque. Not that snow is unheard of here, particularly around the holidays, when temperatures average a crisp forty-five degrees. It s just that in the thirty years I have been visiting this New Mexican high desert, I ve rarely seen powder on the swaths of brown sagebrush, nor have I spied a dark cloud hampering those endless turquoise skies. In the past, at the end of our eight-hour drive to Santa Fe from our home in Aspen, Brooke and I made a habit of stopping at Ten Thousand Waves, a slightly funky Japanese-style spa with private outdoor hot tubs and unusual treatments, including a mask made of sanitized nightingale droppings. This time, however, we literally dumped our suitcases at reception and ran straight to a couple s massage at Encantado s spa. The 10,000-square-foot space which, like the rest of the resort, emphasizes contemporary elegance (stacked flagstone walls, floorto-ceiling windows, acres of wood) specializes in therapies that counterbalance the effects of the 7,000-foot altitude. We would begin our tour of the city, fully rested, in the morning. 136 town & country &

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com The firepit on the patio of Terra, at Encantado, warms guests during sunset cocktails.

4 & The firepit on the patio of Terra, at Encantado, warms guests during sunset cocktails. Below: Terra s Valrhonachocolate fondue with housemade marshmallows. A snow-dusted bronze elk stands sentry in the courtyard of the Gerald Peters Gallery. Above: Friends catch up before treatments at the Spa at Encantado.

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6 A pair of Forty Roses of Our Lady of Guadalupe cowboy boots, worn by boutique owner Nathalie Kent. Opposite: The Christmas spirit shines at Todos Santos Chocolates & Confections, a popular shop with a cult following. & december

When snow blankets the city, Santa Feans get outdoors. Here, Aimee Dale walks the family dog, Oscar, outside town. We keep coming back to Santa Fe because Christmas here is like nowhere else.

7 When snow blankets the city, Santa Feans get outdoors. Here, Aimee Dale walks the family dog, Oscar, outside town. We keep coming back to Santa Fe because Christmas here is like nowhere else. Instead of wrapping itself in ubiquitous red and green, the historic city shimmers with luminarias, paper bags filled with candles held in place by sand. Thousands of them line driveways, storefronts, even rooftops, casting rivers of light over the metropolis and taking the place of Christmas trees though about a dozen are illuminated in the Plaza, the city s cultural and commercial hub. Because Santa Fe is a melting pot of Anglo-American, Hispanic and Native American cultures, the real holiday spirit is not so much in the decor but in the festivities. On Christmas Eve, cars are banned from parts of Canyon Road, where almost half the city s 240 art galleries are located, as carolers take to the streets. The revelers break for midnight Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, a French Romanesque church built in 1887 that dominates the downtown cityscape. Earlier in the month, a pageant called Las Posadas ( the inns ) takes place. Following Hispanic tradition, the ritual revolves around the biblical story of Joseph and Mary searching for lodging in Bethlehem. Gathering at the Plaza around 5:00 p.m., hundreds of people holding luminarias parade behind men and women dressed as Mary, her husband and the shepherds. (There used to be a donkey, too, but after it took off with Mary on its back a few times, the pregnant Madonna walks.) The procession ends up at the Palace of the Governors, once the seat of Spanish government and now part of the New Mexico History Museum. Nearly every day of the year, on the huge porch of the early-17th-century palace, Native American artisans sell chunky turquoise jewelry and inexpensive crafts, which make great gifts. Though this sort of commerce is mainly for tourists, these residents of the Eight Northern Pueblos, spread between Santa Fe and Taos, also welcome interested visitors to witness their holiday traditions, which often start a few days before Christmas Eve. The celebrations typically blend animism with Catholicism, some times beginning with a Mass; the main attractions are the ritual dances incorporating buffalo headdresses, bows and arrows, and butterfly and eagle outfits. We won t get to any of the pueblos this year, but Brooke and I do brave the snow on our first day in town to see the $137 million Railyard, a new commercial core taking shape about a quarter mile off the Plaza. Before construction began, the area had little to offer other than Site Santa Fe, an art-installation center that completed its expansion in Today the district has become a magnet for contemporary-art galleries. More important, it is the location of the year-round Saturday farmers market, which our old friend Charles Dale, the chef at Encantado s Terra restaurant, tells me has helped elevate dining throughout Santa Fe. Brooke and I enter a warehouselike room filled with ristras (wreaths made of red chile peppers), dried flowers, handknit hats and rows of gourmet produce. We stop at a display overflowing with bread, where the stout man running the stand tells me how he migrated from Holland to Santa Fe and became a monk. Tiring of that, he says, he currently works as an artisanal baker and is researching a new form of algae at a local university. His history reminds me of another reason I love spending the holidays in Santa Fe, nicknamed the City Different: the artistic eccentrics, who have all but disappeared from my hometown, are present in droves. Take Nathalie Kent, a former accessories editor for French Vogue who moved here two decades ago and opened a boutique on Canyon Road that sells couture Western wear, art and home furnishings. As a child in northern France, I had Thursday afternoons off and would put a feather in town & country &

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com The festive storefront of Todos Santos.

8 & The festive storefront of Todos Santos. Right: On her office door, gallery owner Nedra Matteucci turns everyday iconography coins, milagros, crosses into masterly art. Necklaces of hand-rolled turquoise beads are sold at Packards on the Plaza. Left: Angels and other religious artifacts on display in Matteucci s house, on Canyon Road.

Santa Fe essentials LAY OF THE LAND New Mexico s capital city was originally designed by its Spanish founders around a central plaza, a oneblock square that still serves as its downtown core.

9 Santa Fe essentials LAY OF THE LAND New Mexico s capital city was originally designed by its Spanish founders around a central plaza, a oneblock square that still serves as its downtown core. You ll find most of Santa Fe s art galleries, museums and restaurants on the Plaza and the narrow streets that radiate from it. Tesuque is a suburb about seven miles north of the Plaza. There is little here other than the new Encantado resort and the outdoor opera house (open in summer), but the town is beautifully situated in the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains. You won t need a car if you plan to stick close to the Plaza, but you ll want one if you wish to explore some of the eight Native American pueblos nearby. WHERE TO STAY encantado This former ranch has sixty-five adobe casitas on its fifty-seven acres, as well as a 10,000-square-foot spa and a Southwestern-inspired restaurant, Terra, helmed by Aspen chef Charles Dale. Casitas from $ State Road 592, Tesuque; ; encantadoresort.com. inn and Spa at loretto With its enviable location just one block from the center of the Plaza, the inn is a perfect place for those who don t want to bother with a car. The thirty-five-year-old hotel, along with its spa and restaurant, completed its redesign this past February; its 134 guest rooms now reflect a romantic palette of terra-cotta red, gold, black and white. Doubles from $ Old Santa Fe Trail; ; inn atloretto.com. Rosewood inn of the anasazi The twenty-year-old, fiftyeight-room inn continues to deliver Southwestern charm, with pueblo-style sandstone walls and artifacts reflecting all of Santa Fe s cultures. The new Anasazi Suite comes with hardwood floors and two fireplaces to take the chill off those winter nights. Doubles from $329, suite from $1, Washington Avenue; ; innoftheanasazi.com. WHERE TO EAT Cafe Pasqual s Don t be put off by the long lines running out the door. The thirty-year-old Mexican restaurant has only forty-nine seats and looks a bit divey, but the food is quite creative, and virtually everything is organic. Dinners are excellent, though nothing beats eavesdropping on the gossip of the day over a breakfast of papas fritas: housemade fries layered with red or green chile, melted cheese and sour cream and served with a tortilla on the side. 121 Don Gaspar; ; pasquals.com. Coyote Café All is exciting again at this two-decade-old establishment now that chef Eric DiStefano, formerly of Geronimo, has come aboard. Taste test his Southwesterninfluenced contemporary American cuisine in such dishes as peppery elk tenderloin and rotisserie-roasted rock hen with a green-chile mac-and-cheese side. 132 West Water Street; ; coyotecafe.com. luminaria My favorite lunch was at this recently opened restaurant at the Inn and Spa at Loretto. Executive chef Brian Cooper cooks up such Southwestern dishes as a smoked-turkey sandwich on sourdough with avocado-andtomato chutney and buffalo sliders with chipotle aioli (Brooke s pick). The decor is modern Southwestern: resinand-wicker chairs, tables built from reclaimed barn wood, a grand copper bar. During the holidays, the restaurant really puts on a show with threecourse prix fixe dinners on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 211 Old Santa Fe Trail; ; luminaria restaurant.com. the Shed Our annual tradition is to order Christmas here: two enchiladas on a plate, one covered with a red sauce, the other with a green sauce. 113½ East Palace Avenue; ; sfshed.com. terra A firepit on the outdoor patio adds to the romantic ambience, and you can t beat the food. Chef Charles Dale shops at the local farmers market to create dishes like slow-cooked breast of veal and a deluxe steak frites touched with a foie gras emulsion. 198 State Road 592, Tesuque; ; encantado resort.com. tesuque Village Market Mix with locals and sample artisanal bread, or just rub shoulders with the city s best chefs. 138 Tesuque Village Road; WHAT TO DO Georgia O Keeffe Museum The artist, who painted everything found in the Southwestern desert, spent the last years of her life in town and has become synonymous with Santa Fe. The small museum opened a decade or so after her death in 1986; it owns more than half of her body of work, some 1,100 pieces, which are rotated regularly. 217 Johnson Street; ; okeeffemuseum.org. Museum of international Folk art The whimsical museum has the largest collection of folk art in the world. Check out the aluminum-foil church from Poland, puppets from India and miniatures from all corners of the globe. 706 Camino Lejo; ; internationalfolkart.org. Palace of the Governors Built in the early 17th century as Spain s seat of government, this registered National Historic Landmark is now part of the state s history museum. Among its many treasures is the Pancho Villa clock, which hung in the railway station in Columbus, New Mexico, during the 1916 Villa raid; it took a bullet to its face and stopped at 4:11 a.m. Outside, on the palace s ample porch, Native Americans sell their wares almost every day of the year. 105 West Palace Avenue at Santa Fe Plaza; ; palace ofthegovernors.org. Site Santa Fe The cornerstone of the new Railyard commercial district is a private notfor-profit art facility that opened in Modeled on the Venice Biennale, it is the only international exposition of contemporary art in the United States, showing cutting-edge work by both renowned and unknown artists. It s best to take a guided tour to learn about an artist s intention in building, say, a platform that has visitors jumping from a perch onto a padded bed five feet below Paseo de Peralta; ; sitesantafe.org. ten thousand Waves Just let go and give in to the Japanese Zen at this aging spa. Devotees love the private outdoor soaking tubs and the esoteric treatments Hyde Park Road; ; tenthousandwaves.com. 142 town & country &

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com WHERE TO SHOP Nathalie Here you ll find Western wear and home furnishings curated by Nathalie Kent, a Parisian cowgirl and a former editor at French Vogue.

10 & WHERE TO SHOP Nathalie Here you ll find Western wear and home furnishings curated by Nathalie Kent, a Parisian cowgirl and a former editor at French Vogue. 503 Canyon Road; ; nathaliesantafe.com. Packards on the Plaza This former trading post and pawnshop was started in 1920 by local traders Frank and Marie Packard. When the prominent Canon family bought it in 1980, they turned it into a boutique selling modern jewelry (note the silver cuffs by John Hardy) and Native American crafts. 61 Old Santa Fe Trail; Santa Fe Dry Goods This store may have a homey-sounding name, but it has moved the city s fashionistas into the 21st century. Founded by Greg and Helga Porter, it is now run by their chic daughter, Shobhan Porter, who has updated the space with such labels as Agnona, Cucinelli, Tse, Lainey and Zoran. You may not wear many of these clothes in Santa Fe, but you ll be perfectly outfitted for your next trip to Milan. 53 Old Santa Fe Trail; ; santafedry goods.com. Todos Santos Chocolates & Confections Those who view chocolate as religion consider this a Santa Fe destination. Owner Hayward Simoneaux has been churning out specialty chocolates since he began collecting vintage chocolate molds more than a decade ago. Demand is high for the bars shaped like religious icons and astrological signs and the ones dipped in edible 23-karat gold. Another big favorite: the redchile truffle, which packs a major punch. 125 East Palace Avenue; WHERE TO BUY ART Adobe Gallery For those who really want to delve into Southwestern art, this is a good place to start. You ll find everything from antique pueblo pottery and Hopi kachina dolls to silver and turquoise jewelry. Proprietor Alexander E. Anthony Jr. has published eighteen books on Southwestern art, so he knows what he s talking about. Just ask. 221 Canyon Road; ; adobegallery.com. Gerald Peters Gallery Peters opened his namesake showroom in In addition to Southwestern art, he now sells contemporary works by the likes of Caio Fonseca and Carol Anthony Paseo de Peralta; ; gpgallery.com. Nedra Matteucci Galleries Matteucci bucks tradition and lights up her gallery and adjacent home like Dollywood for the holidays; it s so overthe-top, it must be seen and, in fact, it s quite beautiful. Inside, Matteucci s gallery is all sophistication, focusing on New Mexican art, specifically the works of Santa Fe artcolony painters from the early 1900s. There s also contemporary Buccellati jewelry and watches and a one-acre sculpture garden out back (you ll recognize some of the artists, such as Glenna Goodacre, who created the Vietnam Women s Memorial, in Washington, D.C.) Paseo de Peralta; ; matteucci.com. Selby Fleetwood Gallery The historic adobe building in the heart of Canyon Road creates a nice backdrop for the paintings, mixed media, sculpture and well-priced pieces that make wonderful gifts or souvenirs. I particularly loved the wooden sculptures by California-based artist Joe Brubaker, who carves totemic figures, then paints them in muted colors. 600 Canyon Road; ; selby fleetwoodgallery.com. A Native American elder taking part in the Buffalo Dance a holiday custom at Pojoaque Pueblo, thirteen miles outside Santa Fe. Right: Blankets and knotted rugs at Packards on the Plaza.

The Luxury Traveler s Guide to San Miguel de Allende: 7 Insider Tips from a Travel Writer

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