The Christmas Suite at The Cliffs

For me, the holidays for me are an exciting time of trying endlessly to chase a feeling of relaxation in a busy, celebratory environment, while still attempting to be holly and jolly. Often, I rely on decorating to help me set the mood, but when you travel, more often than not you are at the mercy of whoever designed the hotel room to set the tone for your adventure. Seldom do hotels take holidays of any kind into account when decorating their rooms, and even when they do enter the mix, they are reserved for the lobby. Which is fine. Unless you don't spend much of your time in the lobby.

All of this is why, when I heard that The Cliffs had a Christmas Suite, I HAD to know more! Is it really a Christmas Suite or just a room with a wreath on the door?

Ladies and gentleman, I am proud to introduce to you- The Cliffs Christmas Suite experience.

Reception checks you in and welcomes you. Nearby, one of their incredibly kind management staff pours wine (or hot apple cider) and offers you cheese (or cookies, as it were). We have been lucky enough to meet both Eric and David on each occasion we could not have enjoyed better company.

We enjoyed this hot cider in the lobby by the fireplace because, well, that's just how you do it. I don't make the rules.

After what can only be described as the most cozy afternoon I've experienced in years, we went back to our room to prepare for dinner. The adjoining restaurant, Marisol had been booked for a private holiday party, so we dined at another local establishment that also happens to be well-decorated for the holidays.

With a live band and an enormous dance floor, dinner at Alex Madonna's Gold Rush

Steakhouse offers up a slice of life from date night in the 1950's. The usual eccentric decor of the Madonna Inn is exceptionally festive with it' holiday layover- featuring Santa Clause, Mrs. Clause, elves, reindeer, you name it! You feel like you have walked into a gingerbread house! Our favorite item on the menu has got to be the fingerling potatoes and the prime rib salad. And yes, we split it! Have you SEEN that thing? It's enormous! And so delicious. (An it won't get cold while you dance!) After an amazing evening of dining and dancing, we headed back ow the road to our gorgeous suite at the Cliffs to enjoy a very merry evening and unwrap the gifts we had brought each other. It felt wrong to have a tree in our room with nothing but empty decorated boxes underneath.

We were greeted by the friendly valet and warm front desk staff as we passed through the lobby on the way to our room. We opened the door and that's when we realized...SANTA HAD COME WHILE WE WERE AWAY!

That's right, he had brought us cookies and bubbles and left a gift under our tree! It appears The Cliffs feels the same way about gifts under the tree as I do. What was in the package you ask? Two Cliffsmas mugs and a puzzle featuring one of the most beautiful views of the resort and spa. We turned on the carols and settled down for a long winter's nap.

Morning in the Christmas suite is magic. The room is absolutely perfect, dark when you want it to be, and flooded with refreshing natural light with the curtains drawn. Knowing we'd be so close to the ocean, I wanted to take the opportunity to shoot down by the water as Anna and Elsa from Frozen 2, a movie I just cannot get enough of. So we spent most of the morning ad midday doing that. We looked at the clock just in time to realize, we had ten minutes until our 12 Days of Cliffmas Yule Log decorating class. Oh, did I forget to tell you about the 12 Day of Cliffmas? Well, that's silly of me because it's my FAVORITE THING! GENIUS, in fact!

The 12 Days of Cliffsmas is a series of events hosted by The Cliffs to celebrate the holiday all month-long! It involves Santa visits, carolers, fitness classes, spa open houses, movie nights, brunches, dinners etc. We were so thrilled to be able to attend the Yule Log and cocktail class as part of Cliffsmas. The event was so informative and entertaining! Incredibly knowledgeable and engaging speakers met with hot spiked cider, peppermint cocktails, and tiny dessert treats, meant not a moment went without joy! And at the end of it, we each had a cake to take home with us! I took mine into work and my coworkers were so impressed *hairtoss emoji*! Not only did they provide boxes to make transporting the cake super easy an convenient, they also provided us with the cutest little ornaments to decorate and label our cakes with! So even once the cake was gone, we could have the ornament on our tree to remember the evening. It truly was the perfect holiday date night!

After decorating our cakes, we traveled to the adjoining restaurant, Marisol's. Marisol's is known for lots of things he incredible view, the phenomenal Sunday brunch, etc. But I like to think it's know for its patient, cordial staff. As part of the Cliffsmas cake decorating class package, you could take advantage of a $30 3 course meal consisting of an appetizer, entree, and dessert. And wow, was that dinner delicious! I said it before, but I'll say it again- it was the perfect holiday date night!

After such a dinner, there's pretty much no way to top the day, so we figured we'd take

advantage of the opportunity to soak up the festive display in our suite from the tub.

Yes, I meant literally soak. We don't have a bathtub at home, so when we travel, I will take any an all opportunities to do so. And this tub.....his tub. Let me tell you, it was so big and so bubbly that it's only rival was the actual ocean outside of our window (but that one was much colder). It even had a little yellow "The Cliffs" branded rubber ducky waiting to take a dip.

We slept so well that night that when the morning came, we dragged our feet packing as we imagined returning home and leaving this magical, merry, holiday getaway. We hated the idea of leaving SO MUCH, that we found our way to Marisol's for our favorite pool-side treat (yes, it was too chilly this trip to take advantage of a pool day, but that doesn't mean we love these any less)- NACHOS!

With our hearts full of the Christmas spirit, and our tummies full of nachos, we packed the car and waved goodbye Marisol's and The Cliffs.

We wanted to thank Janine, Eric, Curtis, Stef, and Anna for making our stay truly memorable. Such a beautiful place is only accentuated by such a creative, warm, and welcoming staff. We hope to see you all again soon!

For information on the other rooms and suites at The Cliffs, visit them here.

Be sure to check out their calendar for upcoming events like live music, movie nights and more!

Maybe we'll see you there!