Another Christmas In SoCal

Again this year, Carolyn and I went to Southern California to spend the Christmas holidays with Sara. Even with the experience of last year, it was hard to get in the Christmas spirit with flowers in December, palm trees and people in shorts.

Sara's neighborhood is a case in point. These folks worked very hard to create a winter wonderland atmoshpere. But somehow it didn't work for me.

Pointsettias often put me in the holiday frame of mine. But I tend to think of the potted variety not those that are 10 feet tall.

Most people spend Christmas day in front of a roaring fire. We went to the beach near Sara's. We walked out on this long rock jetty.

Along the way we saw pelicans and seals.

There were seabirds galore.

There were people fishing along the jetty. This man had just caught a starfish.

When you think of Christmas, you think of vistas of evergreen forests in snow. In Long Beach you can see Catalina Island. (Over Sara's shoulder, 24 miles away.)

I spent too many years in the midwest. I can't get use to Christmas on the beach. I guess I'll just have to keep working at it.