1) Colored lights are fabulous. I'm not sure if they are just fabulous in California or if they became cool everywhere this year.
2) Californians seem to observe Christmas within the actual season. Its crazy, really. I just can't get my mind around why Christmas decorations don't go up here before Halloween like they do in the South.
3) Amy Grant owns Christmas everywhere - she's not just a hometown hero.
4) Stockings made with love and hung with Campbell's are the best!
5) Monday Night Football + Christmas Cookies is a great combination.
Here we are hard at work - Courtney, Ryanne, Jaime and me.
Jonathan enjoyed his Gingerbread Man with shorts, not pants.
Courtney made Kyle a Christmas football helmet in honor of his not-so-winning season.
And I made Adam's a Spurs bell. Of course.
6) Its important to prepare your heart for the season or it might just slip right past you.
7) Urban Outfitters is selling the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I watched the CB Christmas Special for the first time in many many years this year. Its much shorter than I remembered. But so great.
8) Laguna Beach lights up quite nicely at night, but not quite as nicely as the Homewood Star.
9) It does get cold in Southern California.
10) In California, they light the bottom of trees.
In the South, they light the tops of trees.
11) I think that this is the first year I've ever actually listened to the words of "Here Comes Santa Claus". Has anyone else missed this line in the past:
"Santa Claus knows we're all God's Children,
That makes everything right"
What? I'm still trying to figure out what that even means, but I think there might be some mixed up theology in there.
12) Christmas trees are no better than Christmas house plants.
A little scary by day . . .
But quite glowy by night.
13) Veggie Tales nativities are tasty.
14) I've heard people say How could it feel like Christmas if it isn't cold outside? (You know . . . They say in LA its a warm holiday). It can. It has felt every bit as much like the season this year as every year that I've spent in 30-degree weather. Also cross-reference #9 regarding this. We're not exactly running around in swimsuits here.
15) I would be perfectly content to never hear the song "Santa, Baby" again for as long as I live.
16) Black tarps can do wonders for a garage, especially when combined with breakfast and pajamas. This is the second annual Garage Dinner (my first) - yum! We stuffed ourselves!
Here is Kyle teaching everyone to call ducks.
The girls warm themselves by the dryer-cage-turned-firepit built by Brian. No doy - who else do we know that could do something like that?
Josh is thrilled to play the iPod game. Did you know that he has 2500 songs on his iPod? He is a DJ, afterall.
What is the iPod game, you are wondering. Think "name that artist". Adam, of course, took all of the Beatles songs within seconds. I held my own, but mostly (embarrasingly enough) in the categories of country and old school ccm. None of us could stand up to Cathi, though. She finished us all off with her unbeatable knowledge of jazz standards.
The only bummer of the night was that it started raining. Yes, multiple people jumped up when they heard and ran outside to take pictures. (Our snickers were met with the defense of "No! But you don't understand! Come look! Its blowing in different directions. It looks like a hurricane or something!"). Welcome to California.
17) And lastly, it's a really good/bad thing to deliver Christmas Cookies to your neighbors. On one hand, you may be yelled out by an elderly lady claiming "There's no Mary who lives upstairs" but on the other, you may receive 3 lovely Christmas cards in return that make you think maybe you at least brightened someone's day a little and spread some Christmas cheer!
Merry Christmas, in whatever state you celebrate it!
7 comments:
I am pretty sure the best part of this blog is the use of "doy".
Merry Christmas!! Hope you are enjoying your first California Christmas!
And I'm pretty sure that it was luck of the shuffle that night- otherwise your husband would have beat the pj's off of me!
Louie, you have a funny blog. I have a habit of incessantly checking blogs instead of doing school work. So count me as a faithful reader now. Also, we already have a funny/scary wedding planning story. I'm not sure I am prepared for this process. We miss you guys and hope you had a great Christmas.
are you still celebrating christmas? i thought you would have had to join your husband's faith by now. i know i had the worst possibly seat at the wedding (last row, far corner), but I don't remember you guys stepping on a lightbulb together either.
rebs - good one. Don't worry - we had a whole family discussion over Christmas about if Adam was really Jewish or not. I think that everyone has been wondering but is too scared to ask.
so glad you loved hp4. i must say i cried after the 5th, swore up and down I was through with harry potter after the sixth, repented of my rashly spoken words 5 minutes later, and have been obsessing over mostly untrue internet rumors about the 7th until its official release.
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