Our Christmas break...so far.

Sam came home a few weeks ago and told me he had good news and bad news. I opted for the bad news first: Apple closes down between 12/24 and 1/05. (He's a contractor, that means no paycheck for those days). I asked him what the good news was: Apple closes down between 12/24 and 1/05.

It's been lovely, though. We're doing stuff that is low-key, low-cost, and, as much as possible, outdoors. Sam doesn't deal with the short days well, so any extra sunshine lifts his spirits considerably. We had a solstice celebration at Phil's Fish Market on the 22nd. We read up on solstice traditions around the world, and decided that anything really weird and "out there" would probably be appropriate. But, we just ate clam chowder and listened to bluegrass. We're working on our weird, out-there tradition for next year.

We had a birthday brunch on Meg's birthday with our friends the Filceks, the Kirks and Wendy & Jim (Meg's extra auntie/grandma). We ate too much, and played some silly games. We made awesome coconut cupcakes(from scratch, mind you) for her birthday cake.



Christmas was pretty low key, and we decided it was our best ever. We had decided to stick to a pretty limited budget this year. And, it was our year to stay here for Christmas. Mom and the Waites were going to come up for Christmas dinner, but weren't able to, so it was just us. We got up at 9-ish, and emptied our stockings. Then we ate Christmas waffles and watched the First Presidency broadcast that we had saved. We opened our presents (doesn't take long with only three people and about 4 gifts each).

Meg got new clothes (since she's growing like a weed), a book on Egypt, a couple of 1000-pc jigsaw puzzles and a rock tumbler.



Sam got a new filter for his camera, some photo software that he wanted, a photo book that I made of our honeymoon, an electric knife and Monkey Pants (pj's that Meg made him).



I got a new faucet for my kitchen (yay!), a calendar and a "Families, a journey to forever" plaque from Meggie (she made the plaque in Activity Days and it's perfect for the family photo wall we haven't put up yet...but we will), and a cool stove top popcorn popper so I don't have to keep scrubbing burned-on popcorn out of my favorite pot. No pics of me are allowed before noon, so there.

We sat around in our jammies and did puzzles, played with new software, ate leftovers from the birthday brunch, etc. We had some friends who called and wanted us to go to the movie with them, but we were enjoying being lazy and didn't wanna get dressed. Other friends called late in the afternoon, wanting us to come help them eat Mexican food. Yum. They said "come as you are", so we did. (We did shower first, yuck...but we wore jammies/sweats over). It was lovely to get a Christmas tamale, something I miss when I don't go to AZ for Christmas.

We decided that for the rest of Sam's time off, regardless of what else we do, we are going to hit a beach every day. This is prime beachcombing time. We picked up almost a dozen whole sand dollars the day after Christmas down the street at Moss Landing.



Yesterday we went to Jade Cove, south of Big Sur, in search of jade. Meg found a couple of tiny pieces, but mostly we got some cool pictures.



Today, we'll hit Del Rey Oaks beach on the way home from church. We are so blessed to live here, we're spoiled and we know it.