This Doesn't Suck - Laguna Christmas

Spent a very pleasant Christmas day with our son.  Took a walk around the neighborhood.  Baked and decorated Christmas cookies as I used to in Indiana when I grew up.  Lounged around the pool in the 72F sunshine until the sun went down, and then sat in the 102F hot tub at dusk, grazing on 3 kinds of almonds, fig jam, Toscana cheese, wine, and beer.

Yes, I decorated the snow man, and gave the stegosauruses and allosauruses natural camo patterns in icing

Fist Bump Lions, Poolside

Now it is dark, and Dr Desert Flower is baking a delicious Trader Joe's ham - couldn't stomach spending $120 for a free range WholePaycheck organic ham - that we'll eat in an hour or two.  A very pleasant Christmas.

Yesterday, as a family we walked on the beach from Salt Creek to Strand to the Headlands Nature Preserver and back.  Along the way, we saw migrating whales - a mom and her calf from the size and shape of the spouts and flukes, probably Blue whales - migrating South along Salt Creek beach and Strand Beach.  We then came home to soak in the hot tub and enjoy drinks as a family before dinner.

No, I am not sad or disappointed that I didn't fly to 15F Chicago to visit relatives.  I do not miss the isolation and desolation of western Phoenix, and we feel far too young and lively to spend another Christmas in Palm Springs (as we did back in 2010).  We do miss our friends in South Carolina, but we do not miss the bigotry, racism, humidity, or lack of career opportunities the South Carolina Upstate had.  Southern California Christmas suits us.   It's really nice here, celebrating our first Christmas in our new home.  Come visit us.