Looking for Christmas

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I've finally decided that we're on a Christmas break.

Hopefully, by telling ourselves that it's all right, we won't feel bad because we keep going out every day instead of working in the house.

So Christmas break it is!

Today we went out looking for some Christmas. I have to admit, it seems pretty lacking. We can't seem to find a neighborhood that is decorated, and all the stores we've been in will sell you Christmas items, but very few of them have decorated.

We don't do a lot of Christmas, but we do like to look at the decorations, but this year we seem to be out of luck.

We did see
some lovely old redwoods
that sort of resemble Christmas trees.
But you'd have to have a really high ceiling.

If I sent out Christmas cards,
I might use this picture.

After driving through the redwoods, we found ourselves down on the Pacific Garden Mall. As usual, there were lots of musicians playing on the street. One of them was even playing Christmas carols on his violin. He got a few extra dollars in appreciation of his holiday spirit.

I took a lot of pictures, but most of them weren't pertinent to Christmas.

Still, for some reason,
I liked this shot
and decided to include it here.

There's a beautiful old Hotel on the mall
called the Palomar.
They also didn't do much decorating.
Kind of Grinchy if you ask me.

Finally,
I found myself reduced to photographing
Christmas balls.

Then we happened on
an Indonesian import store.

They had the most gorgeous
array of light covers.

Or maybe you could call them lanterns.

And in their shape

and light

and color

I suddenly got that rush

of Christmas cheer.

They were just so vibrant,
It was like they were put up
just to remind everyone
that this is a joyful happy season.

At least that's what they said to me.

Then I came out and saw this guy.

I don't know if he was hand made or what, but after all those boring, banal, blow up things that I see everywhere, he was a welcome sight indeed.

Tomorrow, I'll be seasoning the prime rib we bought for Christmas, and maybe sharing some recipes.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday season
and a happy Christmas.