Music Christmas Eve

Music
Originally uploaded by pipilo

Susan and Scott picked up where they left off after touring Europe for a while. Scott's been gone for 4-5 months and Susan for 2-3 weeks. It's nice hearing their music again. As usual, Susan has made the house beautiful at Christmastime.

CC Lane

We drove around Christmas Card Lane yesterday evening. Crowds of people were walking around looking at the lights and displays. Many of the old favorites remain, but a few new ones have appeared. These are three of my favorites.

Hotel Del

Hotel Del
Originally uploaded by pipilo

The Hotel Del Coronado is always a great place to visit around Christmas time. We go to see the huge Christmas tree that they have in their lobby. One year it was decorated all with teddy bears; another year it was a wizard of oz theme and once it was all band instruments. This year's tree was nothing to write home about, but we enjoyed the trip anyway and loved walking by the ocean in front of the hotel, where I got this shot with my D70. It's Christmas time but everything seems faster now and we're all too busy.

Lights

Lights
Originally uploaded by pipilo

Christmas lights at Balboa Park. Matt, Jess, and I visited the park for "Christmas on the Prado." We like to call it that, even though the actual name has been switched to "December Nights." The event is huge and we parked quite a ways from the Park, walking in and out amidst swarms of people. The park is all decorated in Christmas lights, with vendors, singers, dancers, and people packed all about. The museums are all free too for these two evenings. We didn't visit any of the museums, or buy anything. It all seemed too crowded and commercial compared with the last time we went, when it seemed more traditional and charming. Still, we found some good stuff, including the international houses and, of course, the lights. As we were leaving, we passed a parade of singing women led by a girl with a wreath and four candles on her head. They were walking slowly and ceremoniously. Pretty nice.

Father & Daughter Trip

Father & Daughter Trip
Originally uploaded by pipilo

Susan and her Dad on their way to meet Scott in Europe, so he can show them around some of the places he visited during "Euroterm," a great program put on by the art department at Scott's school. After our week in Maine this past August, Scott has visited Iceland, England, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Holland, and Germany. Susan and her dad will visit England, France, and Italy. She's been to Europe once, in high school, and Bob is enjoying his first visit to the continent. We'll be anxious to hear their stories and see their photos when they return just before Christmas Eve.