We did Christmas big this year and we did it at the beach. Never-mind the weather. The Petersen family was distributed across two beach houses and four hotel rooms in both Capitola and Rio del Mar. I think the only time we were in the same place at the same time, however was Christmas dinner at the Bayview Hotel in Aptos. There were in the neighborhood of forty of us and it’s safe to say that we owned the place. Three (or more) hours of dinner madness. I will make no mention of the spoons. What happens at Christmas dinner, stays at Christmas dinner. Eh, Brenda?
Other Highlights?
Caroling on Christmas eve, with my dad and I making our debut as the guitar duo, leading way (or playing catch up, depending on the song). When we ran out of Carols we went on to John Denver classics and other folk tunes. Most of which my dad didn’t entirely remember, and I didn’t exactly know. Noone seemed to care. I guess that added to the charm of the evening.
Christmas morning. It started at about 6:30am (which was a bit rough for those who went to midnight mass), and went on until about 3pm. We had alot of presents and a bunch of kids with very limited attention spans. Exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Oh, and eggnog.
Surfing the day after Christmas. I don’t think any of us really wanted to go out in that water, but the proper balance of cyclical peer pressure resulted in Buzz, myself, Brad, John and Mike paddling out into the frigid surf. As it turned out the water was warmer than expected and the sun came out to warm our faces. Surprisingly pleasant. I won’t say how we did out there..the important thing is we did it.
What else? Seeing long lost cousins from Texas and Washington. Natalie couldn’t get enough of Emily, Ben, John, Madison, Samantha, Brianna. Throw the locals in to the mix, Gabby, Halle, Kylee, Lelani, Kyle, Megan, Ashley and Macey (whew!) and you have a madd madd couple of days. And chinese food. Enough chinese food to feed most of China… or John, whoever got there first.
See the Christmas Photos Now (if you’re interested in getting some prints of any, I’ve also uploaded them to Shutterfly here – talk to me for a password)