Christmas in California

Seeing as Toronto has been cold and crummy the past couple weeks, I'm going to take one last trip down memory lane and revisit my family's nice warm Christmas trip to Huntington Beach, California. It's one of my favorite places to be any time of year, no exceptions, so keeping my mind out there should get me through the biting cold that is Toronto winter.

The days I found most memorable are the days I took pictures of, though it may just be that I remember them best because I have pictures of them. Regardless, since those are the days that I can illustrate, those are the days I'm going to detail. The fact that I have pictures at all comes as a surprise, I'm tend to forget about immortalizing moments on camera. But enough rambling, it's Christmas all over again, I'm excited.

The first interesting (Every day in California is interesting, but the first MORE interesting day) was when the men of the household all went out for a gentlemanly sail a little ways south of Huntington. My sister's boyfriend Tom has spent the last couple years fixing up an old sailboat with a friend of his, and he was kind enough to bring my dad, brother and I out on the water with him. We went out expecting a little turbulence since it had been rainy for the last few days, instead we got dead calm. There wasn't even enough wind to fill the sail so we just drifted most of the time. Looks like the wind was taking a break over the holidays too, can't blame it.

Dad steering

Dustin at the main (only) mast

Seals sleeping on the buoy

Captain Brownbeard

Then we went to Universal Studios on my recommendation. I thought I remembered a lot of great rides and whatnot, plus I had heard there was a new Harry Potter section of the amusement park. As it turns out, that's all at the Universal Studios in Orlando. Tough one. We still managed to enjoy ourselves with all the 3D rides they had here, almost as good as the real thing.

All pictures from the Jurassic Park ride

Finally came Christmas. A day enjoying each others company and a night of the same plus feasting. To top it all off, a photographer friend of Milou's took a nice family photo of our very own "Family Tree":

Family tree, with gift Tom

Happy Belated Holidays,

Cheers,

Ben Jammin

PS: For those of you who didn't believe my Halloween costume was me, I've posted it to the left. The same friend of Milou's took that picture as well. Notice the same backdrop and same color tint. Believe it!