On the Road: Christmas at the Beach

Today we're sharing some photos of our favorite place at Christmastime. The South Bay at Christmas isn't your typical Christmas setting, but it's still very charming. Here's the Manhattan Beach Pier all decorated for the holidays:

Manhattan's neighbor, Hermosa Beach, has a large Christmas tree on their pier.

I love the shell ornament!

It always surprises me to see roses blooming in December. Here's one in Joan's backyard in 2010:

Also, in Joan's backyard, oranges...

And flowering Jade...

The views from Palos Verdes are spectacular all year round, but they are serene in December:

La Venta Inn, which is located next door to Elsie's old home:

The sunsets are always showstoppers:

It is far from traditional, but California isn't a bad place to be at Christmastime!

All photos taken in 2010 during this trip.

Christmas in the Country

Jonathan and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary yesterday. I have never had regrets about our Christmastime wedding, as December is our favorite time of year. It also happens to be the first full month that we spent as a couple (back in 2003), so many of our relationship firsts took place around the holidays. For our sixth anniversary we decided to take the weekend back to the basics. We cooked at home on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and ate things we never buy (baked brie in puff pastry with honey, pecans and apple; pizza margherita with real mozzarella and fresh basil; organic strawberries; chocolate; pink champagne). On Friday night, we lit our fireplace and had a picnic on the living room floor. On Sunday, we had a candlelit dinner in our dining room. Coincidentally, it was our very first meal in that room.

For several weeks, we had planned to spend Saturday in Arlington and Covington, two towns we discovered in the summer and wanted to revisit at Christmastime. Our first stop was Arlington, which has a really quaint downtown with an awesome antique shop housed in an old general store. Next we drove to Covington, which has an amazing town square with several coffee shops, antique stores and two old theaters. When we arrived, the first thing we saw was a horse-drawn carriage. Next we saw several people dressed in 19th century clothes. Then we saw kids dressed as characters from A Christmas Story, out promoting their play at the Ruffin Theater. Once we were inside the first antique store (and saw more people dressed in 10th century garb), we realized we had stumbled upon Covington's Dickens' Christmas. All of the shop owners were dressed up, and quite a few of the townspeople were as well! It felt very festive and fun. We finished off the day with a visit to the Collierville Square to see their Christmas lights at night.

Here are some iPhone photos from our adventure...

On the Road: The Rose Parade

On January 1, 2011, Jonathan and I were fortunate enough to attend the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California. Throughout my childhood, my mother and grandmother had told stories about the Rose Parades that they had attended in the '60s and '70s, and I had always wanted to see the parade for myself. When Jonathan surprised me with tickets, I couldn't believe it. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

While our modern-day rose parade didn't smell like flowers (something that I found to be very disappointing), the overall experience was a magical one. We went to bed several hours before midnight on New Year's Eve (something I hadn't done since I was a little kid) and arose at 4 a.m. to make the drive from Cerritos to Pasadena. We slept in the car in the parking garage for a little while, and then walked down Colorado Boulevard to the grandstand. It was freezing -- very unlike California --  and everyone was bundled up like Eskimos. Once we were seated, I pulled out my giant camera and shot tons of photos to remember the day.

From the breathtaking backdrop (and city) to the painstakingly beautiful floats (decorated entirely with flowers, plants and seeds), a trip to the Tournament of Roses parade is something that should be on everyone's bucket list. It was the perfect way to welcome 2011. 

Learn more about the parade here. 

On the Road: Ohio in the Fall

Confession: I have never seen Ohio in the fall. My mother's family were Ohioans for many generations, but after my great-grandfather's death, my great-grandmother moved with her second husband to California. Two of her three children and their families followed, and in time, the connections to Ohio became faded memories.

After sorting and scanning my family's Kodak slides, I realized just how lovely Ohio is in the fall....

Isn't it just magical? It looks exactly the way fall is supposed to look! I love the shots of the water, and those yellow leaves and the white cottage in the last photo are dreamy. Apparently that was my family's home in Ohio...the original white house!

All of the photos shown above are my family's personal photographs taken in the Euclid, Ohio area between the 1940s and 1960s. I scanned each Kodak Kodachrome slide and then edited them to share here. If you are interested in hiring Gerald & Joan to preserve your family's photographic memories in a similar manner, please click here to contact us. We would be happy to help keep your family's heritage alive for future generations.