MOTORHOME CHRISTMAS

Feels more like Christmas now. Just a little decoration makes a big difference. The tree is real. We were supervised to find this small one in a pot at the local grocery store. The crèche figures are
original to our family, made at a family style Christmas event at our church years ago.


Christmas came into our hearts yesterday with the morning church service. A sermon about the dark side of Christmas with the killing of the babes in Bethlehem. A reminder that there is suffering in our world. Suffering that The Christ will eventually wipe away from our experience. Only possible because of his advent. The children's choir sang as well. Somehow the songs of Christmas are sweeter when sung from small ones.

Lastly, a special service of lessons and carols arranged and performed by Dan and his best friend, Joel Patterson, with other friends filling out the worship team. Lots of dramatic reading of the
Christmas scripture. Glorious!

FRIDAY NIGHT SLEEPOVER

Three boys, three overnight bags, three sleeping bags and three pillows fill up the living space in the MH very quickly. Don't care. Don't even try to organize the chaos. Chaos reigns and its delightful! Making, lighting and sitting around the fire are major attractions. No s'mores tonight. Grandpa Bos sent sundae making stuff. Handmade sundaes eaten around the fire hit the spot!

Bedtime videos a must! Croix (3) falling asleep during his video. Opa moving him to the wall side of the bed so he won't fall out. Caelan and Sage settling down too.

Croix awake at 2 coming in with Opa and Oma. Caelan has actually fallen out of his bed to the floor, but he's sound asleep anyway. Morning pancakes and bacon, then back to home.

One more item checked on the bucket list!

SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS

Last Saturday was the Carpinteria Christmas Parade. A four block route lined with white chairs. Yes, you didn't even had to bring your own chair, although we did. No floats, no marching bands, just community groups showing their civic pride. People riding weird bikes. People showing off their dogs in full Christmas regalia. An area equestrian group riding lovely Palamino horses, throwing candy to the crowd-followed by a much appreciated pooper-scooper volunteer. The parade ending fire engine decked out with greenery and lights with friendly firemen and their children waving to the crowd.

The blocks were filled with spectators. Dan and Serena kept introducing us to friends they knew. Everyone knows each other. It all lasted maybe 30 minutes. I think they kept the pace slow so it would last longer. Which is fine by us. Small town America at its best.

DECEMBER FALL

Finally, fall colors have come to Southern California.

The first week of December, was spent in Ventura with the MH having work done. The shop was in an industrial and commercial area where landscaping doesn't have deciduous trees. The drive back to Lake Casitas has beautiful vistas of the hills. Spotted all through the evergreens were brilliant yellows and reds. Not very many because deciduous trees are few in number around here. Right across from our campsite, a tree has turned golden. The morning sun lights this tree and only this tree for about 15 minutes. It's a wonder to behold. Fall in December-who knew?

This is just out our front windshield

BERM BUSTING

This is why the children can't wait for the BERM to be built!

Our Three BERM busting specialists

Literally, while the BERM is still being made the children begin some demolition! In addition to jumping, somersaulting and diving into the BERM, they sled down it with their bogie boards. They eventually may end up in the water, but during the winter months, BERM busting is the name of the game.

BERM BUILDING

Winter is the time for strong storms in the Pacific and the higher surf erodes the beach. Last year the waves flooded quite a large area, even onto the main business street. Not all the beachfront in Carpinteria is part of the state beach. Beachfront homes and condos take up where the state property ends. In order to protect this expensive real estate, they build a berm. The work has to be done at low tide so the bulldozer has room to move sand. It's a boring job even if you are doing it on a beautiful beach. The worker goes back and forth scraping sand into one continuous 10 foot high berm along the beach in front of the properties. The ground floor units lose their ocean view, but that's better than having ocean running through the door!

Next post: Why do the children get so excited when the berm is finished?

HUMMINGBIRD ALERT

Part of the reason we love rving so much is watching God's creatures as we see them around our campsite. Our suction cup-stick-to-the-window hummingbird feeder helps a lot. We had it up for two days before we saw hummers. They became frequent visitors. Croix (3) was at the MH since he was not feeling well and the older boys had to go to a program. Unbeknownst to Jim and Croix,the screen door had blown open. They heard buzzing and were astonished to see a Hummer flying around-inside!

Jim managed to find a butterfly net from summer days and trapped the bird between it and the windshield. Croix picked a large book for Opa. Opa managed to slip the book under the net. They released the bird outside. I'm sure the small bird was thoroughly frightened. All's well that ends well!