Xmas Road Trip :: Southern California

The days leading up to our road trip to Southern California were filled with lots of busyness and finalizing little handmade projects, packing suitcases and doing all the things you do before you leave home for a stretch of days.

Cornflake wreath gifted to us every year by a dear friend

We were surprisingly calm in the wake of our little adventure and I attribute this to how intent we all were on enjoying the journey.  It wasn't all about presents or staying home this year.  We were breaking tradition and hoped that we would be better for it.

Xmas shopping relief in Bodega Bay

I hit a patch of stress during the week leading up to our departure, but quickly spun out of it.  What I realized is that I have such power over how I react to situations and I rarely serve myself or my family when I sit in that place for too long.

We hiked around the back of our property the night before we left and visited the llamas, hunted for feathers and watched the sun dip down over the hillside.

Our little family was so ready and it felt so good, satisfying even, to turn off the heat, lock the doors and hit the road.

I gifted Grady a few books for the long journey and he quickly dove into reading Riordan's The Son of Neptune and listening over and over again to Lorde's inaugural album on his iPod.

We approached our destination in the early afternoon and marveled at the barren landscape and gigantic, hardworking windmills that dotted the dry, scruffy desert floor.  Palm Desert was in our sights.

We quickly settled in with Steve's lifelong friend and his girlfriend + nine month old baby boy.  They are in the United States for six months, visiting from Paris, and they were nice enough to let us stay with them at their cousin's vacation home for four days.

We enjoyed slow mornings, lots of coffee, unlimited cribbage matches, a trip to the day spa and watching the Sound of Music with Grady.

Photo courtesy of David Silpa

We spotted our first roadrunner, swam in the community pool and hit the local area thrift shops.  I even spent an evening with an old high school friend and his family, who lived just eight miles away from where we were staying.  Steve and his friend went to a local casino (and won!) and we even toured Cathedral City looking at xmas lights.

Grady was smitten with this little french bebe and got a little sad as we readied to leave our friends.  He loves him so much (and so do we!) and thinks they are like cousins.  Well, they kind of are.

We said our goodbyes and made promises of getting together again in the very near future.  We hopped in the car on Xmas even and pointed it towards Oceanside, where Steve's dad lives.

The Dinosaurs of Cabazon

The weather has been incredible so far and we drove with the sunroof open and enjoyed the sunshine.  It was such a welcome change from the cold, stormy xmases that we typically spend on the Sonoma Coast.

We lugged our bags inside and enjoyed a few days of xmas cheer with Steve's dad, grandmother and the errant family members who popped by for a quick hug and a glass of bubbly.

I discovered that the xmas spirit has skipped a generation in Steve's family.  His dad's home was tastefully decorated with vintage xmas ornaments from his mother and grandmother, a train track was set up around the tree and his grandmother's xmas china set out on the table just waiting for xmas dinner.  It's come to my attention that perhaps my husband's disdain for xmas decor was a genetic defect because everyone else in his family is into it.  Grandma Lavinia showed up wearing a xmas vest, Aunt Bev popped by wearing jingle bell earrings, a Santa hat and Santa shorts.  Who knew they made those?  I took it all in and appreciated my in-laws in a new, heartfelt way.

It was a technology xmas for the Hecht household.  After the crushing disappointment last year for the boy over an iPod Touch, my husband convinced me that it was time for Grady to experiment with a little technology and so an iPad mini was the only gift Santa brought this year.  When Grady opened his Santa Sack he looked a little stunned and then happy, really happy.

Steve drew a Willow Tree for Grady using the Brushes application & printed

I have my reasons for holding him back in this area, but Steve also had valid reasons for wanting him to be set free to learn and explore on the iPad.  I will write more about this later, but I chose to embrace it and let my son (and father) bask in all of the technological glory that was in their hands.

Grady carved and painted me the annual garden marker to add to my collection.  This one is a black phoebe and just needs the right sized stick when we get home.  This is a bird that visits just outside our kitchen window in the morning and I can never remember its name.  I will now.

The day after xmas was almost 80 degrees and so we took a drive to the Oceanside Pier and strolled down the boardwalk.

Grady scored some sweet sunglasses at a little vintage thrift store and posed with this suspicious looking brown pelican.

Mom scored some fun glasses, too.

Three generations of Hecht men.  They are from solid, honest, hardworking stock and I love them dearly.

The next leg of our journey took us to Anaheim Hills to stay with my bestie and her family.  We quickly fell into easy conversation, opened a bottle of bubbly and caught up on all of life's happenings.

Her oldest is leaving for Spain in January and we were happy to see her face and meet the boyfriend that she will be traveling with for the next year.

This is the worst picture, but I wanted to capture our little guys (and big) with the limo driver we had.  Scott arranged for a driver to take us to sushi and they took us home in a limo for the boys.  Grady thought it was the coolest thing ever!

We had a great time with our friends and packed it up for home Sunday morning.  It's hard to say goodbye, but we were ready to get back to our little home on the hill in Valley Ford.