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Showing posts from December, 2020

Pandemic Merry Christmas from Santa Barbara

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  One of our favorite Christmas activities, regardless of where we are living, is to go on a drive to look at the holiday lights. So one recent evening we loaded up Sleigh Marina with some hot chocolate and our Christmas bells and hats, and went on a tour of Santa Barbara neighborhoods that John had found for us. First up, the biggest holiday tree in Santa Barbara, visible from the ocean. Look at the size of that trunk! This tree is a very old Norfolk Island Pine (I knew that before reading about it, thanks to my Seeking, hehehe), planted in 1878 as a 2-year-old sapling. It's 144 years old! This beauty has seen a lot of history and survived many different exchanges of the property, including its current host, a Ralphs grocery store (that's Kroger for our Michigan and Atlanta friends).  Houses in downtown Santa Barbara are older and really lend themselves to pretty light designs. The one on the left reminded me of a gingerbread house. Lots of displays featured candy canes. Cut...