Pandemic Merry Christmas from Santa Barbara

 

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. Cute!

Downtown we also found this cool display: dedicated to Elf! Since we love that film, this was a personal favorite. We noticed several Elf inflatables along the route, so I suspect it's a favorite of many. One of my favorite displays was the ocean-themed house. Do you see the dolphins, waves, and whale?

Onward to the most decorated street in Santa Barbara: Veronica Place. A small street of 15 homes, 13 of the homes prepare massive displays. It's a holiday lights explosion! Close-up is one I especially liked.

And the winner of the Griswold Family Christmas Lights Award goes to this home in the Portesuello Hills neighborhood:

Another day John and I popped over to the Mission to see if the nativity was up. We saw the large nativity in 2016, when we were last here at Christmastime; I prefer this year's set-up under the tree, very natural. The only problem is that Baby Jesus was missing! 

A pandemic benefit is that we can always get a very nice picture of the Mission without any people, which in normal times is virtually impossible. Being the Queen of the Missions (and I think you can see why it is called that), it is a very popular tourist attraction. For now, the Mission offers a virtual tour. Here's another shot I took in October. 

Since we have lots of at-home time, Emily and I have been making old and new holiday dessert recipes. Here are some of the things we made: Amaretto and Pecan Fudge, Coconut Bars (recipe below) and Italian Lemon Thumbprint Cookies.

We are so happy that we made the decision back at Memorial weekend to drive to California and remain here to ride out the pandemic. It is heartbreaking to see friends and family who are making the safe choice to not be with their loved ones this holiday season, and we are grateful to not be in that position. It's also fun to have our wish to 'live in Santa Barbara' coming true. We cannot complain and truly have gratitude for that blessing. 

Since the case numbers are horrid right now, we decided to stay put at our current AirBnB and have renewed through mid-March. It will be the longest the Vagabonds have lived anywhere (104 days!) since we hit the road back in February! Wishing a happy holiday season to all and may 2021 bring improvement!

Friend Brenda's Coconut Bars: