Photo Journal # 52

December 31, 2015 - Baby it's cold outside

 Welcome to a winter wonderland

See my 2015 year of photos here.

Photo Journal #49

December 25, 2015 - Christmas Day with the Garrett/Berrett Family

What a delight it was this year to spend Christmas morning and day with my children and their families.  We started the morning at Anthony and Jana's home with the Brinkman family tradition of orange juice before anything else.  My dad always said it was something nutritious in our bodies before all that Christmas goodies.

Traditional orange juice

White Christmas was ordered and received

Z was delighted with her keyboard and a few quick lessons from grandma to make it more fun

J could spend all day going up and down his slide, forward and backwards

Santa was good bringing some much loved and fun gifts to the kids.  An electric keyboard for Z and a slide for J.

Probably my favorite thing was making a quiet book for both J and C to play with

Boogie boards - the modern tech version of etch n' sketch

Anth and Jana sporting their homemade scarfs from a friend

The Christmas stockings had their traditional hot wheels cars for everyone too

Z can build to her heart's desire

The first creation, a walkie talkie

There were plenty of other gifts to entertain and bring smiles to everyone.

C was waiting to greet us at the window

We knew the handyman tool shelf would be a hit because he always played with it at the store

Aim sporting the Christmas leggings

Loving cousins

Z and C playing together

This was the best picture we could get of the 3 of them together

Then it was on to Aimee and Nate's for a few more gifts to open and dinner. 

I loved being with my family, that was the best Christmas gift of all.

The past year viewed here.

Photo Journal # 48

December 12, 2015 - December Garrett Yard

Winter does not official start until December 22, but it may surprise some that in southern California that it still looks like fall or perhaps even the start of spring in December.  It certainly surprised me and has taken me several years to become accustomed to it.

As the following pictures will attest, December in southern California is quite different than a good part of the United States.

Liquid Amber Trees

Peach Leaves

A leftover Asian Pear

Yes, it may look like fall with the autumn colors and dried fruit left on the trees.

Bottlebrush

Lavender

Rosemary

But we have flowers still in blossom and quite a bit of green.

Sun and pinecones

Aimee's tree - I don't know the name

Pyracantha berries

As wicked as these pyracanthas are they are still pretty along our back fence.

Daffodils

If you didn't guess it, those are daffodil stems coming up. The first flower of spring blooms in December and January here.

Navel Oranges

And we have oranges ready to pick and enjoy their sweet juiciness.

So if you are snow covered and frost bitten, enjoy a little California dreaming.

Previous weeks

Photo Journal #47

December 5, 2015 - San Diego Temple Christmas Lights

Somewhere along the year I got behind and missed weeks and then that got me off on my numbering.  I am not going to try to fix it but just go forward with the correct numbers.

Once a month Craig and I go down to LaJolla to the San Diego Temple and serve by helping patrons at the San Diego Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple.  It is a beautiful temple and referred often as a princess castle.  And maybe it is because there we learn to be daughters and sons of God, our Heavenly Father, our Heavenly King.

Every December the San Diego Temple decorates for Christmas with beautiful lights.  All the lights are installed by volunteers, mostly young adults, over a few weeks. They will shine nightly for the month of December and have been noted as the best Christmas lights in San Diego this year.

I took all these pictures with Craig's phone camera.  Perhaps they aren't as great as with my DSLR camera but the I think they are still beautiful.  I was having a hard time choosing my favorite.

Which is yours?

Previous weeks.