27th December – So the Christmas festivities feel like they are slowly ramping down, which is strange as usually at this time in the UK it becomes Mark and mines most busiest period trying to cram in seeing as many people as possible along the south coast and end up with at least 4 Christmas dinners and a couple of trips to China Garden (ahh I miss China Garden)
I spent a long time feeling like I’m missing a whole whirlwind of magical moments of Christmas 2016, every time I logged onto social media I was seeing pics of people at Winter Wonderland in London or people talking about the adverts on TV, everyone was dressing in an abundance of layers and glamming up for their Christmas parties, which was really lovely but made me realise how it still feels very much like I’m in a bubble out here. Slowly the decorations were coming out in LA and the music was playing in all the shops, but I’m just not sure if I’m ever going to get used to seeing a Christmas tree next to a palm tree.
But to make the most of the situation I seemed to have come across quite a lot of mega huge Christmas trees!
First stop Santa Monica where we met the main man himself Mr Santa Clause. Now this is the most spectacular of all Santa’s I’ve ever encountered. He had a real beard, he had shiny buckles, he had a jolly voice and he also had a key… this is attention to detail and I was mega impressed. Summer on the other hand, not so much. Poor girl had just woken up and then she was placed in the lap of some big guy with white beard, it was all too much and the screaming started, then the lady with the big camera and huge flash starting clicking away and I could see Summers eyes darting around trying to make sense of everything whilst looking for mummy and daddy who were trying to calm her down.
I think this photo sums up the whole experience
When I think of downtown LA I think of the Staples Center and this is where LA live is!
At the time we went it was sponsored by Target so the bullseye red and white signs were everywhere along with a giant snow globe and crazy inflatables, but overall it did actually feel pretty festive there.
Also they had the biggest Christmas tree I ever did see right in the middle of the ice rink. It’s nice to just stare at it. I’m not sure if I just wanted to feel more in the spirit and plus it was actually pretty cold but I was there wearing my red bobble hat!
For a way to meet new people locally I joined this group called Culver City Moms and it’s great! Nice way to make me feel less lonely, they are always sending invites to events. One invite was to a neighbourhood party at Culver Studios just around the corner and they had built a cute ice rink (synthetic) and had fake snow covering the place. We all got our free hot drinks (hot choco) and huddled around watching the ice skaters. The lighting of the place was pretty good – I guess they had access to the best lighting in town being a studio! We found out that they filmed the likes of E.T, Beetlejuice, Hook, The Matrix to name but a few on these grounds. That’s pretty magical.
Christmas Eve
Never would I have thought I would be spending one Christmas Eve on Venice beach, but that’s what happened and it was such a marvelous and a (very) windy day. We got the bus! Which for one seems to be a totally taboo thing to do out here, but it’s actually fine. I mean yeah, there are a few colourful characters now and again but they’re harmless and you get them anywhere you are in the world, right?
We found this shop along Venice beach that sold the nicest skateboards our eyes ever did see. It didn’t take long before Mark and me were there picking out our favs and dreaming of our new life where we have them on us and just whip them out and whizz around and weaving through crowds of people, totally forgetting that we have a very wriggly 9 month old too!
Still though, we might get one each for the future. One thing thats so great about the vibe here is that anyone and everyone seems to be trying to skate along here. It’s so refreshing to see girls/boys/men and women all there with their planks of wood and its all totally normal and acceptable.
We ended up walking from Venice to Santa Monica along the boardwalk with the windy breeze in our hair and big smile on our face.
Sunny Side Up 