Christmas and 40th Anniversary 2009

Christmas Eve. We had dinner at our house and then opened gifts. Mike, Joann, Marli and Jaelyn as well as Joann's brother Dan, his girlfriend Kristina and her parents and an uncle were with us as well as a neighbor, Marsha. Dinner was really good and then we opened gifts. Jaelyn loves Pandas as well as all things "girl". The girls shopped before Christmas and then they opened their gifts when all were there. They seemed to get all the things they wanted.
Marli is really "into" peace signs and we had a lot of fun trying to tell her about when they were popular in the 60's. You know how it is - the old songs are new and kids are always surprised when the "old folks" know the words. Those girls are growing up way too fast and getting older even though I'm not aging at all.
Mike's family planned to go skiing Christmas Day but their plans didn't work out but they did spend the day with friends. They did get to go up skiing and snowboarding during the New Years weekend. Both girls are doing well in learning their respective sports and everyone had a good time.

Rick and I left for Lincoln City and the beach on Christmas Day. We rented a great house and spent lots of time watching the surfers on the waves. They were out there all day. They were towed around with jet skis and they looked they were having fun. It seemed kinda cold to us but they were well dressed. We talked about how much Steve and Mike would enjoy that sort of thing.


We had a few days of high - high tides and very low low tides so we got to see the tide pools and the critters who are left waiting for the ocean to come back up. The biggest creature we saw was this starfish. He was trying not to be seen. We also caught site of barnacles, mussels, anemones, seabirds and snails.

The weather was great. The first day it was a little cold but by Sunday, we were on the beach in jackets with no hats or gloves. Any day at the beach is a good day.

We managed to bring home quite a few shells and rocks that we picked up during low tide. Rick ended up with his pockets full before we moved them to the backpack that I wore.

It was also our 40th wedding anniversary on December 27th so we celebrated with mimosas and eggs benedict for breakfast and ate dinner at a seafood restaurant called Kyllos. It is on the beach and the food was very good. The house we rented had windows all along the beach side so we could watch all the goings on from our living room or deck - or bed. It was a great anniversary and we agreed that the beach is the place we love most.



It's hard to see how big the waves are with nothing out there to compare them too, but they were big enough for the surfers and it was fun to watch them. Walks on the beach, good food and lots of relaxing made this a great Christmas and anniversary. We'll see what we can do to top it next year.

Come by and see us if you get the chance - the beach is great all year.