SB Christmas - Phase 1

It has been a super fun trip to Santa Barbara for Christmas and New Years!

Sat Dec 21 - fly Heathrow to LAX, then Airbus to Camarillo, get picked up by Rhiannon and driven to Goleta

Sun Dec 22 - Go for a run, pick up Heidi and family at the airport. Lunch, then go to IV and on to the beach at Devereaux. Loads of tar on feet. Tri tip dinner at 585.

Mon Dec 23 - Ladies horse riding 9-11 am, then coffee at Dunes, World Market and then home. Photo session 1-2 pm. Chill out time in the afternoon, then out to dinner to Angel Oak at Bacara 5:30 - 9 pm. Kids sleepover at 601 with Rhi and Tryfs babysitting.

Tues Dec 24 - Target run first thing, then downtown to Paseo Nuevo. Lunch at the Habit on State, more shopping, then wrapping presents. Chili and tamales at 601 for dinner.

Wed Dec 25 - 7 am stockings open. Breakfast at 9am, then opening presents. Walk at Ellwood Mesa after lunch, then dinner at 585 of ham, salmon, sides. 

It was a truly wonderful Christmas period and I am so incredibly grateful that all of my siblings and their families and my family could all gather together with Mom at 601/ 585 for these precious days.

Angel Girl

 

Shipment going out

Here is what it looks like here today on the second to last business day before flying to California for Christmas! It was looking very dodgy for a few days there because Rhods had to order stuff in and it was looking as though the shipment wouldn't get here in time!! So Rhodri would have had to postpone his flight and travel on Christmas Eve.  But he was able to intercept the delivery van and go collect the precious boxes of hats from the depot himself this morning and then package them all up for shipment today.  Two more days til we fly!

First planning meeting for ladies backpacking 2025

 Yep, here we go! Mallorca/ Majorca at the end of March 2025, the three of us plus Chris are meeting over in Palma for a 4 day backpacking trip through the Tramuntana mountains!

Prepping hat orders

When I came home from swimming, I found Rhodri had taken over the living room with order forms and preparation for sending hat orders out on Monday.

Morning swim

After the company Christmas party last night ended for us not too late at all, I was able to get up and go for my Saturday morning swim with my homies!

Here are Sarah, Anna, Jo, Leigh and me on another beautiful winter morning at Tide Mills. 

Company Christmas Party

 This year the annual event was open for employees plus partners, unlike previous years.  So Rhods and I got dressed up and attended.  It was fun to see Marcus and Angela, and the food was good, but otherwise it was just ok.  Not super fun. So we left quite early and were glad to be able to do that! But it was a new venue that neither of us had been to (Stanhill Court Hotel), so that was nice too.  It was one of those occasions where it was more fun getting ready to go than actually be there for the event itself, but that is how it goes sometimes.  As someone once said, you get that on the big jobs!

Cha ching!

Rhods and I were sitting in the lounge at home last night, reading the weekend paper, and his phone started making the 'cha-ching' sound that it makes when he sells something, and then it kept going... cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-CHING, CHA-CHING!! .. We knew something was up, but not sure what it was exactly until the next day when Rhods was able to talk to a customer on the phone and find out what instigated the purchase.

Turns out that it was a TV show that had aired which featured a hat that Rhodri sells, and in fact he had sold several of these to the military personnel that were on this particular TV show last year.  So now he needs to figure out how to keep up with the 'cha-chings' that keep coming through ahead of leaving for California for Christmas! Hope our travel doesn't get disrupted...

Our girl turns 19!

Cannot believe that Rhiannon is turning 19 today.  This is unbelievable. She is back in SB now after her 3 week stint up north in San Francisco which lasted from Nov 1st until just before Thanksgiving.  

This past weekend she participated in some crazy endurance obstacle course event with a couple of friends from the gym.  She is basically living the life of a 23 year old... working two part time jobs, zipping around in her little car, making new friends, living with Grandma, spending time with Eric and Kristin across the street, and generally living her best life by the looks of things!  But she is somehow more mature than her years on Earth would suggest.  We are so proud of her.  She is a beautiful, generous, thoughtful, perceptive, sensitive, strong, insightful, passionate person.  It is really hard living this far away from her, but it is reassuring to know that our family has her in their lives and hearts, and she is safe.

Happy Birthday, Rhiannon!

Getting cosy in the cone

 It is so cosy/ cozy here right now. Love it. Especially on a drizzly Saturday morning.

Which then turns into a Saturday evening... 

Annual CG tree light up

As I've said many a year on this blog, the annual village tree lighting event is my favorite night of the year. It is so chaotic and heartwarming, different every year but also somehow the same... all sorts of people come out of the woodwork, all generations come and crowd into the hall for the entertainment program that precedes the big "switch on" of the outside Christmas tree lights.

This year was a little different because I was the program director and Rhodri was the MC.  He has been the MC now for the past couple of years already, so it was only natural that we do it again this year.  But its new that I got involved on putting together the program.  It was a fairly short and sweet program, and it was a huge success in the end.   

We were going to go caroling down the street after the switch on, as has been the tradition since 2020 (Covid year), but there is some big storm hitting tonight and so it was just starting to hit us as we were outside round the tree. So after singing our traditional "O Christmas Tree" to the tree outside, Rhodri closed the evening out and we all packed up and went home (after tidying up the village hall and putting chairs away and all that).

Looking forward already to next year!  This night always feels like the true start to the Christmas season.

Hamilton, coming soon

 I found out that Aunt Judy and Uncle Joe are coming this way in late January, and we are all going to see Hamilton together at Victoria Palace Theatre.  So when I arrived into London today to go to the city centre office for the day, I admired this building with new appreciation. I'm excited to go inside!  Really look forward to Judy and Joe coming...

Sally next door

Sally has lived next door to us the whole of the 14.8 years we have lived in the house.  We've been through a lot together so far, Sally and us! Rhodri and I especially appreciate her directness.  If she has a bone to pick, she marches over and knocks on the front door.  Same if something is wrong. We can totally rely on her to let us know when something is going on, for better or worse.  

I dropped over today to ask her something and she happened to be holding these two plants when she opened the door, so I took this photo of her.  Its nice to see a bit of color in this bleak, muted palette time of year.  Good ol' Sally.  She is a legend.  She is 85? 87? and she is up there on the ladder cleaning the gutters of the house, taking the bin out, pulling weeds, out and about every day even when she isn't feeling great.  We like living next to her.

Thanksgiving, Sussex style

Our friends Duane and Sara host a really special Thanksgiving meal event every few years, and we got onto their invite list last time around, so we got a repeat invite this year.  

Everybody does bring something, and Sara has it so well organized without making it seem too structured.  There are live musicians and dancing after the meal, a few speeches, and overall an overflowing feeling of warmth, love, friendship, gratitude, and joy.  We are so happy to be on their invite list and we feel very lucky to know them, and have them live just a few doors down from us.

Delightful surprise

 So there I was, casually pottering around the kitchen around mid-morning today, and I looked out the front window to see our Danish friend Ole walking down the driveway waving happily at me!  He and Bettina and their kids Casper and Ana Louisa moved back to Denmark several years ago and we hadn't heard that they were here visiting but they were! And they called in on us, which I LOVE when people do. And I'm not just saying that!  I genuinely love when people show up unannounced. Its great that we were all home and able to hang out with them for an hour or so.

Jools Holland at RAH

For Rhodri's birthday back in September, I got us tickets to go see Jools Holland live at the Royal Albert Hall.  It is such a gorgeous venue, and even though we were up in the "Rausing Circle", we had a great view.  Rhods and I hardly ever go out just the two of us, so it was special to meet in London and go out for dinner, then this show.

Weekend in Cardiff

We drove to Cardiff for the weekend to spend time with Sioned, JJ and little Gwydion. It was a great weekend all around.