Adventure Logan

December 28th at the Beach

For those of you who have been asking for beach pictures this is your lucky day. This morning we went to Altheas for brunch with the Munroes and Sanfords. On the way home the gals stopped to check out the 50% sale at Goodwill – I got a great Relic purse for  $2.50. We headed for the beach by Sharkey’s and were thrilled with the high temps (about 80 at 2 PM – and still 75 now at 6 PM). I think there were more people at the beach today than the busiest days in April and May – first it was a Sunday and it was just after Christmas. There were more kids and young families than we ever see.

 I love watching the paddleboarders – if I were younger, could swim and didn’t have a pair of shot knees I would love to do this!

I couldn’t resist leaving my footprint in the sand as I left today – thank heavens that there are still over 4 months left so that the beach days aren’t limited. It still amazes us that the beach is “ours” the same way that we consider Sharkeys “our neighbourhood bar”.

Christmas Day in Venice

Dave and I would like to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope that you are all well and enjoying the season.

We had a very enjoyable Christmas Day here in sunny Florida. Dave golfed early in the morning (so he was super happy) and returned home to have a little nap (his chair was moved out into the patio so we could set up the large dining table).

 While he napped, I started with my favourite task – setting and decorating the dining table.

There were 5 of these small centerpieces that I made about a week ago.

It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t whip out the glue gun and add some magic to the table. So I actually glued ribbon to the 4 candle sticks after I had already started setting.  My tables are often a work in progress.

The little silver bell name holders were ones I bought about 25 years ago. They are actually just pastic bell tree ornaments that Dave sawed slots into for placecards. I never would let them go – so here they are in Venice still going strong all these years later.

Dave worked on the peeling of veggies and stuffing of the turkey. He can do those so quickly it boggles my mind. While he did that, I set up the serving warmers and buffet area. Then he got to unveil the cooked bird!

We were thrilled to have 12 for dinner – our most memorable Christmases have been ones with large numbers. The gang gathered at 5 and we sat for dinner at 6:30. There were lots of laughs and lots of wine. Hours later we were still together having many laughs and planning our preemptive strikes on the stores for Boxing Day (although they do not call it that here).

Christmas Eve – Gift Exchange

Christmas Eve we headed out to the Chinese Buffet for supper where we ate from their huge selection of dishes. Following that we headed to the Munroe’s for our gift exchange. We actually drew names in July when we were all together in Dartmouth and agreed to buy a $20 gift. It was lots of fun and we enjoyed seeing what each of us got.

Tree at the Munroe’s

The gifts await opening!

 The guys awaiting the opening of gifts

Marilyn found these Christmas dogs who resemble the real one, Cooper!

Tacky Sweater Party

The Corkery’s hosted a Tacky Sweater Party tonight. We had a lot of fun and even enjoyed the friendly competition as well as the charades contest and other games.

The votes were tallied in the 3 categories – Just Too Pretty – Ugliest Sweater – Still Pretty Ugly – and prizes were awarded!

 Prizes were bottles of wine!

 Florence won Just Too Pretty

 Danny won Still Pretty Ugly

 Dave won Ugliest Sweater (Notice the Beer Tabs on his vest!)

Liz had fun trying to tacky up her place with tinsel garland!

A Christmas Carol – Venice Theatre

This evening we were off to the Venice Theatre again – this time for the classic A Christmas Carol – in its 15th running here at the theatre. Some of the actors have been in it multiple years – the actor playing Scrooge was playing it for the 13th time. Many of the 51 cast are siblings and parents sharing the stage. It was an excellent production of my favourite Christmas play so I was pleased.

The large clock was heard tolling during Scrooge’s visits by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

The cast taking bows at the end!

Red Hat Christmas Luncheon

Today we headed out to the annual Red Hat Luncheon held at the Jacaranda West Golf Club. Because it was Christmas, the Queen Ginny declared that we should wear red – not purple today! Here we are before leaving my place.

The facility is decorated both inside and out so we took a few opportunities to take pictures.

The Great American Trailer Park Christmas

This evening we attended a play in the Pinkerton Theater within the Venice Theater complex. The title, The Great American Trailer Park Christmas, was enough to entice us. It was a fun little musical based in a Florida trailer park called Armadillo Acres and set in the days prior to Christmas. It was quite irreverent as some of the titles of the songs might suggest – Christmas in my Mobile Home, Christmas is for Dummies, The Twelve Days of Amnesia and Trailer Park Christmas Time.  One was even a little vulgar – its title _ It It’s Christmas (you fill in the blank) . The set design was neat – including the half decorated tree, the fully decorated trailer, the undecorated trailer that then became decorated, and the garden nome with the extended finger.

Christmas Lights

We toured the lights on Mission Valley Road tonight with the Munroes and MacIntyres. Since we first moved here, it has been an annual tradition for us. This is the first time for the Munroes.  Showcasing 175,000 colored and white lights and more than 400 figurines, the 2.5-acre Christmas wonderland on Mission Valley Boulevard is a holiday experience. The home that we visited has been setting up this impressive show since 1975. They have added new things most years and it is fun to look around and try to find the changes.

Christmas music plays from four different stereo systems placed throughout the yard. One offers classical music; a second plays Christmas favorites like “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”; a third plays Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas tunes; and the fourth provides sounds from Santa’s workshop.

These Santa’s workshop buildings are part of the original displays.

 There are polar bears, penguins, snowmen, trains and more: flamingos, toy soldiers, dinosaurs and reindeer galore.

The owner draws inspiration from children’s coloring books, then sketches designs. He hand-builds the displays he can’t find in stores, such as his 12-foot holiday dinosaur. Each character is made from 1/4-inch round steel wire on which Christmas lights are clipped. He uses 400 extension cords for more than 800 amps of power.  During December and part of January, his electric bill more than triples.

In the last few years they have added quite a few of the air filled structures.

There is a snow making machine by the pool house so it is always fun to stand in the falling snow!

The roof of the house has a light show synchronized with various Christmas carols.

The family spends six weeks setting up the displays each year. It takes even longer to take the display apart, but they’re not in a rush. The lights and characters are placed in plastic bins and put away until the next year in two 20-foot-by-40-foot storage sheds behind a waterfall in the backyard.

First of the Christmas Events

One of the annual events leading up to Christmas is the Venice Avenue Stroll which we all atttended on Thursday evening. We walked up and down the street – visited stores – ate cookies – drank wine – listened to several live performances and generally got in the mood. The weather cooperated with 75 degree temps.

On Saturday we headed to Nokomis for the 26th annual Venice Boat Parade. Since parking was going to an issue, we left early (4PM) and managed time at the beach first. There was also the drum circle – with all the characters that we have come to expect. So the time went quickly while we waited for the 6PM start. Our chairs were put at the viewing spot 36 hours before (along with Gus’ car) and all was waiting for us – front row seats at the Albee Road Bridge which is the start point for the parade.

 The boat parade begins – the bridge on Albee Road before it was raised.

 Danny, George and Gus

 Judy, Debbie, Mary Evelyn and Molly

 Florence, Marilyn and Carol (Gus in back row)

Mike and Dave

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

You would think that the absence of snow and cold would impact the Christmas spirit – but it really doesn’t! I think that people in warmer climates actually try harder since the weather/scenery here doesn’t really jive with the traditional pictures that we associate with Christmas. With that said,  I have been very busy making this place as seasonal as possible. This is our 7th Christmas here – for 2 of them we went on cruises and for 2 of them we were lucky to have the MacIntyre clan (all 6) with us. This year we were thrilled to learn that our gang from Dartmouth is going to be here for the season. So decorating seemed essential and I dug out the bins – they have not been unpacked for 3 years so much of the contents were a surprise to me! Last January Liz and I got great 95% off items at Big Lots so I now have a 7 foot tree too.

I began with decorating the lanai – traditional red/green plus the Santa’s from my original collection in Dartmouth.

The living/dining room area is done in more Florida colours and are all new items so it was really fun deciding what to buy and where to put it.

This place is small so even the bathroom got done – I did stop there and am not planning on decorating the bedroom.