Christmas Eve - Day 4

Okay, the weather had finally gotten the message! Today was sun sun sun! And it was toasty warm to boot. We decided to walk to the flea market at the College of the Desert which was about 25 minutes away. I tried to convince Nathan to wear short sleeves but there was no co-operation there. Some battles are best left alone and I know by the time we were home he was plenty hot. He didn't have one word of complaint though!

Blue skies and orange trees. This sums up what California is all about to me.

The flea market was like the street festival but bigger. Loads of booths and merchandise for sale. I had a hard time convincing the boys to save their money (they didn't know about Legoland at the time). They wanted to buy all sorts of knick knacks. Liam happily watched this car drive around a track while Keith shopped for sunglasses.

Once we had walked home we were ready for some pool time. Lounging in the sun was fabulous and we all parked ourselves for the afternoon.

The pool was heated so it was very comfortable for the kids to use just about every day.

The hot tub was always available to warm up in.

A rare shot of busy lizzy not being busy! She deserves a holiday after all the care she puts into her family.

Playing with the pool basketball hoop.

Even Liam had a chance to use it.

After we had supper we headed (minus Liam and Keith) to Christmas Eve services at Southwest Community church. It was similar to Northview in many regards. It was a good service but I was perplexed as to why they had to bring an Elvis impersonator on stage to sing 'Blue Christmas'. Just a wee bit tacky in my opinion :) The service ended with us singing Silent Night with lit candles! Being the good firefighter wife that I am, I was uncomfortable with 1000+ people holding fire! Just one spark on the bouffant hairdo of a done up lady could have been disastrous. Anyhow....Keith was aghast to hear of it and told me that they have the same fire regulations as us and that was completely illegal. Those rebellious desert-dwellers!

After we got home, the boys assembled their gingerbread house with a little assistance from Nana.

The men played billiards. I took photos and ate snacks!

And the completed project.

It didn't quite feel like Christmas Eve but it was close enough.