After ruminating on how to get my family to Australia for Christmas and, gasp, my 40th birthday, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea, let’s all meet in LA instead. It would be easier for Jon and I to fly to the West coast rather than all the way back East and flights from DC to LA should be plentiful. Of course, booking flights is never easy so there was some difficulty and miscommunication between me and Jon on our flights and scarce options led to some late night flying for my family. Sigh. Fortunately, by the time we actually went to LA all that was behind us so and we could have the fabulous fun trip I’d originally envisioned.

None of us had ever spent much time in LA so we used our time there to the utmost. We checked out downtown LA where we sampled delicious food at the Grand Central Market and browsed through the Last Bookstore.

We gathered supplies for a Christmas Eve in from Whole Foods in the Grove. My brother-in-law, Lyon dared to ask the friendly worker in the beer section where we might find some Pliny the Elder, a very hard to find highly sought after beer. My sister Alison and I were skeptical at once and thought Lyon silly for asking. It turned out we were the silly ones as the guy came through with a stash in the back. With plenty of food for grazing and plenty of beer for drinking we spent the evening catching up at our Airbnb.

On Christmas, we observed our tradition of having Eggs Benedict before heading off into the unknown, Universal Studios on Christmas Day.

Would it be empty with people choosing to stay home with family on Christmas? HA. Not a chance. It was jam packed with clever people like us, hoping it wouldn’t be crowded. It didn’t really matter, we embraced the chaos and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially the Harry Potter ride.

Our other Christmas tradition is to have prime rib for Christmas dinner. Luckily, Lawry’s, famous for their prime rib, is in Beverly Hills. They were closed for Christmas so we just nudged our tradition one day later and were rewarded with an amazing feast without all the work for mom.

Over the next few days we hit up Muscle Beach where I learned that I have literally no upper body strength, and the Santa Monica Pier. We experienced chaos rivaling Universal Studios when we went to the Griffith Park Observatory. And, most importantly perhaps, we celebrated my 40th birthday. We went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood and dined at Osteria Mozza. Both really special treats topped up with really special gifts including an amazing  photo collage Alison put together with help from the rest of the family and the most special part of all was being able to celebrate with my family.

Jon and I spent a couple of days between family visits in Santa Monica enjoying the beachy side of LA and doing some America shopping. And as a birthday present, Jon took me to a super fun improv show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Then we headed off to Texas…

Jon’s family was in the process of moving from Raleigh, NC to Austin, TX when we were in the US in July/August so we left them to manage their chaos without house guests.  This time they were not so lucky. We made sure to include a visit to their new digs in Austin.

Unfortunately, Jon and I both came down with bad colds just as we were getting ready to leave LA so we spent a fair bit of our time in Texas resting. The new Handel house was perfect for recuperating with a super comfortable quiet, dark guest room for snoozing and a nice open living area with lovely views of Lake Travis that we could enjoy from inside without venturing out into the surprisingly cold outside.

It was great to spend time catching up with Mary, Gene, Nick, Natasha and the latest family additions Luke and Lucy.

Mary tested new recipes on us which made for some fantastic breakfasts and dinners, but the best part was being able to linger and chat. Jon managed to help Nick with math homework that I took one look at and gave up on.

I swear I used to be good at math. We got in lots of quality time and Jon made a new best friend.