12/26/2010 - Christmas in Todos Santos

Lulu's brother Jim decided to give her surfing lessons for Christmas this year. That's not to say that Jim's a surfer who decided to teach his sister. Rather, he'd been bitten by the bug and wanted a lesson for himself as well. So, bright and early Christmas morning, we headed south to Todos Santos again. We were a little concerned about whether or not anything would be open since so many stores in La Paz were closed when we left.

Once we reached Todos Santos and wended our way through town, our (or at least 'my') concern increased a bit as it seemed all the restaurants and stores in TS were also closed for Christmas. However, the beach is a few miles south of town and, on the way, we had to pass one last little pueblo before turning off the highway. Everything there was open and geared for tourists and, mostly, surfers. We bounced along the dirt road and finally came in view of the beach, which I think is named Cerritos. At any rate, the hotel in the photo above is named Cerritos and the restaurant/bar that the picture was taken from is as well, so...

Jim had also offered me lessons but I've never really learned to tread water (something Lulu and I are going to fix this summer when the water's warm and we're anchored someplace where the waters also nice and clean). Matter of fact, when I try, I sink. And this may just be me, but I'm pretty sure that's not a good thing. Thus, I'm not terribly comfortable in water over my head unless I'm actually swimming somewhere or have a boat under me, so I regretfully declined.

The weather at Cerritos Beach was absolutely beautiful. Probably in the mid-80s by early afternoon, completely clear sky, and not a breath of wind. Also, this is apparently not such a crazy thing to do on Christmas as the beach and restaurant were amply populated. It wasn't crowded but there were quite a few people.

While Jim and Lulu were out trying to catch waves, I spent an hour and a half at Cerrito's (the restaurant/bar, not the hotel) nursing a couple of Pacificos and downing a big fish taco. After that, I parked my butt in a sand chair and read a book, only occasionally glancing up to watch the passing parade of bikini-clad chicas. I did venture out into the water a couple of times to try to get a photo. It was difficult because I never knew when they were going to finally attempt a wave. Seems like they'd paddle around forever and then, when my attention was diverted, I'd look back up and one or the other of them was halfway to the beach. The camera I was using doesn't have a viewfinder so I was trying to compose the picture in the little screen on the back which is basically black when used in bright sunlight. So I pointed and prayed. Here are the best of the ones that I got, which isn't saying much.

Lulu trying to stand up:

And Jim (on the yellow board) on his way to standing up:

What a great way to spend Christmas. Lulu's gift to me (well, to us, really) was "no pressure" for Christmas this year. No gift obligations, no need to try to make the holiday perfect, etc. And so, it naturally turned out perfect. We bought each other Kindle e-readers but opened them a week ago so Christmas morning there were no gifts, no stockings, no expectations, no disappointments, no guilt and no huge pile of gift wrap to deal with. Just another beautiful day in paradise.

Now, just so I don't come off as a compete Scrooge, let me say that I used to enjoy Christmas as much as the next guy. But all of the commercial guilt-trip hype has just gotten so out of hand that it's sucked all the fun out of it for me. I enjoyed Christmas when the kids were little. I also enjoyed Christmases at our home in the woods. One of the best ones that I can remember was just a couple years ago with 3 feet of snow, a house full of family, and no power. Had a great time. But frankly, we would have had just as much fun without the added burden of trying to make Christmas perfect. Over the years, we let the commercial guilt-tripping machine get the best of us. We spent stupid amounts of money on gifts because we were sucked into believing that we should. We knew better but it seemed like we'd already set up a standard that we felt like we had to live up to year after year. This year was such a refreshing change. Hopefully we'll remember that when we have grandkids to buy presents for someday.

And speaking of that, we are going to try to convince our grandkids, when we have some, that the best Christmas treat ever is to fly down to the sunny beaches of Mexico to have Christmas with the Grandma and Grandpa. The snow will still be there when they get home. Believe me, it will definitely still be there.

And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
"Bah Humbug to all!
And to all, "Surf's up!"

Hope everyone had the kind of Christmas they hoped for.