Sun, Surf, and Santa

For some reason - maybe it's El Nino or, perhaps, we're just lucky - Winter does not want to come to the Mid-Atlantic region this year.  I have to admit that it's sort of preventing me from fully getting in to the holiday spirit, but I also think that it's awesome that I don't have to warm my car up before work every morning.

I've been heading to my beach house every other week since October.  This weekend was supposed to be an "off" week, but then I saw that it's supposed to be 62 degrees and sunny in Ocean City this Saturday.  Hmmm.......

Last weekend was as lovely as I thought it would be.  We did some shopping on Rehoboth Avenue, had a wonderful lunch at Cilantro, and did another tour of Winterfest of Lights in Ocean City.  While strolling down the boards in Rehoboth, we noticed that Santa was available to take requests from the kiddies with no line at all.

The house of the lonely Santa (photo credit: my daughter's FB page) 

Even though Christmas is just around the corner, you can sense that things are winding down in the resort towns.  Some restaurants are out of certain food and drink items, and some are closed for the season.  Many businesses have signs up to let people know when they will be closing for the season (almost all right after Christmas).  As festive as the beach towns look, you do get a lonely feeling when you pull in to town at night and you're the only person sitting at a stoplight on
Coastal Highway.  It's not unusual to see one balcony decorated with lights and garland in a building with nearly 100 condo units (actually - I find that kind of cool).  

I decorated my beach house living room with a teeny tiny tree. Since the weather is so warm, I needed some reminder that Christmas is on the way.  I will be back at the beach before Christmas day (either this weekend or next - or both) to finish up some shopping and enjoy being as far away from the weekend traffic on Concord Pike as possible.

Go to the beach.  It's warm and it's beautiful.  

This Saturday from 8-11 AM, you can have breakfast with Santa at the Dewey Beach Lions Club.  There is a small admission fee and they ask that everyone bring a non-perishable food item.

Head to Bethany Beach at 6 PM on Saturday to join the Mariners Praise Band for carols around the tree on the boardwalk.

Beautful Bethany Beach 

There is still plenty to do and see by the sea before Winter decides to finally show up.  Enjoy the holiday season with a little less hustle and almost no bustle.