In Ventura, on Christmas day, not a merchant was stirring, not even a fry cook …

Well, not quite, but close.

Billie and I got to the theater too late for the 2:15 showing of Elf, so we thought we’d try the 3:30 showing of Cold Mountain, but it was sold out, so we bought tickets for the 4:40 of Elf, which gave us a couple of hours to kill, so we thought we’d get something to eat. We reasoned, probably the only thing open on Christmas day were the restaurants and movie theaters.  That wasn’t quite right. The Muslim-owned 98+ Cent store was open (I bought an ashtray for my office and Billie bought a shower cap), and the gas stations were open. Oh, and every bar in town and half the liquor stores were open. If nothing else, you can drown your sorrows on Christmas day. It’s a little harder to get something to eat. We settled on Der Wienerschnitzel across the street from the closed McDonald’s. The Denny’s next door was open, but after standing for five minutes waiting to be seated, we decided they really didn’t want our business.

Elf is destined to be a Christmas classic. Entertaining throughout, and plenty of warm fuzzies at the end.

The picture with this post is a house up Seaward Avenue a bit. It’s my favorite yard decorations of the season.