California in December

California is quite beautiful in December. The temperatures can be quite chilly, especially at night (lows of 3 degrees) but most days it is still sunny and it can get up to the high teens or low twenties. Lately it has been around 10-15 degrees.

When we got here, it was mid-August and I really wasn't sure what to expect come fall. Would the trees change? Do trees change color and lose their leaves when there's no snow coming? What do Californian seasons look like? Well, I've since learned that it is pretty much like summer (a Canadian summer) until at least the end of October. That's kinda when the leaves start to change and right now, early December, they are in their peak of beauty. There are bright yellow, deep red, and, of course, green like always.

It is orange season here in Cali. I remember, now that I see orange trees, that when I was little and would draw a picture of a tree, some of the time I would draw red circles for apples but more often I would draw orange circles for oranges. Oranges were by far preferred over apples for me. : )

These oranges are SO good too. They're pretty sour, but all you need to do is cut them open to know that they're straight off the tree. They smell amazing, and the flavor is like nothing you find in a store in Canada. How ever am I going to go back?! Yesterday I cleaned my kitchen with an orange straight off the tree. Then I garborated (sp?) the rest and the whole kitchen smelled SO good! Lovely!

There are also still tons of flowers blooming around campus (and everywhere, really). I kinda hope that this lasts all "winter". These yellow flowers seem to be in season right now (I've noticed a few bushes of them on campus and around the city). So happy-looking, eh?

The roses also seem to be in some kind of peak season. BUT...I have a sneaking suspicion that the ladies in the administration office are cutting them and taking them to their offices. There is something about entire bushes that are full of blunt cut stems that were loaded with buds a day ago that makes me think they're not just naturally fading away...

I did manage to find some beautiful roses to stop and smell though...

This is a fountain over at the campus next door. We are connected physically to them, but are actually separate schools. It is a very beautiful campus. Ours is too, for that matter. There are fountains, stately columns, and lots of trees.

This is my favorite view here on campus. This was taken right outside the library where I found Nathan while I was out taking pictures. How did I get so lucky?


So you can see that most things around here don't look very Christmas-ey, as far as what we're used to. But I've realized that these are the climates where we get our inspiration for the plants we use to decorate at Christmas. Crazy, eh? I think of Christmas every time I walk by this bush...I remember my grandma having a plastic version of this plant that came out at Christmas time.

And last, but not least, we have carolers. I was just about to run out the door to pick some things up at Walmart and decided to check something online right before I left. I was sitting here with the laptop and all of a sudden I heard music that sounded like it was in our house. I was very confused. I looked outside and there was a whole brass band in our courtyard. I didn't notice them arrive at all, but with our windows open, I couldn't miss the beautiful carols that they played. I must say, I've never seen carolers that weren't bundled from head to toe. I've never seen carolers with a tuba player either!

So that's a taste of California in December. If it looks so good that you want to come see it yourself, by all means come! Then again, I'll understand if the blanket of snow and promise of freezing cold temperatures over the next couple months have you completely content with where you are...