We stayed in SF for the holiday. It's a bit lonely not being around a lot of family, but it was really nice to not have the stress of traveling. We finally got the family time we needed since work and band rehearsals have taken Mr. Cobra away a lot more than usual lately. I'm not sure why just one extra day made such a difference, but it did.
For Thanksgiving dinner we went to the Moss Beach Distillery. The food was good, but the view was amazing because it was a very clear day. There was a high surf warning, so the waves we impressive to watch. Dexter was pretty well behaved and ate a little bit of everything.
We then went down to Half Moon Bay and let Dexter play in the sand while we watched the surfers. Mike was on top of some rocks taking some photos when he got a thorough dousing from an errant wave crashing. So much for getting dressed up!
We finished the day by getting a Christmas tree. We got the lights and garland on it before giving up. It was too much to try and keep Dexter out of the decorations and try to get the tree done, so we waited until after he went to bed to finish it up. That made the next morning's big tree reveal pretty fun. He's stayed out of it pretty much, but sometimes he just sits on the floor next to it and looks at it for a few minutes to take it all in.
We braved Union Square on Black Friday. This year we got there a little later and it was packed with people. We only spent about $150, but I tallied up that we'd saved about $110 on what we did buy. At one point I was in line with about 50 people which took about 20 minutes. The savings made it worth it.
We spent a few hours in the crowds. Dexter was so well behaved. I was really proud of him. At one point, we were taking a break at the Starbucks inside Macy's which is next to the escalators. Mr. and Mrs. Clause were coming down the escalator when Santa let out a very loud HO! HO! HO! Instead of getting excited to see Santa, Dexter stuck our his lip and hid his head on table with tears welling up in his eyes. Poor little guy! Everyone was trying to get him to look at Santa and he was scared. He finally got the courage to wave to him when he was on the floor below us.
We talked about it for a while, so when Mr. and Mrs. Clause came up the escalator a while later he did get excited. He waved and said "Hi Santa!" It was so adorable. I guess Santa is alright as long as he doesn't HO! HO! HO!
We'll see what happens when we go get his picture taken with Santa this year. My prediction is that we'll only see the top of his head because he'll be trying to hide his face. I'm not sure if he'll cry like last year though.
