My Christmas Eve In Orange County, California

I had a great Christmas Eve with my kids in Orange County, California…a bit of calm before an unanticipated storm.

Christmas Eve In Orange County

My wife Heidi, a nurse, was working so I was left with the kids. I rose at 4:00 am to get my blogging done for the morning so that the kids would not have to occupy themselves when they woke up.

I do interment fasting at home, but made the kids some breakfast and then we headed down to my uncle’s house to set up his Christmas tree for him (I’ve fondly shared about my 95-year-old Uncle Bill before).

After some time with him, we drove south to Orange County for some coffee and some Pain au chocolat at Hopper & Burr in Santa Ana, one of my favorite Southern California coffee shops. I love this place…the coffee and pastries are superb (Claire Marie had a cookie, which was great too…I had a bite).

a building with glass windows and tables outside

a white car parked on the side of a street

a two children sitting at a window

a plate of pastries and a glass of coffee

a boy and girl sitting at a table with food

a boy and girl eating food at a table

a boy and girl eating pastries at a table — She actually shared her cookie with her brother!

two children sitting at a table looking out a window

a group of people sitting at a bar

Then we stopped by a church in Irvine pastored by my dear friend Bobby Schuller, the grandson of the late founder of the Crystal Cathedral Robert H. Schuller, for a lovely Christmas Eve service. It was a beautiful service, though my daughter had trouble sitting through it (and that concerns me because the service was only 45 minutes and we’ll soon be boarding a 10-hour flight to Europe…).

a group of people performing in a church

a group of people sitting on a bench in a church

a boy sitting in a room with people in the background

a man on a stage with a microphone

Next, we headed over toward John Wayne Airport, stopping at the Hyatt Regency we recently stayed at and spent some time watching airplanes take off.

a parking lot with cars and trees in front of a building

a two children climbing a tree

a two children sitting under a tree

a girl standing on the side of a road

a two children standing on a tree

a child standing on grass near a road

two children standing on the side of a road

a tree with a plane flying in the sky

a child standing in grass near trees

a boy and girl sitting on the side of a road

a two children walking on a sidewalk

a man and two children posing for a selfie

We could have caught better views by parking in the airport’s cell phone waiting lot, but the Hyatt was nice because it also allowed my children to run around.

a white airplane parked in front of a fence

a group of airplanes on a runway

an airplane parked in a parking lot

Traffic was light on Christmas Eve and we zipped back home in less than an hour.

And that, dear friends, is when Christmas unraveled. To be continued…

4 Comments

Min Reply

December 26, 2022 at 3:21 pm

May I say the late Robert H Schuller with the incident with cabin crews on UA flight LAXJFK, anti gay and threaten the cabin crew whilst the hearing was on-going
Happy holidays
- Matthew Klint Reply
  
  December 26, 2022 at 4:15 pm
  
  I remember reading about that flight. And also another flight incident. But his grandson is a class act.
John Reply

December 27, 2022 at 7:20 am

Nice family day out. Next time you find yourself by OC airport and unconcerned about calories, try this place. Epic Italian food: baroneoc.com
- Matthew Klint Reply
  
  December 27, 2022 at 12:51 pm
  
  Looks delicious!