Sunday, November 30, 2008

Christmas in California

I love the Crochet Cafe in Temecula. Cute shop. Surrounded by yarn. Lots of friendly people stop in...and more than adequate opportunities to do people watching in the little courtyard that serves the little shops surrounding the Old Temecula Jail.

Which leads me to yet another observation of Christmas traditions in So Cal. I can't tell you how many families troop down to the jail to take their Christmas photos. It's usually about 80 degrees out, and Mom, Dad, and the 2 1/2 kids are decked out in holiday sweaters (red appears to win the popularity vote).

Now, there is a certain prettiness to the courtyard. Flowering vines cover the stone walls and climb over the iron bars on the doors. But, it strikes me funny that so many families choose that at their holiday photo backdrop. It's a jail cell! Maybe the cemetery wasn't available. ;-)

5 comments:

MikeJ said...

whatcha got against jail cells -- they pay me pretty good ;=}

Dan said...

How many people are getting their family pictures taken in front of current jails? "If you look close you can see Daddy through the razor wire!"

MikeJ said...

in front of our jail all they see is a big wall and an officer with a rifle telling you to cease and move on no pics allowed

hopalong682003 said...

It is funny watching people, though. There's an iron door at the front of the jail and a window in the back. A lot of times, the kids will be looking into the jail and Mom or Dad will sneak around to the window: "Hey, Jr...I can see you." All of a sudden you'll see a kid just flying across the courtyard. Evil parents. ;-)

Knitting Linguist said...

Too funny! And I know that courtyard -- it's a great place to hang out. And a former student of mine used to work at that yarn store (may still, actually). :)