Santa Maria is a small town in central California, just over an hour north of Santa Barbara. Farming is huge in Santa Maria; you can drive around the outskirts and see nothing but fields of strawberries, broccoli, and other produce. Santa Maria has a rich history of barbeque, with locals establishing their own method of barbecuing and claiming Santa Maria to be the source of the tri-tip steak itself. Of course, being in a California valley, Santa Maria is known for its wine, too. Pismo Beach is only 20 minutes away also.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve spent almost every Christmas holiday visiting my dad’s side of the family in Santa Maria. My grandma has been there for 50 years, still living in the house where my dad and his siblings grew up. It sits on about an acre of land at the south end of Santa Maria. Down the street is a country club, and right across the street is Waller County Park, which remains one of the largest and nicest parks I’ve ever seen.

It’s always been quite the journey to go out there, no matter where my family lived at the time. Yet, for my husband and I, this meant a literal trip from coast to coast. It’s not an easy task to piece together some sort of flight pattern across the country, especially if you want to keep it cheap. Kevin and I first had to catch a bus from Manchester to Boston and then fly from there to Philadelphia and finally to Los Angeles. And that was just the flying! After we landed, we rented a car and started the 150-mile drive up the coast on Route 101 from Los Angeles to Santa Maria. Depending on traffic, that’s anywhere from a 2-and-a-half hour to 4-hour drive.

Kevin and I drove in the dark, having landed in Los Angeles at 7pm. This ended up being a perfect time for the drive, as we made it to Santa Maria in less than 3 hours. At the same time, though, we had been awake for 18 hours, so we were definitely ready for bed.

For the next couple of days, we had a wonderful time! This was Kevin’s very first trip to Santa Maria, so I showed him around the place as some weird mix of diligent tour guide and hyperactive school girl. I shared my childhood memories of my grandma’s house with him; we both sat in front of the wood fireplace in the great room and played Christmas carols on my great-grandfather’s piano. We walked through Waller Park, following the winding trails and playing disc golf. We came across the run-down corral where I remember riding horses. We went to Shell Beach and ran around in the sand, watching seals and pelicans in the distance.

However, we spent most of the time simply being in my grandma’s house, putting together a puzzle and playing ping pong. Kevin got to know my grandma, aunts, and uncle more. We hadn’t seen them since our wedding, and like I said, Kevin hadn’t been to Santa Maria before that. He got to see the numerous family collages and framed photos all over the house. We stayed in my aunts’ room, which was pretty much untouched from their childhood. We strolled around the enormous backyard with the dogs. We went out to eat at some of the family’s favorite restaurants in Santa Maria while indulging in my grandma’s cooking, too.

It was at one of the restaurants, and we couldn’t tell you which one it was for certain, that Kevin and I each suffered food poisoning for the last few days of the trip. We agree that it was probably some sea bass we both ate. Kevin was sick all night one night and down the next day to recuperate, and I was down for Christmas Eve. He absolutely had it worse than I did, which makes sense considering he had more of the questionable sea bass.

By Christmas Day, the day we were taking off, both of us were much better. I couldn’t be more thankful that we recovered just in time to enjoy Christmas morning with the whole family. We kind of have a free-for-all when it comes to opening presents, since there are so many of us. All of us get a homemade stocking that hangs on the brick wall above the fireplace, ones that have been around for years and years, and Kevin’s stocking joined the pack this year. Every year, my grandma has a piece of clothing custom made and gives one to each of us. It’s usually a shirt or pullover that’s way too big and makes for an awesome pajama top.

Luckily, Kevin and I got the chance to have Christmas breakfast with everyone and actually eat food for once before we had to get going. Honestly, no one there had any idea how long it would take to drive back down the coast to Los Angeles and trudge through the airport on Christmas Day. We ended up there with plenty of time to spare, returning the car and breezing through security. We boarded our flight and headed to Albuquerque (stay tuned for a Heading Home entry on that!).

The trip wasn’t perfect. But the exhausting travel time and sickness aside, I’m so glad I could return to California for Christmas again. I saw everything differently with Kevin experiencing it all for the first time, and ultimately, that was wonderful. We have even more reason to go back to Santa Maria and do it all again, maybe during the summer one year to change it up. Yet, there’s always been something special about my family’s Christmas gathering. I want to bring Kevin back for another Christmas and give him the real deal, the full experience, because even while we were healthy, there were things that we couldn’t do.

And of course, I want us to be together with the family again. It’s amazing that we all still have the opportunity to have a gathering like that. I want us to be a part of that for as long as it continues!