Christmas in LA

Look between the palm trees on the mountain, and you can see the Hollywood sign.

80 something degrees in LA this Thanksgiving weekend, got love the Holidays in Cali.  Heads up! this post has lots of links, so if you are looking for a fun day in LA, I've linked all the info you should need.

We like to go to LA, as a family, at least once before Christmas to do the city thing.  We always end up at The Grove, because we love the atmosphere.  For those who are not from So. Cal, The Grove is a great outdoor mall that has dancing water fountains, a trolley, and is attached to the Historic Farmers Market (which has some of the best eats anywhere).  Oh, and we always spot someone famous.  At Christmas it's even better, they put up a huge tree and have fantastic decorations, even Santa and his reindeer flying overhead.   There is always live music and a brass band that roams around and plays Christmas carols.

The D's at the Grove, Santa flying overhead.

This time we started the day in a new part of LA to us.  I read an article in Sunset magazine about Larchmont Boulevard.  So we wondered through the little shops, the farmers market and the had brunch at Larchmont Bungalow.   One of my favorite shops was The Little Seed.  They even sold cute fabric toys from Barefoot.  Denali spotted the Barefoot toys right away.  When we went to visit my parents in Sri Lanka a few years ago, my mom took us to Barefoot.  I fell in love immediately and bought a lot of fun toys, fabric and bags there.  We didn't really buy much, but had fun window shopping.  I did get some fantastic Raspberry Balsamic at the farmers market and some very cute bibs at  Pickett Fences for Olivia when she starts eating solids.  

We finished our morning in Larchmont Village at the Larchmont Bungalow. Lonnie and I shared the Mole Eggs Benedict and the kids had Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding Pancakes (need I say more?).

My handsome, bearded husband (he does this at least once a year)