Christmas 2015 at Umpqua River Haven was a special time as 3 of our younger family members were with us. It was fun, relaxing and just plain great and doesn’t happen every year. So…we are going to revisit Christmas 2015 for you and all the traditional coast things we do when our family is together. Also in this 2015 post is the object of one family member’s comment: “You win the ugly Christmas Sweater Contest” hands down! Ugly Christmas Sweater Contests seem rampant this year, so do check it out when you find it and let us know if you think it’s a winner!!!                                                               Merry Christmas!

Christmas on the Oregon Coast carries some traditions with it. Rain is one and there was plenty of it leading up to the 2015 holiday. But on Christmas Eve the rains stopped long enough for our traditional family visit to Shore Acres as seen in the previous blog post. What you didn’t see were the two newest light displays. They generally have at least one a year and additional lights strung among the plants and trees each year also. But the two new displays can be seen below.

These critters in the middle on a portion of wood fencing are the newest addition.

And the Lady Bug amid the flowers is also new this year.

It is traditional for us to stop at the Umpqua River Lighthouse looking out over the mouth of the Umpqua River into Winchester Bay on the way back from Shore Acres. This beautiful lighthouse is even more so at night as it casts light and red butterflies out onto the trees and ocean night guiding any ship at sea into port. The full moon wasn’t too shabby either!

Christmas Day turned into glorious sunshine after many days of rain. Traditionally we don’t like to cook and clean up and find someplace to go for a mid-day Christmas dinner. This year it was to Newport to Georgie’s Beachside Grill. This was the view from our table.

The food was as fabulous as the view and the price was reasonable.  We recommend Georgie’s any time you are in Newport!                        www.georgiesbeachsidegrill.com 

Outside the restaurant were ocean waves and sunshine!

We left Georgio’s and traveled to the famous Nye Beach. We love the beach but it was so sunny eyes had to squint.

There was a great view of Yaquina Head Lighthouse (from a previous lighthouse blog).

We traveled back on the scenic ocean view road and stopped at the whale watching shelter. Whale watching officially starts on December 26 but they can be seen either side of that. We didn’t see any but we did see the Coast Guard fly by close to the beach to entertain some teens jumping and waving and dressed in costumes on the beach.

We then headed back to the state park where we had this great view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

While there weren’t any stores open, we went to Bay Street to see the sea lions on the docks. They are very entertaining with their antics.

With regret we left Newport and headed back to Umpqua River Haven stopping at Devil’s Churn for a short hike.

It was a gloriously beautiful Christmas time on the Oregon Coast. My family awarded me the Ugliest Christmas Sweater award of all time, hands down! Comment and let me know what you think of the sweater! Did it deserve this award???!!