While we lived in California (the second time for me from 1998-2003ish), every December, we would pile our pack of toddlers into the car and drive away from the coast up into the hills beyond Ventura to Ojai. The two lane road would take us away from the arid, drier areas into the lusher, pine forested region. The view was beautiful - the ocean could just be seen in the distance through the backwindow, while ahead the peaks and valleys beckoned.
The end of our journey was the Boccali tree farm, where we would cut down a little Charlie-Brown-Christmas style tree (the choosing and cutting of which were ordeals on their own). By the end of the afternoon, the kids would be exhausted, and sticky with sap and they, like our car, would smell of pine.
As we wound our way back down the hill, as the sun was setting, we would stop at Boccali's pizzaria, which was just west of the tree farm and owned by the same family. The pizza was delicious along with a pitcher of rootbeer, eaten outside on the patio, where we were a little cold, but the warmth of dinner would keep us cozy.
I think Marla Frazee must have been to Boccali's too. Her illustrations in Liz Garton Scanlon's All the World (which just won a Caldecott honor, thank you very much) transported me back to Calfornia, despite the 20 degree weather here in Joliet. Her images, of family and friends, smell of pine and good pizza and warm, sticky toddler hugs to me.
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