Southern Californians celebrate Christmas

David Santamaria, dressed as Santa Claus, gets into the holiday spirit while riding down Broadway with son, David, 5, in tow.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

An area of Woodland Hills off of Winnetka Avenue becomes Candy Cane Lane every holiday season.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Alexander Vertelka, 29, of Orange surfs a wave off Huntington Beach on Christmas morning.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Ladera Briggs, 4, gets help from a volunteer as she picks up Christmas gifts at the Santa’s Village at the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles.  (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Bronson Baker, center, is greeted by his wife, Alicia, after stepping off the Navy ship Peleliu on Thursday on its return home to San Diego after a six-month deployment in the western Pacific.   (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Amanda Mattes, 18, Tori Carlos, 18, and Lilly Mattes, 15, all of Huntington Beach, enjoy Christmas morning on the beach. “It’s tradition,” Lilly says. Amanda adds that “every Christmas we surf or come to the beach.”  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Mayor Garcetti ordered the Lindbergh Beacon, a revolving light atop City Hall, to be turned on Christmas Eve.  (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times)

A newborn baby girl lays wrapped in a red Christmas stocking, continuing a more than 50-year hospital tradition at Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Dave Martinez, 56, of Whittier paddles around Alamitos Bay on Christmas morning. “Only in Socal can you get away with this kind of stuff,” he says.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)