I am sitting in my sun room, which seems an obvious place in Florida, where the outside temperature is 84 degrees, and I'm wearing shorts and flip-flops.
As a replaced northerner, the traditional trappings of the holiday still seem foreign to me. Palm tree trunks wrapped in white lights. Oh, yes, beautiful--but palm trees? Friends chatting about jumping into their pools after turkey and dressing. Waiting on pumpkin pie so they can trek to the beach.
And yet there is such familiarity. People are in a lighter mood, and there is an air of expectation riding on the air. Holiday homes are the same as in northern climes. One would be hard-pressed walking into a greenery-draped, twinkly-treed home, to tell the difference. Perhaps there isn't one, after all.
During this season of high expectations and happy wishes, we humans who celebrate this particular holiday, appear of one mind wherever we may be. We long for a perfect celebration, all the while remembering nostalgic Christmases long gone but somehow very much alive and active in our memories.
Certain smells, sounds, conversations bring those old days streaming into our consciousness in great detail. We find ourselves trying, with every fiber of nostalgia in us, to recreate them perhaps a little more for ourselves than for our loved ones.
So I look out my window at palm trees and lush plantings, at folks strolling by in all manner of tropical dress, at kids not in snowsuits but shorts and tees, at convertibles with their tops down, letting in the glorious sunshine. And I am certain most of these people are trying to find holiday cheer, longing for this Christmas to be as fun-filled as in Christmases past. Doing exactly the same things with the same thoughts as I had in my winter-chilled home of yesterday.
Have a wonderful and peaceful and joyous Christmas wherever you may be. I wish that for you and for us all.
And yet there is such familiarity. People are in a lighter mood, and there is an air of expectation riding on the air. Holiday homes are the same as in northern climes. One would be hard-pressed walking into a greenery-draped, twinkly-treed home, to tell the difference. Perhaps there isn't one, after all.
During this season of high expectations and happy wishes, we humans who celebrate this particular holiday, appear of one mind wherever we may be. We long for a perfect celebration, all the while remembering nostalgic Christmases long gone but somehow very much alive and active in our memories.
Certain smells, sounds, conversations bring those old days streaming into our consciousness in great detail. We find ourselves trying, with every fiber of nostalgia in us, to recreate them perhaps a little more for ourselves than for our loved ones.
So I look out my window at palm trees and lush plantings, at folks strolling by in all manner of tropical dress, at kids not in snowsuits but shorts and tees, at convertibles with their tops down, letting in the glorious sunshine. And I am certain most of these people are trying to find holiday cheer, longing for this Christmas to be as fun-filled as in Christmases past. Doing exactly the same things with the same thoughts as I had in my winter-chilled home of yesterday.
Have a wonderful and peaceful and joyous Christmas wherever you may be. I wish that for you and for us all.
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