East Coast Time

Last Christmas, the weather was mild and the trees were down; this year, it keeps raining pretty much every day, and the humidity is back to what I remember from my long damp childhood, but at least the trees are back up (or carted away). Haven't seen a single blue tarp across a single wind-ravaged roof. And unlike last year, this year I had plenty of time to spend at home in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale.

Which was good, considering the cats.

Last Christmas, my mother had two-and-a-half cats (one was indoor part of the time and out in the garage part of the time), plus a brace of outdoor cats who were being fed but never allowed inside the house. No problem. This year, one of the outdoor cats had died, the indoor/outdoor cat was entirely indoors, and the two remaining outdoor cats had also come indoors, for a total of five. I walked into the house, I sat down, said hello to the very bashful two new cats, began the getting-reacquainted process, and then started sneezing. Two hours later my defenses had been wiped out and a cold was beginning. (My mom was sick; my sister was sick; the bugs were just waiting for their opening, and boy did they get one.)

So for several days I had all the get-up-and-go of a tree stump. It was a good thing I had all those extra days at home, because I needed them to get the shopping done. Friday and Saturday were the most intense, as if I hadn't already been down here for a week. But now it's all done, and I get to relax and enjoy the season. Just had the Christmas Eve dinner at Mom's house, with the lovely roast beast, then tomorrow I go to Dad's, and if I'm lucky my brother will be able to get me into the Dolphins game on the cheap, since he's bartending there. (The last time I went to a Dolphins game was probably in 1973, when they were rather better than they are now.)

It may be my last simple Christmas. Mom in Miami, Dad in Ft. Lauderdale, and my aunt and grandfather up in Port St. Lucie. (In fact, even this year it wasn't so simple--my Mom's cold and mine preclude us from going up to Port St. Lucie this year, which is a very great shame.) But Dad will be moving to Dallas next year for business reasons, and suddenly I can't just fly to one airport and be within driving distance of everyone. Holiday-time life gets more complicated after this, which I have been terribly aware of the whole time I've been down here, trying to enjoy the moments as well as I can before things change.

But who knew? Who could ever have guessed that among all the traditional holiday pursuits I would also end up eating homemade beef jerky and watching a young idiot shoot a bottle rocket out of his ass?

And on that note: Merry Christmas!