Alarm Bells Ring, Are Ya Listenin'...

Some of the Xmas decorations in our neighborhood

There's no snow in Miami.  In fact, we're dealing with high levels of humidity and are expecting a 28 degree day today.  And I'm not stating this fact to 'rub it in' to all our Canadian friends who are suited up in parkas and winter boots dealing with minus a thousand degree weather and a wicked windchill.  I sympathize, really I do.

It's December 10, and I awoke from bed this morning with the feeling that I had overslept my alarm.  But it's Monday, I don't work today and therefore there is no alarm to sleep over.  I soon realized that it is December 10.  Fifteen days until Christmas.  Thirteen days until I come home to subzero temperatures for Christmas.  Oh my goodness, I haven't done a thing to prepare for Christmas!!  I've overslept an alarm of a different nature.

And I blame Miami.

Well, not Miami as a whole.  But the climate here in South Florida.  Don't get me wrong, I'm going to wear a t-shirt and shorts today (in my pajamas as I write this...hey, it's my day off!), I'm going to drive my car immediately after starting it without waiting for it to warm up or having to scrape ice off the windshield and I won't have to worry about frostbite on my face or my dog's paws when we go for a walk this morning.  I like that.  No, I LOVE that.

But, what's making me a little sad this morning is how there is a direct correlation between the snow and deep freeze of Manitoba... and my 'Holiday Spirit'.

This is why it's December 10th and there is no Christmas tree or decorations on display in or around my house.  Something that is normally done without hesitation in the last week of November, or at least has been every year over the course OF MY LIFE.

This is why it's December 10th and I haven't done a lick of Christmas shopping.  I'm not an eager holiday shopper, out to 'beat the crowds', but what I do enjoy is wrapping gifts.  And there is not a single wrapped gift in my house to go under my nonexistent tree.

And this is why it's December 10th and only NOW have I started flipping through the radio stations looking for Christmas music.  I think I've heard all of 2 carols so far this month.  This is ludicrous!  Unacceptable.

I realize what the problem here is -- I associate Christmas with snow.   And with the absence of snow, surely I can safely come to the conclusion that Christmas isn't for another couple of months.   Isn't it??

Nope, Terri, it's in 15 days!   I've got to get my act together!  Shopping, decorating... you know, holiday spirit stuff!  

I can honestly tell you that this epiphany I've experienced has made me truly miss the snow.   Getting bundled up to go for a walk in the snow.  Being the first to make tire tracks on the street after a fresh snow fall.  Curling up with with 'mi esposo y perro' on a chilly night with a mug of hot cocoa, admiring Shaw TV's Yule Log.

So now, I'm not only excited to go home for Christmas.  I'm excited to go home.  They say home is where the heart is... my home is where the snow is.  And I'm going there in 13 days!

Next blog, expect to see a picture of a masterfully decorated Christmas tree and of Jeremy in an ugly Christmas sweater, sipping Egg Nog, admiring the holiday splendor that has overtaken the house with the dogs at his feet and a roaring, crackling fire in the hearth.

WAIT, scratch that. 

Make it a picture of a mediocrely decorated Christmas tree and of Jeremy in shorts and a muscle shirt, showing off a wicked farmer tan... sipping a cool, frosty beer to quench the heat (Egg Nog isn't good here anyway), admiring the holiday-lit palm trees across the water and air conditioning running full blast.

That's more like it.