Caterwauling

Christmas Tree vs. Palm Tree

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

So, it’s Christmas here in South Florida, not that you can tell by the weather.

There was a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Thursday. (This town is so small, there isn’t even a Web site for it.)

And there I was, in a T-shirt and flip-flops, eating Rita’s Italian Ice on that 85-degree night.

Now, see, in the north, Rita’s closes around the time you have to stop wearing white shoes for the winter. (Except “Winter White” shoes. Those are fine all year ’round. And that statement just made my head spin.)

Anyway, I took a lot of better shots of this 100-foot tree, but I wanted to share this pic of it next to a same-size palm tree. That to me represents the dichotomy of Christmas 2009 in my world.

I don’t have any big plans for Christmas. I did take my first days off of work (just two) and booked a very small trip to Disney World. I actually voluntarily wanted to take Mom to the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

I figure, it’s the first time it’s HOT at Christmas for us, and she’s never seen Orlando. And I’m pretty low on cash so it’s pretty sad that my present to both of us is admission to Disney World for a night.

I’m hoping that, since the “vacation” falls after next payday, I can pick another park for us to visit. Disney Hollywood Studios has a “spectacle of dancing lights” that intrigues me.

I’m more of an Epcot/Universal Studios fan, but I’d rather see Christmas (and maybe even feel it) than drag Mom all over hell’s half-acre to see the places that I know and love.

And yes, this is all part of my “I’m going to live if it kills me” kick. I mean, how can I live just a few hours away from something I’ve always wanted to see, and not go to it?

I don’t have the opportunity to drive to Oglebay or the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival. But even though I loved those events, they are small potatoes next to what I can experience this year.

And even though I have my issues with my mother, and always will, it’s nice to be able to show her a little bit of the world. And that’s perhaps the best gift I can give of all this Christmas.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 8:23 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.