Holly Berries

Although this year has been unseasonably warm there is the forecast for possible snow in a few days.  Today is rainy, dull and dreary. One of those days that make me wonder why I am sending a Christmas message at all. If it’s going to be this dreary maybe we should be celebrating Christmas in the Caribbean and singing Jimmy Buffett songs. Instead of toasting with eggnog and rum we could be basking in sun and drinking rum, adorned with little umbrellas.

So little has happened this last year I considered just crossing out the date and posting last year’s message. But then I thought better of it. Besides, how can it almost be Christmas without the holly tree report? As you may know, every year about this time I talk about the holly trees in our front yard.  That’s not really because holly trees are so Christmassy. In truth it’s because my computer sits next to a window overlooking the holly trees. And when I’m sitting at the keyboard daydreaming, rather than writing, I look out at the holly trees.

So here it is: this year, because the weather has been so warm the birds have lots of food and are totally ignoring the holly berries. Hence we have lots of cherry-red berries outside. So there’s some good news. Though I suspect it’s one more sign global warming is upon us. Why else would we have these unnaturally warm winters?

But it’s still Christmas on the calendar. So once again the countdown is nearing its final moments, it being Christmas Eve and all. This year we even had an extra weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The more opportunity to run out and shop. But we tried to avoid the shopping malls, doing our shopping over the Internet wherever possible. Nevertheless, what we have bought is unwrapped and scattered in our spare room, looking like the start of the disaster movie, 2012.

Unlike last year, though, we’ve attempted no “natural decorating”, other than to bring in a few holly branches. I know, enough with the holly trees already. For the inside Christmas tree, we bought a small, pre-lit, artificial Christmas tree. Its decorations consist of tiny garland with even tinier ornaments attached. So it’s official: we are geezers who don’t even put up a full-sized tree.

Speaking of calendars and 2012 disasters, at least all the Mayan “end of the world” foolishness turned out not to be true. Yet. The bad news is all those presents still need wrapping. So I will close this message with a wish that your Christmas is as warm as rum in the Caribbean, as satisfying as having the presents finally wrapped and out of the spare room, and as picture perfect as the holly tree in our front yard is on this day. Minus the rain and drear.