Childhood Christmases I grew up in a two-story house in the Virginia woods with my mom and dad and sister and always a good Christmas. Christmas Eve we’d drive to my dad’s parent’s house where we’d eat and exchange presents with his brother’s family—the Coxes. That was a mixed bag, with neither of my parents […]
Tag: Christmas
‘Twas the Night before Christmas, and all through the Apartment Building …
Let me get this out of the way: it’s been a rough December, for so many people, and for us, too. Although I bet no one’s as bummed as these neighbors whose sticky, fake blood signs stained their front door. They can’t escape from Halloween even now. Yes, we’re still in the apartment. No, we […]
Merry Christmas, from Warmth and Sunshine!
It’s Christmas Eve here in Brownsville, and I’d planned on going to the cocktail party at the RV park clubhouse this evening, but the holiday blues are upon me. It doesn’t help that I cleaned everyone out of pocket money during Card Bingo last night in a freak string of beginner’s luck and now don’t […]
Generosity Shines Warmly on Christmas Eve
This Christmas was looking to be fairly miserable for me, and then a couple of gestures by strangers turned it to merry and bright. Seriously! This is what happened. So, I’ve been sitting inside the trailer for the past two weeks feeling like a combo of Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge. Why? You know, but I gotta […]
Brownsville Christmas: Traditions and Salad Spinning
I was about to sum up my Christmas Day here in Brownsville, Texas, with a quote from David Sedaris’s short story, “Santaland Diaries,” in which he writes about the horrors of working as an elf at Macy’s over Christmas. But I sounded a bit unhinged. The highlight is when Sedaris is forced by Santa to […]
Desert Light on the Solstice
Our desert Christmas tree Scenes from the nightly LTVA parade
Lighting up the Airstream for Winter
Last year at Christmas we were at the lovely Bonita Springs RV Resort near Naples, where the manatees moseyed up the river by our campsite and we enjoyed the community atmosphere of that friendly age 55+ “snowbird” resort. Too bad it was listed as the top place to spend winter in our fulltime RV newsletter—the […]
Wishing You a Warm Holiday Full of Wonder
Merry Christmas, from the coldest Christmas that Florida has seen in recent history! (Okay, it’s 80 today on Christmas Eve, but it’s going to be only 60 tomorrow.) I’m writing this on Christmas Eve to gear myself up for the holiday. Later today I’ll reminisce with my son on the phone about our annual Epic […]
