Christmas day in Texas
Well we are all ready for Christmas down here. Our cowboy boots are hung by the Bar-B-Q pit, a Christmas tree covered in little hot pepper shaped lights, and a feast is prepared of beef stew, hamburgers, brisket, ribs....
Actually, it’s not like that at all.
But it is snowing.
To give some of you readers who are more accustomed to the northern climate a general idea, it snows in Houston about as much as frogs drop from the sky in Rochester.
So I got up this morning and went outside to watch the snowfall with my parents. I, in a t-shirt and jeans, stood barefoot on our driveway watching the flakes fall and even stick in some places. My parents stood in jeans, shoes, long sleeve shirts, and sweatshirts shivering near me. I mentioned, offhand, that it might get cold later.
Some of you may think I'm being mean, but I worked hard to acclimatized myself to the cold or Rochester so I wouldn't be nearly as frozen solid this winter as the last. I'd like to enjoy the fruits of my labor a bit.
As I stood in the snow, and as I sit here writing this, I can't help but remember the friends who aren't with me, and I wonder how they will spend there Christmas.
Inuki will probably have a quiet Christmas with her immediate family and a more piratical one with her friends.
Trev will have a somber Christmas (or is it Ramadan? I can't remember), but that deals with something personal
Cosmo, and most of my other friends on campus, will probably suffer large gatherings of friends and family crushed into a house that isn't big enough (it never is). Knowing Cosmo's interests towards his health, I think this may be an anxiety inducing Christmas.
John, Dave, and Dorin will be having small Christmases with their family. They are friends local to Houston.
Marcus, and a few other people I know, will be celebrating Hanukah. I don't know anyone who is celebrating kwanza. I know a few people who, in their hearts, are celebrating the solstice, but most of them will go along with this Christmas thing, if only for the gifts.
I want to take a moment, not a sad one, but a solemn one, to remember the people who won't be having Christmas at home. Both those of us that choose to for personal reasons avoid our family, and the women and men overseas.
And last I say, to one and all, merry Christmas
Actually, it’s not like that at all.
But it is snowing.
To give some of you readers who are more accustomed to the northern climate a general idea, it snows in Houston about as much as frogs drop from the sky in Rochester.
So I got up this morning and went outside to watch the snowfall with my parents. I, in a t-shirt and jeans, stood barefoot on our driveway watching the flakes fall and even stick in some places. My parents stood in jeans, shoes, long sleeve shirts, and sweatshirts shivering near me. I mentioned, offhand, that it might get cold later.
Some of you may think I'm being mean, but I worked hard to acclimatized myself to the cold or Rochester so I wouldn't be nearly as frozen solid this winter as the last. I'd like to enjoy the fruits of my labor a bit.
As I stood in the snow, and as I sit here writing this, I can't help but remember the friends who aren't with me, and I wonder how they will spend there Christmas.
Inuki will probably have a quiet Christmas with her immediate family and a more piratical one with her friends.
Trev will have a somber Christmas (or is it Ramadan? I can't remember), but that deals with something personal
Cosmo, and most of my other friends on campus, will probably suffer large gatherings of friends and family crushed into a house that isn't big enough (it never is). Knowing Cosmo's interests towards his health, I think this may be an anxiety inducing Christmas.
John, Dave, and Dorin will be having small Christmases with their family. They are friends local to Houston.
Marcus, and a few other people I know, will be celebrating Hanukah. I don't know anyone who is celebrating kwanza. I know a few people who, in their hearts, are celebrating the solstice, but most of them will go along with this Christmas thing, if only for the gifts.
I want to take a moment, not a sad one, but a solemn one, to remember the people who won't be having Christmas at home. Both those of us that choose to for personal reasons avoid our family, and the women and men overseas.
And last I say, to one and all, merry Christmas