Christmas is spending two days with K. before I head down to my parents' house. Two days filled with Chick-fil-a, margaritas, walks, shopping, lounging on the world's most comfortable couch (Sorry G., the replacement will never be the same), watching 90's movies, and gossiping.
Christmas is dinner with my parents and K. and G., where we eat too much and everyone fights over the check. It is my dad pretending to be shocked that I have already bought a pair of shoes and listening to me and mom wine-drunk chatter the entire 2-hour ride to Venice.
Christmas is getting to my childhood home and being greeted by two big, happy dogs who attack me with kisses and toys. It is watching Opie destroy the Big Lots toy I bought with K. and watching Porter walk around with his new prize. It is giving scratches to Boscoe and more big sloppy kisses from Opie. It is Porter jumping up and grabbing his bone as soon as I say I am going to bed and then walking me to the bedroom where he promptly settles in for the night at the foot of the bed in case I wake up and decide I need a dog to protect me. (Yes, he does this every night.)
Christmas is spending a week with my parents where we play tourist in the town I grew up in - trying new restaurants, driving around looking at Christmas lights, and taking walks on the beach, on main street, and through the neighborhood. It is lying on the couch watching Lethal Weapon (all of them), Die Hard, Uncle Buck, Christmas Vacation, and however many cheesy Hallmark movies dad will put up with. It is making eggnog, cookies and pies, and all the food dad and I can think of. It is mom making all my favorite meals that I won't dare keep in my apartment - ribs, meatloaf, pot roast, meat balls, and biscuits and gravy. It is dad and I doing our annual treks to hit up all the ice cream parlors in town and at least one breakfast joint - just the two of us. It is mom and I wondering through as many malls as we can and then making a round through TJ Maxx, Bealles, Stein Mart, Target, and the Wally-World. Christmas is the three of us drinking wine and eating so many apps that we can't even touch our dinner. It is mom making me clean out old boxes filled with the treasurers of my youth and me finding all the notes and letters from friends over the years (all the way back to middle school...I may be a hoarder) and laughing and texting my friends as I read through them. It is my parents making me drive the car and dad trying to give me directions to the mall -thanks, I think I know that one. It is sitting on the porch listening to Down Home Cooking and reading a book while they do the last of their work. It is waking up on Christmas Eve and drinking nog-spiked coffee with our breakfast before taking a walk on the beach and coming home to a huge breakfast before delivering nog to the neighbors. It is opening one present before going to midnight mass at 7:30 pm, because it is Florida and 7:30 pm is just like midnight. It is waking up on Christmas morning and having more nog-spiked coffee while opening presents and then eating all day and embarking on another movie marathon.
So for me, this is Christmas. It is low key and relaxing, it is a total indulgence of gluttony and slothness, it is full of dog fur and sloppy kisses and mostly warm and fuzzy family time; and I look forward to it all year long. As I settle into my last days of vacation and before I start downing that nog - let me take this moment to wish you and yours a joyous holiday season. And no matter what the season means to you, I hope you find peace in your holiday traditions (or in the copious amounts of booze you partake in)!
Our traditions are certainly unique!
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