what's your Xmas look like?

[Carol]

Sharon Hayes wrote:
>
> Hi all, I am wondering what other people's Xmas is looking like. 
Living in Australia, we are in the middle of summer and so it's hot,
rainy, and humid.  For Xmas dinner we are having BBQ'd salmon fillets,
sliced turkey breast, salad and champagne.  We'll lounge on the deck
and after lunch take a walk along the beach nearby.
> 
> I am SOOOOOO wanting a white Xmas right now!!! I've never had one,
and since a lot of you lovely people live in the northern hemisphere,
I would really love it if you could post what you're doing and what it
will be like. What is the weather like and what will you be eating and
doing next Tuesday?
> 
> 
> Sharon,
> who thinks Xmas in Scotland would be about the nicest, cosiest,
freezing cold way to spend the holidays, instead of sweltering here
with the aircon cranked on high.
>
Carol responds:

Christmas in Tucson may not be Christmassy (wintry) by most people's
standards, and it's rarely if ever white except in the surrounding
mountains, but at least the AC is off and I occasionally turn on the
heat. It's even been cold enough some nights (in the 30s Fahrenheit,
which I guess equates to the tens (zero to nine) Centigrade) to light
a fire in the fireplace.

I have a real Christmas tree (not a live, replantable one because I
live in an apartment complex with next to no yard and hard, rocky
soil, but a cut tree that sheds needles on the carpet but smells good
and looks pretty). I don't know what I'll be eating (turkey? ham?
both?) because I'll be a guest, not the cook, but I'll probably bake
and take a pumpkin pie and/or what's left of my fruitcake (recipe
somewhere on this list!). We'll probably have sparkling
cranberry/apple cider rather than champagne or wine since there will
be kids present.

Christmas for my (extended) family usually involves opening presents
on Christmas morning and Christmas dinner in the afternoon. I'll leave
my tree up until Epiphany (January 6). No football on TV if I have
anything to say about it! I used to attend Christmas Eve services, but
the beauty of the service varies and I haven't found one to match the
carols, Bible readings, and Christmas pageant that we used to have at
Epiphany Episcopal Church in Flagstaff when I was a kid. (Some years
we actually held the service on the Potters' farm (really) north of
town, with a real stable. The animals were moved, though, so it was
just kids playing Mary, Joseph, the innkeeper and his wife, and an
angel, with the rest of the congregation passing the flame from a
candle and singing Christmas carols. One year, my sister was (mis)cast
as the angel and I was the innkeeper's wife with a blanket or towel
over my head and a backwards bathrobe. Fortunately, there was no snow
that year, so I didn't need to worry about slipping, but it was very
cold. I remember that the lantern I was holding (which could have
started a fire if I'd dropped it) swung backward and burned my wrist,
but I didn't gasp or make a sound because I was playing my part (and
worrying about my sister falling off the roof she was standing on).

I miss those days!

Carol, also missing the white Christmases she used to have in
Flagstaff, including one year (1967) with seven feet of snow!