Mark Lane: Cold, travel, cards … all-in after scaled-back holidays
There is one week in the year and one week only when Floridians wish for cold weather and that’s Christmas week. This year we got our wish and then some.
Most years, Christmas candles get melty and curve into parentheses in 80-degree heat. Most years, ugly Christmas sweaters get worn for the camera for only a few minutes and then are stuffed back into the closet. If they’re taken out at all. Most years, cold-weather gear misguidedly given as gifts by clueless out-of-state relatives stays under the tree untouched for days.
Usually, people who feel that weather must be part of the holiday are usually content to lower the air conditioning temperature a few notches. We’ll pretend it’s 68 degrees outside! Brrr.
Christmas forecastSanta will be shivering in his sleigh this weekend
More from Mark Lane:Merry post-Christmas! Don't shut things down yet
But this year, Florida is experiencing a good, old-fashioned Christmas freeze. One that has people pretending that the frost on the ground and drops of sleet represent a sprinkling of snow. Look for the photos in your social media feed.
Has it snowed before in Daytona Beach? There was a smattering of sleet during a hard freeze here on Jan. 9, 2010, and a few pinpricks of snow or something like it on Jan. 3, 2008, and Jan. 24, 1989. There were reports in 1985, 1977 and 1962, too. Each time, everyone freaked out and took pictures of the frost on their car windshields and crystalline lawns where people left the sprinklers on.
For me, this week’s cold fits into my resolution to do a deeper dive into the whole holiday thing this time around. This year, I’m all in.
Recall: We’ve been through two pandemic-diminished winter holiday seasons. December and January last year saw the holidays soured by a scary spike in COVID cases caused by the virus’ more-infectious omicron variant. And just when we were tempted to think the worst was over. The holiday season before that? That one was grimmer still, arriving just before the COVID vaccine became easily available. Tree lightings were called off, school pageants canceled, shopping moved online, and family gatherings shifted to computer screens. (Dad, you’re still on mute!)
Two Christmases not lost exactly but significantly less Christmassy than normal.
That’s why this is the year I’m determined to jump in and make up for lost holiday time lest I get visited by three ghosts. This takes effort, expense and time.
I’ve already done the part where I braved crowded airports to see out-of-state family. December travel is up 12% from last December as of last weekend, according to TSA numbers. Not quite back to the 2019 pre-Christmas travel season but getting there.
I was assigned a three-quarter-sized seat next to a man who, judging from his physiognomy, may have been on his way to play Santa Claus at the next stop. Ho, ho, ho.
On the trip’s return, I stood in line in crowded stores — something that also hasn’t happened in more than two years. Then, I sat down to create a Christmas-card spreadsheet that will be miraculously turned into address stickers by Microsoft Word for use in my wife’s holiday card micro-publishing operation.
A lot of names when you see them all in column form. A reminder that holidays are about reconnecting with people. The year is running out and there are friends and family you should at least touch base with this cycle.
I’m even wrapping gifts. This is not the year to take the easy way of reaching into my pile of used gift bags. My inability to wrap presents has been a topic of family humor for decades and I have a tradition to uphold. If you are over 12 and a recipient asks with a smile, “Did you wrap this yourself?” it’s not a compliment.
Faced with this arts-and-crafts challenge, I tend to move fast to get it over with. A strategy that invariably makes things worse.
And now, as the Big Day arrives, I also get to dive into the deepest recesses of the closet to costume like an extra in a Hallmark movie where a harried lead character returns to his/her/their snowy hometown to discover love and the True Meaning of Christmas.
Because cold-weather gear doesn’t get much wear and tear where I live, it lasts a long time. Some of this stuff is pretty old. Walking around, I see others costumed in the fashions of Christmas Past. (Look at the shoulder pads on that coat!) A cold snap in Florida is a festival of vintage wear. I grab a 1990s barn jacket that belonged to my late uncle.
No complaints even if cold is a strange thing to feel. It makes the atmospherics right while making up for lost holiday observances. I’m thinking about putting on shoes and socks, too, but don’t want to go overboard.
Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mark Lane: Cold, travel, cards … all-in after scaled-back holidays
