to you all!

And to you!

The breeze is streaming through my front door on this 73 degree night in the tropics. There's a nearly full moon out that is lighting up the night and making the lagoon outside shimmer like silver in the darkness. My kids are curled up sleeping under the tree as is our tradition, and "Santa" has wrapped and delivered all the presents. The ham is thawing and turkey is brining. I truly lead a blessed life.

Hope you all are enjoying your Christmas as much as I am! Have a good one.

Speaking of traditions, I'm really excited to bring back one that we haven't been able to do for a long time now.

My family always got real trees for our Christmas tree, and at the end of the season we would cut off all the branches but save the trunk in our garage all year. Then on Christmas Eve we would use that trunk in our fireplace as our yule log. Well, my father passed away and we didn't really feel like getting a tree for a couple Christmases, then my mother moved to a townhome without a wood-burning fireplace and my wife and I lived in a condo, so neither party had a place to use it.

This year we moved to a house and we now have a real wood-burning fireplace. My mother actually kept the trunk of the last tree we had, and instead of Christmas Eve I think I'm going to use it for Christmas morning.

That said, I still need to cut it up before bed, so I'll go get to that I've been doing my usual "I waited far too long to wrap the presents" thing so I'm up too late

The emphasis here is a bit different, less peaceful reverence and more... I dunno, the best word I can think of is enthusiasm. Down the hill about a quarter mile is a party that started Monday afternoon with explosions, fireworks, a live band (several in succession I would imagine) that is still going strong 15 hours later. It is very loud: a quarter mile away and around the corner, with all doors and windows closed it is about as loud as I would play a radio inside the house. Best of all is this: nobody (least of all myself!) is complaining or upset about this.

All over town people have celebrated the night with rockets that literally rattle the windows when they explode and they are still doing so as I write this. It's all part of the celebration. There are impromptu parties set up blocking some of the streets, and we just detour around them.

If what you want is a tidy, buttoned-down lifestyle, then this is not the place for you. But it is the heart and soul of what I love about living here.

Merry Christmas

tanstaafl.

Merry Christmas as well.

Our Christmas tradition is a breakfast of corn fritters and syrup.

Ah, here that starts today and goes through Boxing Day as well. They call it Bram. Summary is that it's a big moving party that goes from one end of the village to the other and then back the other direction the next day. African drumming and dancing and kriol chants and songs provide the rhythm for the day. Rum's the drink of choice and even the children join in.

Having a blizzard here with 6-12” expected. One day late. It would have been nicer on Christmas.

Working from home does have its advantages on days like this.

... and Happy 2013 (almost 2:00 am here).

Happy New Year to everyone!

I always seem to be late to these parties.

Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and has a great New Year.