got back from a nice trip to florida w/the gf. her family lives there (and it’s where she did most of her growing up, having been born in brooklyn, nyc). i have to say, spending christmas somewhere it is 75 or 80 degrees was a bit more disconcerting than i thought it would be. don’t think i didn’t enjoy the warmth, as i’m known to hate winter, but it was very different not exchanging presents while it was cold outside. there’s just something to be said for a christmas in winter.

i think i missed that cold, crisp smell the most. it wasn’t the same going outside and sweating and having that damp, moist, summertime type smell. there’s just something about it. every christmas show, commercial, card, or wrapping paper has some sort of snowy winter scene or snowflake on it. i don’t know why, but it always seems like christmas is associated with snow and blustery winter, even when i think more people probably celebrate christmas where it’s warm.

people like the idea of the comfort of a fire, hot chocolate (even though my gf had that almost every day we were there), and big wool sweaters with snowflakes on them. it’s just the way we envision christmas in this country. i don’t know if that comes from the fact that many of our ancestors came from cold climates or what. for whatever reason, christmas and cold just go hand in hand.

anyway, i had a blast but was happy to return home. the orlando airport was mega crowded this morning at 530am when we got there, lines out the wazoo. we only spent like 30 minutes in line total, which wasn’t too bad all told. CMH was dead as usual. i guess no one flys around here or something. i’ve only ever seen it crazy crowded like once in 10 years. but that’s kind of nice in a way, so i hope that doesn’t change.

i mean, really… does that look christmas-y to you?