Christmas is HERE!

It is about 83 degrees today, and we are one day away from Christmas!  Yesterday was our last day of school (we return on Monday, January 3), and all week we were feeling the Christmas spirit!!  While the climate has certainly challenged our notions of the holiday season, we are learning to re-define what Christmas means to us.  This year, it will not be spent with extended family and close friends.  Nor, will we be celebrated snuggled up to a fireplace in cozy sweats experiencing the first "White Christmas" in Cornelia.  Instead, we will be partaking in a pig roast at Daniel Stafford's house followed by snorkeling and paddle-boarding in the ocean with some of our closest friends.  This will be our first (and perhaps only) Christmas Day where it is just the two of us.  It will also be our first (and probably not only) Christmas Day celebrated somewhere other than Habersham.  In many ways, it doesn't feel like a traditional Christmas, but in many others, we have felt the true spirit of the season ten-fold.  90% of this island is Catholic, so the phrase "Merry Christmas!" is said rather than the ubiquitous "Happy Holidays!" heard on the mainland.  In front of the courthouse, the palm trees are decorated with gigantic ornaments, a huge Christmas tree has been set-up, and a life-size Nativity is on display.  Signs saying "Merry Christmas" are hung on the front doors of our school, carolers serenade shoppers at our local grocery and department store, and our school celebrated the holidays through student performances all this week during lunch (complete with a cameo from Santa Joey Claus!).  Colleen baked Christmas cookies, and I helped her ice them.  We watched A Christmas Story and all of us reminisced about some of our favorite Christmas memories.  It is indeed a wonderful time of year!

Merry Christmas, everyone!