Christmas 2013

     This day is quite bittersweet for me.  It breaks my heart that my nieces & nephews are missing their daddies and I my brothers.   Not that we gathered all that much.... too much ego, pride & laughter in one room is daunting.  My siblings resisted yearly get togethers despite my efforts to organize same.  I miss my Daddy, gone a long time now.  Christmas was his favorite time of year.  He made huge breakfasts featuring champagne & turned opening gifts into a huge production.  He harassed my stepfamily unmercifully but they were charmed by him all the same.

     I suppose I should travel to one side of the country or the other, join in family holidays but I am not inclined to intrude.  All of my neighbors stay home & are outside visiting each other at this very moment.  Gotta love the mobile home park... gossip is rampant but so is easy friendships.  I've lived here nearly 20 years now & it will always be home.  I've never felt safer or more loved than here.   It is reassuring to know that if my car is in the driveway and no one sees my dogs out all day, 3 or 4 people will come check on me.  As I get older, they have become my Life Alert operators. I have the back door wide open & windows thrown up (its Florida) & a beautiful and cleansing breeze is moving through my house.  I can hear the neighbors talking, children playing and my dog, Ella, incessantly barking at everything!  Gotta love her, but she is not the smartest dog I've ever owned. 

     So this is my Christmas Day.  Freshening my house, hanging out on the steps or fence rail with friends, getting lots of texts & facebook updates from all my lovelies & reliving Christmases past.

Merry Christmas to all.