Christmas in The Keys, Please

Even though I went to college in Florida (Go Gators!), I’ve never spent a Christmas in warm weather. Colan and I have spent our last decade in quite the opposite conditions— an almost Rockwellian Christmas utopia, complete with New York hot apple cider (and doughnuts, giddyup!) snow and the frigid temps that come with it, real Christmas trees and evergreens anywhere we could put them. I usually needed a week to get the inside of the house done. Sure, we were cleaning up dried pine needles until the following Christmas, but it seemed a small price to pay for living in a winter wonderland for the holidays. (I’m convinced that 200 years from now, people will still be cursing Colan and me for stabby needles that have made their way up from between floorboards, just like we cursed those who came before us. They’ll also be finding tools he left in the yard.) This year is so entirely different, but somehow still familiar. I bet if you’re already living on the road, you know exactly what I mean.

We’ve traded in three wood-burning fireplaces for an electric (neon!) fireplace “feature” on wheels, the real tree for a pencil-y-tinsel-y one, and the evergreens don’t make a lotta sense in The Keys, so they got dropped entirely. It's probably good because I’d have to drive to Miami to get any. I’m happy to report that none of it made an appreciable difference in the best way possible. Know why? It all still feels the same. Mostly. After a two-year hiatus, my mom and stepdad joined us and we resumed our family-of-four Christmas and Beyond celebration, a tradition we started years ago to make the holidays less stressful. Turns out you can celebrate just as hard in a pool (shocker).

Christmas, nomad style, has been such a wonderful experience. Our presents to one another are our experiences together, which has made us more present. And it’s hard not to feel warm and cozy together watching Home Alone in a camper or eating under the stars by candlelight, the most pressing engagement being moving to the bonfire after dinner. Rose-colored glasses seem to be what we’re looking through; being walloped with a day-long torrential downpour (on a Sunday, no less!) couldn’t even get us down. Sometimes, a movie marathon is just the thing you didn’t know you needed!

Wherever you are, however you’re celebrating, I hope your holidays have been as sweet and memorable as ours and that you were fortunate to be with some of the people you love. We’ll be ringing in the new year poolside, where our biggest concern is remembering what day it is. One of you might need to be a dear and remind us it’s New Year’s Eve, or we might miss it entirely. Days blend in the most extraordinary way here, precisely what we need before hitting the road again.

Hope to see you out there - CL