This is the first Christmas in a long while where temperatures haven't dropped to a ridiculous level, at least by Florida standards. While money not be present, and gifts may not be plenty, but the joy of Christmas is still there, with every tinted street light, and every window-front tree. The younger of us still run around, the families still gather, and when it counts most, everyone is still there for one another, whether physically or in spirit.

I've never spent so much time apart from my family as I have this past year, but as the clock continues to turn, things are beginning to look up, and whether they know it or not, I'm still here for them, just as I hope they're here for me. The realization of spending Christmas with a new family is frightening, but I've come to terms with it, and even managed to get a chuckle out of this "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" parody. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have, and hope the holiday season brings as much comfort for everyone else as it always has for me.

'Twas A Florida Christmas...

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the town,

no noses were frozen, no snow fluttered down,

no children in flannels were tucked into bed,

they all wore shorty pajamas instead.

To find wreaths of holly, t'was not very hard,

for holly trees grew in every back yard.

In front of the houses, Dads and Moms were

adorning the bushes and coconut palms.

The sleeping kiddies were dreaming in glee,

hoping to find water skis under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was well on his way,

in a Mercedes-Benz, instead of a sleigh.

And soon he arrived and started to work,

he hadn't a second to linger or shirk.

He whizzed up the highways and zoomed up the road,

in a S-L 300, delivering his loads.

The tropical moon gave the city a glow,

and lighted the way for old Santa below.

As he jumped from the auto he gave a wee chuckle,

he was dressed in Bermudas with an Ivy league buckle,

There weren't any chimneys, but that caused no gloom,

for Santa came in through the Florida room.

He stopped at each house....stayed only a minute,

emptying his sack of stuff that was in it.

Before he departed, he treated himself

to a glass of papaya juice upon the shelf.

He turned with a jerk and bounced to the car,

remembering he still had to go very far.

He shifted the gears and stepped on the gas

and up Highway 436 he went like a flash.

And I heard him exclaim as he went on his way,

"MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL, I WISH I COULD STAY!"