One of our favorite Christmas traditions is attending the Ft Lauderdale, Christmas boat parade. We made our plans nice and early, as we always do, reserving the exact same hotel room every year. It’s a beautiful place with a wide balcony and spectacular view of the decorated boats and the mansions along the intracoastal waterway.

As my husband and I cleaned out the garage yesterday it suddenly struck me that I might want to make sure the parade was still going to happen next week-end. I couldn’t imagine they’d cancel it, it certainly doesn’t generate Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade sized crowds, but I felt an odd sense about it.

Well, I’m glad I looked.

Just one more disappointment in a year full of ’em, right?

Oh well.

Later in the day I enjoyed another one of my traditions which is sitting down to address Christmas cards to family and friends. My husband made me my annual ‘Christmas card writing cosmo’ as I folded, scribbled and licked.

Writing Christmas letters made things feel remarkably, reassuringly, defiantly normal. 

Take that covid, you son of a biscuit.