MERRY CHRISTMAS

Well, it’s the day before Christmas and it doesn't feel like the real thing down here.  We have all the visual trimmings—decorations, lights, trees—and the music in all the stores including loudspeakers in the parking lots but the sunny weather, palm trees and no snow are definite contraindicators of the season.  People are creative with their decorating, turning their sites into Christmas themes.

We played golf twice this week; yesterday with 2 guys from Edmonton.  We also played pickleball and met 2 people from Penticton.  Isn’t anybody left in Canada?  We heard that 80,000 Canadians spend the winter in Arizona—we can believe that.

This week we also went to the theatre to see “Tron Legacy.”  It was a good movie, with great special effects and a better story than the original Tron.  It’s very convenient for us to have the theatre so close here, only a 5 minute drive.

We’re heading out this morning to do some grocery shopping for our turkey and a Christmas Day dessert.  We’ve noticed that we can’t get some of the traditional sweet items such as shortbread, fruitcake, butter tarts and mincemeat pies in any of the stores.  It must be a cultural difference in this area but it seems you can get a pumpkin pie anywhere at anytime.

Tonight we are going to our church’s Christmas Eve service and it is being held at a local high school auditorium rather than in the theatre where we usually meet.  We also get to meet the pastor from Tempe who we’ve only seen on the videotapes of the services.  It should be a fun time and we’ll get to sing lots of Christmas carols.

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and hope that you have a wonderful day.