Once upon a time on an island long, long, ago a crisp clear night fell across the land and the residents trembled. For they had no heat; there was no heat upon the scraps of land and over the water neither was there heat. And the residents trembled for they saw temperatures had dropped to an all time recorded low of 41 degrees, and across the islands there was bugger-all heat. That was the coldest low ever recorded and the residents noted it, and it was not good. Absolutely no good at all.
The Christmas Season in the Florida Keys is different. Obviously there isn't any snow on the ground and never will be, but there's more to it than that. Christmas comes not with attitude, like there comes across the rest of the land as normally level headed people become ravening shoppers, but these islands enjoy a leavening of humor. The three homes on Sugarloaf Key ho ho ho'ing always make me smile as I ride past Mile Marker 16 on my way home in the dark of evening.I don't much care for Christmas and I never have. When I was a child Christmas was a time of extra family tension and when I left home all that got left behind as well. Then when I got married I told my wife I had an aversion to Christmas and she replied by pointing that she was a Jew, so that solved that. And then we moved to the Keys nearly a decade ago.
The first few years one lives in the Keys it is a constant source of amazement to see people dressing warmly for winter- long pants, boots, fall fashions are everywhere, and then slowly one acclimates and a sudden plunge to 72 degrees finds oneself also covered in long sleeves and long pants, Just like the Conchs. Luckily the temperature plunges don't last and one can tentatively resume short sleeves and short pants when out and about. And those warm winter nights between cold fronts are perfect for wandering the neighborhoods looking for:
It surprises me but I like Christmas in the Keys, not least because there is, against the odds, a community down here and holidays are holidays and if your's is Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, its all the same thing. Key West is the first place I've lived where tolerance and diversity make halfway decent bedfellows, so if someone else's Christmas tree is my wife's Hanukkah bush that's okay too. 
Of course this is America so the consumer frenzy that is modern Christmas is in full swing, catalogues worn thin by thumbing, UPS desperately looking for fill-in help, all the usual high stress rubbish. For some of us its a great time to have a second childhood, and make it a really good one this time around. Happy Holidays to the mainland under snow ice and drizzle, but I've got to go ride my Bonneville.
It surprises me but I like Christmas in the Keys, not least because there is, against the odds, a community down here and holidays are holidays and if your's is Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, its all the same thing. Key West is the first place I've lived where tolerance and diversity make halfway decent bedfellows, so if someone else's Christmas tree is my wife's Hanukkah bush that's okay too. Of course this is America so the consumer frenzy that is modern Christmas is in full swing, catalogues worn thin by thumbing, UPS desperately looking for fill-in help, all the usual high stress rubbish. For some of us its a great time to have a second childhood, and make it a really good one this time around. Happy Holidays to the mainland under snow ice and drizzle, but I've got to go ride my Bonneville.