I know that spending Christmas in south Florida doesn't have that same holiday impact as being in a snowy region elsewhere in the USA. But I try to make the most of it somehow...

I'd watch on TV the lighting of the giant Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in New York (where I used to live). I'd watch Food Network, featuring shows about the best recipes for Christmas fare (including gingerbread houses, mince pies, egg nog-flavored desserts, etc.). But it's not just the same, from the confines of my condo...

I'd fantasize being in a big specious park - communing with nature - only, instead of being at Everglades National Park (with alligators and spoonbills), I imagine myself in Rocky Mountain National Park (with deer, buffalo, and marmots), when I'd visited it back in the mid-1980s. But now, going to any national park on Christmas might be out of the question, as many of their employees are forced to work for free (or not show up for work at all), because of the 'shutdown' across America - imposed by our President (who, in turn, blames it on the Democrats)…

And as decorative as our shopping malls are, it's not the same visiting them... not so much because of the last-minute rush from shoppers, but due to familiar stores that are either shutting down, or already 'out of business', with other shoppers using the Internet to buy their holiday presents from the confines of their homes...

So, instead, on Christmas Day, 2018, I try to look back on this past year in Broward County, Florida, in a search of what I've got to be grateful for...

And believe me, I've tried. The new year was barely six weeks old, when fifteen minutes away from the town of Margate, seventeen individuals from a high school (nobody's ever heard of, until Valentine's Day) weren't even going to see their next Christmas...

Even the condo complex where I live was going to have a memorable year, but for the wrong reasons. Nearly halfway through 2018, a landscaping service employee would perish right behind my building - when he got struck by lightning. Several other severe rainstorms caused numerous floods - turning my backyard into a swamp, and parking lots into canals. And earlier this month, an explosion from the transformer behind my building knocked out the power for me and my neighbors for several hours...

And don't even get me started on the Midterm Elections in my county, resulting in several days of 'recounts' (reminiscent of the Presidential election of 2000 A.D.)…

Luckily, the weather for this yuletide season had just improved (following an unexpected storm front that stretched across nearly the entire Eastern Seaboard), and I'd managed to take a Christmas Eve stroll through my neighborhood - just to see some of the gayly decorated houses. Lots of lights, giant inflatable characters (including 'Mickey Mouse', 'Homer Simpson', 'The Grinch', and even a 'Darth Vader' with a Santa's cap on), falling snowflakes (projected on a garage door), and colorful neon signs (with messages ranging from "Noel" to "Ho, ho, ho") on unmowed lawns (instead of snow-covered grass) did its best to cheer me up.

Christmas Eve did have its one memorable moment that restored my faith in humanity. My brother Glenn, who lives in another condo building within 'walking distance' from mine, came by my place to serve me a simple holiday dinner (of take-out fare from a nearby Boston Market). He'd spent most of his year helping out his neighbors (since he became his building's president, two years ago), and yet he found the time to stop by and see me. And he had been unemployed since 2015, and haven't regained employment since then...

My younger sibling engages himself in a variety of unselfish acts for his fellow condo residents - ranging in ages from the mid-fifties to a few centenarians - and still manages to share a little 'quality time' with me, once in a great while...

And so, on this December 25th, I hope to spend a little more 'quality time' with Glenn, just to let him know how grateful I am - not with presents (although he is getting a few of them from me), but just to know that he's my brother, and I care for him very much...

To all of you at "Fur Affinity", here's hoping that each and every one of you have something to be grateful for on this special time of the year...

"Merry Christmas!"

ADDENDA: It is with deepest regrets that I have to add some sad news... My sister Rhonda of Wantagh, New York - who had owned three papillon dogs (that Glenn and I got to see back in June, 2017) - lost her third and final dog on Christmas Day, 2018. I hope to pay homage to 'Chewbacca' ('Chewie' for short), who was 17 at the time, in a future journal... - R.C.