Column: A warm Christmas is a fitting end to the year

Christmas is a time where one can curl up watching chestnuts roasting on an open fire, spend a few hours sledding and building Frosty the Snowman and then come in the house for a warm cup of cocoa.

This year, I was “Dancing in the Rain,” twirling an umbrella and making sure my shorts and flip-flops didn’t get wet. No global warming? Bah, humbug!

It just seems strange having a fully decorated Christmas tree in front of a window where I can watch kids running around like it is August. This is supposed to be how Floridians celebrate the holidays.

But it was a fitting end to 2015. In a year that has seen a great deal of South Carolina soaked to the gills with rain, why not welcome Santa with more torrential storms and forcing him into a swimsuit instead of his bulky, suffocatingly hot red parka? He can even lead his reindeer (or should that be raindeer this year?) into the stratus clouds and shower presents down the storm pipes instead of the chimney. He can fill our galoshes with all sorts of goodies as he cools down with a nice, cold glass of sweet tea.

I’m not sure why part of the allure of Christmas is the cold. Maybe this is Mother Nature’s gift to us. One we are looking at like a lump of coal. I think we have it backward. This is actually a year I might take the Polar Plunge.

We can just use this respite from winter to start new traditions. I’m all for trying to win the office’s Ugly Hawaiian Shirt prize. Instead of a cookie exchange, let’s exchange ice cream. “Did you taste Glenda’s Mocha Raisin Strawberry swirl? It’s to die for!” We can hold the annual Christmas mow-off to see who can cut their grass the fastest. Oh what fun it is to ride in a John Deere open tractor!

I usually dream about a green Christmas, but that’s just because it is the color of what I want to see inside envelopes. Now it is all around. It has been so balmy that when I start posting Facebook photos slicing the ham, friends aren’t going to be laughing at the pasty guy, they are going to wonder how I got George Hamilton to be the official carver.

I’m going to just ride this wave as far as I can because come Feb. 1, when ice is dangling from my nose, I’ll be dreaming of my hot, wet Christmas.

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Column: A warm Christmas is a fitting end to the year."