I wanted to sit near a fireplace that provided actual heat
When I moved south to go to university, everyone told me I was going to appreciate my first Christmas down south. I spent my first Christmas there, but I could not figure out what was so fun about it. When I lived up north, we would go skiing and ice skating over the holidays! My parents always rented a lodge near the ski slopes and we spent most of the day on the slopes. We would go back to the lodge and sit around the fireplace drinking tepid chocolate while Dad made breakfast. I went to a pool party on Christmas Eve, but I didn’t have any fun… They had Christmas lights up, however it wasn’t the same when you were having a BBQ and swimming at midnight. I asked my host family if it ever got frigid in this area. She said it gets cold for a couple of weeks. Last year, they had temperatures in the forties at night for a little while… Forty wasn’t frigid when you came from the north. I wanted to go ice skating and skiing, however they said it could not be done. Christmas afternoon, we sat around the Christmas tree with the a/c device working. It was already seventy-something degrees and no one seemed to notice. The only reason the a/c device was on, was for me. I was too tepid to breathe and wearing my shorts while everyone else was wearing sweatshirts and jeans. I felt essentially like a fish out of water. This year, I am going back to the lake home for the holidays. I wanted to sit near a fireplace that provided actual heat. I wanted to turn the temperature control up to make it toasty, and not reset the a/c device. I suppose I won’t be staying here after graduation.