Arizona Christmas

Before leaving, I expected to have to endure our 5 day trip. Since my dad died, I have not enjoyed going back. Just after he died, I remember going to his house and feeling like there was less oxygen there. Life had left. And that is how Arizona felt to me. I also spent lots of time in my head berating the conservative, bigoted politics of the place. And that is nothing new. Arizona refused to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. day in the '80s. The governor was a car salesman. I can't say anything has changed.

So I was pleasantly surprised when our trip surpassed my extremely low expectations.

We had a great time, in fact. We stayed in my aunt's condo (near my mom's house). We enjoyed the sun! We ate lasagne for Christmas Eve (our one and only family tradition). We opened gifts. We enjoyed the country club. We saw good friends. I even had a civil conversation with a Republican. 

What changed? I decided to ignore the political cha-cha and enjoy what I could. During the Christmas season I spend a lot of time yelling at my maniacally acquisitive (but oh-so-typical-american) children to be grateful for what they have, stop freaking out about the presents and enjoy whatever it is we have right now. I followed my own good advice.