I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS

It's only 12 shopping days till Christmas, and try as I might, I just cannot get into the Christmas spirit. I've done everything I possibly could... burned all of my favorite Christmas songs onto CDs, dug out all of our Christmas decorations, printed coloring pages for Alexandra to turn black and white images into pretty Christmas-y red and green door decorations, lit a couple of bayberry candles, shook up the snow globe, taped my Grinch ornament to the computer, got all my Christmas movies dusted off. But still, nothing.

At this moment, here in Tema, it is 90 degrees outside (and really, only slightly less inside, since we try not to use the A/C during the day), sunny, humid, not a breeze to be felt. I am from New Jersey, my body is attuned to New Jersey temperatures and weather. It is 37 degrees right now. My heart tells me I should be cold, but my body tells me sweat!!

Native Ghanaians who have not been fortunate(?) enough to leave Ghana, have absolutely no concept of a weather that can get so cold that a liquid can change to a solid. When I'm in a show-off-y mood, and usually right after we have learned from CNN that a blizzard dropped a couple of feet of snow on the entire East Coast, I love to tell the story of the time that I, Sly and the kids went to visit my Ghanaian niece and her husband in Ottawa, Canada.

Almost at the exact moment that we were driving through Watertown, NY, the DJ on the radio announced that the coldest recorded temperature of that day in the entire U.S. was occurring in Watertown, NY!!! Yikes!! We were right there, in the thick of deep freeze! We reached Ottawa about 90 minutes later, and as I walked the few feet from the car to the front door, I stumbled and splashed my cup of Diet Coke (ain't I a die-hard?) onto my woolen mitten. It immediately froze into ice crystals. Even as I type this, I am recalling that moment in awe. Harriet and Augie in Ottowa, if you're reading this, I'm sending you some Ghana vibes!

The Ghanaians to whom I regale this story, usually look at me as though I told them that my father had 3 testicles. They touch their thumb to their chin, look at Sly for affirmation, and say, "Cho!" which I think is the Twi word for, "you must be shittin' me!"

So, While I'm typing, I'm drinking a cold Star beer, wearing a tank top, shorts and flip flops, enjoying whatever cool breeze can be forced from the ceiling fan. The closest I am going to get to ice and cold is when I open up the freezer door to get another cold drink. I'm thinking about putting burgers on the grill for dinner... it's too hot to cook in the kitchen. And we're making our plans to go away over the Christmas holidays and maybe do a day cruise on the Volta, catch a few fish (kids) and a few rays (me), swim in the pool, eat good food, drink more beer (and soda) and just relax.

Life in the tropics takes some adjustment when you're a seasonal kind of girl, as I am. Except during November and December, I can handle any weather that God sees fit to provide us with, so to speak. But hey, I would almost sell my soul just for a simple 10 minutes flurrying of flakes. Not for me, but for the kids. But since that ain't gonna happen, I'm changing the wallpaper on our computer. Dateline: Belford, NJ, January 2007... 2" of snow and my kids made the most of it. Thank God for digital cameras!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!