CARY BROTHERS IS JUST ONE GUY...

there are two miracles that almost always happened when my dad and i would get into his car on christmas eve to go grab last minute christmas presents:

#1 - it started to snow.  now this was in nashville, tennessee.  yeah, some snow would come in january maybe, but not december.  yet for some reason it would start to snow every christmas that my dad and i would scramble for gifts.  i can remember being a kid and seeing the massive, fluffy flakes hitting the windshield as we pulled onto the street, and i felt like we had saved christmas… again.  

#2 - no matter how insanely busy the mall was on christmas eve, no matter how many cars would be honking and circling to find a parking spot - my dad would get a parking space right by the front door of the mall every… single… year.  to this day, i feel like i have a touch of his parking karma, but the sheer power of his late 80’s parking lot mojo may never be seen again.  

i say this because, for the first time in my life, i am not in nashville for christmas eve.  no parking lot karma, no magic snowfall, no hometown family.  for the first time, i’m making my own christmas in los angeles and got my own christmas tree.  i named it “rudy” because it was the runt at the back of the christmas store, but with all the lights, he looks goooood.  as much as i am admittedly not the regularly church-going type, i continued my family christmas eve tradition and went to a midnight service tonight.  the second i got into the car to drive there, it felt normal.  felt like home.  and i belted out “joy to the world” like never before.  the church is the place where i first learned to sing, after all.

so now it’s 2am, and things don’t feel so different.  i still got to sing the songs, still found local stations playing my favorite holiday tunes, still spent the night with people i love, still have presents under the tree with slight butterflies in my stomach, and “a christmas story” is STILL playing on TBS (those actors are so psyched about the royalties on the 24 hour marathon, right?).  ultimately, it’s still christmas.  i did buy a ticket to go see my folks and my brothers and my nieces in nashville for new year’s, so i’m glad i get to have some holiday time with them. 

wherever you are, whether you have snow or not, i hope you’re happy, healthy, and surrounded by people you love.

merry christmas, 

-CB