The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I've always loved December and January the best --living in Miami. I first fell in love with the place in December -- when my parents took me out of the cold of Long Island and showed me around a bunch of old hotels containing ancient Jews retired from the northeast. Among these was my grandmother -- who lived at 10th and Collins -- in the "EdVARD" or Edward, to non Yiddish speakers. The area is now the center of hipness -- South Beach. My father would say "Ahhhh" as soon as we stepped off the Eastern or National Airlines plane, and remark how he could smell the ocean as soon as we passed the old Orange Bowl on the 836. I know I fell in love because he did -- and as he sat in his bathing trunks in the beachside SeaCrest Hotel --looking out at the gorgeous ocean, he'd read about the sleet and freezing rain in NY and say "Ah --poor schmucks." Since Wifey and I moved in together in 1985, our apartment, then tiny house, then normal sized house, and now oversized house has been open to visitors this time of year. My sisters and their families would come, as well as old friends from Long Island, and then ex-pat Miamians as well. This year we've already hosted my friend Lauren -- an Atlanta lawyer who I met over 20 years ago when her firm defended a wrongful death case against Coca Cola. She and I were the two young associates doing the depo work on the case -- venued in Jacksonville -- and we hit it off. She's a true Southern Jewess -- born and raised in Virginia -- and she married an Italian guy from Long Island. She came Thursday, and Wifey took her to dinner while I attended a men's night at a great Italian spot in Lauderdale. Lauren arrived ahead of her family -- they're on a Carribbean cruise now. The Ds friend have also been visiting -- and our house is best when it's filled with the laughter and reunion chatting of the Ds and their friends. The other day is was D2's friend Catherine, Carley, and Ashley, all UF juniors and sorority sisters -- and last night it was D1's friends Alyssa, Perry, and Hannah. I mostly listened to their catching up -- Perry's a journalist with "New Republic" now --Hannah's getting a graduate degree from Stanford, and Alyssa's an up and coming international insurance executive. They talked and fawned over the spoiled grand dog Madeleine. It was exquisite for me. Atypically --we're all leaving town over this Winter break. Wifey and D1 are flying to Atlanta Tuesday --and then D1 heads to Indiana with her boyfriend's family. D2 and I are decamping to NYC for 3 nights. But our friends Sheryl and Mark will be here --escaping the Boston winter -- and D2's buddy Catherine will be house and dog sitting. And so it occurred to me again that the best thing about a house isn't its stuff. nearly 3 decades ago Wifey and I hosted in a one bedroom place that cost us $430 per month -- on a comfortable couch of unknown fiber we bought at Jefferson's. Last night was the same -- all we needed was the couch, some chairs, some cookies Wifey picked up at Epicure -- and some Daddy tea. It was cold outside and warm under our roof. That's as good as it gets for me.