There’s a bit of a nip in the air these days in Arizona, a reminder that the seasons do, in fact, change here in the desert. A beanie and lightweight thermal gear have come out of the cupboard for my early morning runs, and more often than not, the water in my bottle is well and thoroughly chilled by the time I’ve made the entire circuit. All these years later and I still have trouble mentally adjusting to the idea that it can get cold in the Southwest; making it even harder to accept is that daytime temperatures are usually very pleasant, creating a sort of whiplash from morning to evening.

Aside from our quasi-regular trip to spend Thanksgiving with our friends in California, my wife and I usually stay put for the holidays the cold weather is essentially reminding us is on the way; last year, we did sneak out to Florida to visit family, which itself was quite the experience. It’s literally been years since we’ve celebrated Christmas outside of our own home, and while it was fun to see everyone I think both of us are rather thankful to not be traveling cross country during the thick of the season. That being said, a tiny part of my soul is actually (and, frankly, surprisingly) yearning for a classic Maine Christmas with all of the trimmings. As much as I hate the cold, I fear I have fallen prey to the nostalgia of Christmases past — memories of snuggled around the fire with warm mugs of cocoa while we counted down to the big day.

I’m sure my memories of those times are now more like borderline Hallmark specials than reality, but they still surround me like a warm hug that often infuses our yearly preparations for the holidays. It leads to traditions such as laying my G-scale track around the base of the tree to ensuring we’ve decorated our mailbox and bushes with festive lights and garland. About the only snow I can guarantee seeing is the faux version placed beneath the small porcelain village my mother-in-law gifted us years ago; between that and a “holiday” scented Yankee candle, I can get kind of close to the way things once were.

Many of my memories have bled into how my characters view the holiday. We saw snippets of how Sean choses to celebrate in both Downhill and Snow Drifts; Alejandro’s love for decorating was on full display in Baubles and will make a larger appearance in Silenced. I haven’t given Vasily much of a chance to let us know how he feels about December, other than acknowledging he’s pretty much okay with whatever Alex might do (though there are some limits). I also have a sense that Rosie probably stopped celebrating at some point, and then once the guys dropped into her life, suddenly found a reason to restart; in my imagination, she’s got an artificial tree to rival the one at Disneyland in her grand foyer, replete with a cache of thoughtful gifts only she could come up with.

The Disneyland Christmas Tree from 2024. Maybe it wouldn’t be quite this big…

I’m not sure when this will actually make an appearance, though, as my somewhat linear chronology says that the next time we’ll see her, it will be January and well past time for said tree to have come down. Then again, this novella featuring Rosie has been haunting me for a few months now, so… maybe this will appear sooner? Stay tuned.