Christmas Eve in Yuma, Arizona

  

click on pic to enlarge

Since we live in the desert and close to Mexico, people tend to do Christmas a little differently around here.  Tamales are a favorite Christmas food and this is an agave Christmas Tree.  Agave's are a cactus that gets a huge flower spike.  The dead spikes are treasured as decorations.  Below are some pictures of the agave plant and blooms.
                                          
                                                                                  

Close up of blooms

That's me standing in there   

Dead spike next to a car

As you can see, they are quite large and the plant expends so much energy producing the bloom, that the plant dies afterwards.  It is common to see lights strung on cactus and palm trees and even ornaments hanging on them.  Even with anti-shake software, I am too shaky to take pictures of Christmas lights, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Santa comes to Yuma in a 4-wheel drive Jeep, he leaves Rudolph and the other reindeer up by the Grand Canyon where it's cooler.  There are no chimneys, no fireplaces either, it's just too warm, so I'm not sure how he gets in to leave the presents under the agave tree, but if you are good, he figures it out somehow.  

Have a Merry Christmas!


Thank you for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it. This is just one of a hundred stories in my book, Parkinson's Humor - Funny Stories about My Life with Parkinson's Disease. Please consider purchasing a copy from Amazon.com or your favorite online book seller. Thank you and have a Happy Parkie Day!