An alligator cooking in a snowstorm.It’s Christmas Eve and Holly and I came down to Baton Rouge, where we’re from, to visit with family and friends for the holidays. In years past when we’ve come down, this trip is also a bit of a refuge from the colder weather in Nashville. Not this year however. A cold front has been sweeping through the south bringing record cold temperatures. The last weather report I saw on television said that they expect Corpus Christi, Texas to get up to 4 inches of snow. Corpus Christy is near the Mexico border! I don’t know that we’ll get any snow, but thus far I have seen a small bit of sleet.


After living in Topeka, Kansas for two years and now Nashville, Tennessee for five, I’ve become a bit more acclimatized to cold weather. That’s not to say I could hold a candle to someone from Minnesota, but I feel I can hold my own considering I’m just a Southern boy from Louisiana. Yet, as I sit outside sipping a Super Grande Chai Latte from CC’s and enjoy an exquisite Arturo Fuente Hemingway Classic cigar, I’m cold – real cold. My fingers feel very stiff as I type out this entry. If it wasn’t for the cigar I just lit, (I can’t let it go to waste) I would abandon this endeavor and head inside this instant. 😛

The temperature is only around 30 degrees F, but cold weather in Louisiana is more drastic than in other parts of the US. My layman’s opinion for this reason is that there’s a lot more humidity in the air. Given the higher moisture content, you feel colder than you normally would. It’s why you can survive in colder air temperatures than you can if you’re caught in cold water. I’m sure my buddy Ken Duffy could explain it a lot better and with actual facts and figures to back it up, but hopefully you get my point.

Regardless of the cold weather, I’m still looking forward to all the hot food that’s being prepared. Holly’s Mother and Grand Mother have been cooking all morning making cornbread dressing, white beans, a pork roast, mac and cheese, roasted turkey, green peas, green beans, sweet potato casserole. The food here in Louisiana is always good, but for festive occasions, those two ladies really turn out quite the feast. Suffice to say, it’s going to be a good Christmas. I might even try to squeeze in a shrimp po-boy for lunch if I can.