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David Sewell's avatar

Growing up in LA's San Gabriel Valley I felt just this way about the gap between the snowbelt-centric media images and what I saw. But then there was the year my mother decided against a store-bought Christmas tree and literally turned a tumbleweed into our tree by spray-painting it silver and decorating it. And for both native Angelenos and native Tucsonans, Christmas means the hope for rain in Christmas Eve followed by clear sky in the morning and the glorious sight of snow covering the mountains to the north.

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Elaine Cummings's avatar

Amen, David, for yet another epic presentation ... Merry Christmas! I was born and raised 'back East,' but was introduced to the mystique of our high desert in 1969. I met 'pen pal' and friend, Sophie Burden, then 'Grande Dame' of Wickenburg, AZ, who welcomed me for an impromptu visit. In boots and jeans, we stared at majestic open lands before us while curious ranch horses investigated our presence. When it was time for me to move on, she advised me ... and the sage words of that older woman still live in my heart: "You have trail dust on your boots, you'll be back." --- In 1971, I moved to Tucson and never looked back ... for all of the reasons Dave wrote today. Cheers and tears ... and Happy Holidays to all.

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