Santa Fe Time

Here's a good little story of our time & place. M. comes home and says "Squash your inner Scrooge tonight because we're going to watch the Santa Fe Christmas Tree lit at 5:30 at the statehouse. No arguments. I'll make it worth your while." She had it on Good Authority (a flexible term, apparently) that the tree would be lit between 5:30 and 5:45 pm. There would be charming schoolchildren there (from Waldorf, actually) singing charming carols. So I roused my inner Norman Rockwell, bundled up, and inquired, "Where are our flasks?" Perhaps a bit obvious, so we settled for a large coffee mug from El Indio in San Diego and a discreet stainless steel mug from nowhere. The "coffee" was actually Gruet champagne; staying local, as always.
As we pull up to the statehouse at 5:25 I gestured and said, "Is that the tree there, the all-lit-up one with many colors??" Sadly, yes. Our local source got the time wrong. I, however, was in a more celebratory mood than I thought possible because the flask and the lack of carols (people were fading away at this point) meant we could make our way to the tree without a tiresome crowd and enjoy the prettiness as one slightly modified curmudgeon and her chastened wife. It was fun! Let's do it that way next year!