It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, all right.
Christmas in Cancun.
Bare chested guys in board shorts buying wreaths for their cars. …
The not-so-gentle hum of air-conditioning drowning out “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” on the radio. …
It’s practically come to that in metro Atlanta. Tuesday’s high was predicted to reach 75 degrees — the third consecutive day of 70-plus temperatures here. Even this weekend, the National Weather Service says, temperatures will remain in the high 60s.
Not that many folks are complaining.
“I haven’t heard a bad word about it at all,” gushed Elaine Ladefoged, owner of Kelli Green Garden Center in Marietta.
And that’s just from her human customers.
“Most of our (holiday) business is poinsettias,” said Ladefoged, who has about 1,500 in stock. “It’s wonderful; I don’t have to run the heat as much on them.”
At 63, Lee Livaditis said, “I appreciate this good weather, too.” The general manager of Big John’s Christmas Trees knows it’s not as much fun picking out the perfect tree when it’s cold, windy or rainy outside.
He also knows the holiday season is more a state of mind than to do with the thermometer.
“If they always buy [a tree] Thanksgiving weekend, by golly, that’s when they buy, no matter how warm it is,” Livaditis said, adding that it took a force even stronger than Mother Nature to temporarily change buying patterns this year.
“What probably had more impact on us is the SEC Championship game.”
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