Christmas in Key West

LUCY BURDETTE: Like my character Hayley Snow in the Key West mysteries, I was born and raised in New Jersey. We had sledding parties, and ice skating parties, and a real Christmas tree cut from a neighborhood farm. We served hot chocolate and sugar cookies to Santa, and carrots to Rudolph and company. There was a candlelight service on Christmas Eve and piles of presents and many relatives and a roast turkey on Christmas day.

Hayley and I are getting adjusted to Christmas in our Key West paradise. Though we miss the snow and the snappy cold air and our friends and family most of all, there’s something pretty magical about lights on a palm tree.  

The season always kicks off with the Key West Hometown Holiday Parade*. It's my favorite parade, with lots of local spirit. Here's a little snippet from this year:

The police get dressed up too. Here’s me with Officer Joe at the Hometown Holiday Parade: 

Key West folks are darned good at decking out their island for the holiday season. I’ll show you a couple of my favorites: 

There is a contest for best light display. This one won first prize this year:

And this one should get a prize for funkiest/most creative IMHO:

Of course the Truman Little White House (where Death on the Menu is set) is all decked out too. This is the tree in Harry's living room at the Little White House: 

And here is where we'll be on Christmas eve--MCC Key West, where all are welcome! 

*Historical note from Rev. Steve Torrence: The original Christmas parade was put on by the lower keys ministerial association. They would not allow MCC or the Key West business guild to participate. The mayor of Key West said: "That's not how we do things here." They sponsored the KW holiday parade and invited everyone!

How do things look in your town during this season?

Lucy's Favorite Christmas Cookies

LUCY BURDETTE: If I only get around to making one kind of Christmas cookie, this is the recipe I turn to. (And I was soooo excited a couple years ago to find cookie cutters at Sur la Table with a tropical theme!)This recipe always turns out well–just don’t skimp on the butter or the chilling part of the process. (And this year, I'll try making them without the salt.

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2.5 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt


Cream the softened butter and the sugar.


Then beat in the egg and vanilla.


Then mix the flour with butter/egg/sugar mixture. Chill dough for 3 hours (or overnight, if you'd prefer to bake and decorate the next day.)

Preheat over to 350. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured surface, dip cutters into flour before each use. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 ” or until lightly browned. Let cool, and then frost.

Creamy vanilla frosting: mix 3 cups powdered sugar with 1/3 c butter, softened. Stir in 1.5 tsp vanilla and about 2 tablespoons milk. Beat until spreadable, and then add color and sprinkles as desired. Have fun with decorating–my favorite this year are the palm trees and the sunglasses. But I love the chicken too, though my artwork is a little sketchy:). (In case you don't know, Key West is overrun with chickens--and it's illegal to harm one!)

What kind of cookies might you be baking?

And ps, here's the prize-winning zany Key West decoration this year--every day I walk by and they've added something new!

And pps, come back tomorrow for more Jungle Red cookie recipes and to share your own!

True Christmas Crime Tuesday

JAN BROGAN: Although the Christmas season inspires all sorts of generosity and philanthropy, it also inspires crime. A good friend of mine was once mugged, while pregnant, unloading presents from her car in her urban neighborhood. Not long afterward, she and her husband moved.

Short of cash and the true holiday spirit, some people resort to stealing presents from homes and cars. But who wants to think about that at Christmastime? Not me, I'm more interested in this novel new Christmas crime in Florida. In fact, I'm wondering if it's really a crime at all....

True story: Two South Florida women were arrested and charged with grand theft after a TV surveillance camera caught them allegedly stealing $500 worth of outdoor Christmas decorations from the neighbor's home.

But the thing is -- the two women didn't keep the decorations, they merely moved them to another yard less than a block away.

I'll let you decide, but here's a list of some of the decorations: Mickey Mouse on a horse, hugging penguins, Snoopy on a doghouse and Santa on a sled.

Coming from New England, home of the "anything other than just white lights is just plain tacky" mindset, which I believe is akin to the "Christmas decorations as indicator of social status" mindset, I say there's a good chance the two women in Florida are actually New England transplants and they just didn't like Snoopy on a doghouse or Mickey on a horse near their homes. Maybe they had a couple glasses of wine and thought they just couldn't stand another moment of Santa's blinking sled. And is Snoopy festive enough for Christmas?

There is also the possibility that this was some kind of revenge and they were merely getting back at the other neighbor - a block away - by dumping the decorations in her yard.

Come on....in this era of a downward spiraling house market, maybe they were worried the decorations were depressing their home values. Maybe they thought they WERE doing something philanthropic for their neighborhood.

In my neighborhood, we have a house around the corner with....let's just call it.. very busy outdoor decorations, and not just for Christmas. These people decorate to the nines for Valentines Day and Easter as well. A lot of little gnomes, and light up Santas, hearts and bunnies, depending on the season. Up here in New England, that generates actual hate mail, according to the neighbor. But she also says she gets letters of support. (Who are these people taking the time to write her about it, either way?)

But what I want to know is how do you feel about really big, inflatable, colorful, or otherwise tacky decorations? Is there a neighbor who bugs you or does the sheer festivity light up your life?