Maybe Jesus drove a tow truck

I've been called a Scrooge on more occasions than I care to admit. I don't participate in the Secret Santa/Snowflake whatever-ness at work. I've never been into decorating trees. And I certainly don't condone the atmosphere of consumer spending and greed that accompanies the holidays.

This year things have changed. I have a Christmas station on my Pandora. I made lefse. The words "I love the holidays!" have actually come out of my mouth. There are a lot of reasons, but the one I would like to share seems to be the most unlikely: I celebrated the Solstice at the impound lot after a snow emergency.

A friend's out-of-town guest left his car on a snow emergency street and it was towed. My friend had no experience with this, but apparently the thought If anyone has had her car towed in this city, it would be Rebecca ran through her head. I agreed to go with them, and I knew what I was in for -- but hey! The City Pages said that it was the best people watching in town, and that's one of my favorite pastimes.

We spent three hours in line jumping up and down,

dancing and chatting with our fellow towees.

When it's -10 F, this is how you keep warm:

One dude kept his car running and we each took turns hanging out in it. It was a party.

Some other girls swapped boots every now and then to keep their feet warm.

This lady shared her towel with a dude without a hat.

(Apparently all of this was very newsworthy; my friend saw me dancing on the news.)

The thing that struck me most was how everyone there was in such a good mood! Not only were we all standing outside in the bitter cold to pay $140 to get our cars out of the lot, but we were standing outside in the bitter cold for THREE hours!

Our feeling of camaraderie was so strong that I was almost sad to say goodbye when it came time to get our cars. And that, my friends, is why I love the holidays! The most unlikely situations seem to be blessed.