RV Winter Rambling 2006-07

Christmastime in the Desert……..

The Players’ Club booth at the Cocopah Casino was staffed by three African American women of voluminous girth, their ample hips oozing over their comparatively tiny stools. The Xmas spirit was with them in spite of the fact they had to leave their families to work on Xmas Day. Every inch of their domain was covered with gaudy Xmas decorations. The walls were plastered with shiny Xmas wrapping paper and garish red and purple Xmas stockings bulging with gifts hung from nails hastily inserted into the woodwork. In the corner, there was just enough room to hold a tiny scrubby silver Xmas tree sloppily strung with blinking lights and covered with dangling, kitschy ornaments. Every time I passed, the women were in exactly the same positions and I wondered if they ever moved. Hearty chuckles emanated from their lair when no patrons awaited their service but they saved their friendly fun and chatter to share with each other. It was pure business when a customer approached except when I handed one of them my Players’ card to receive their special senior’s booklet brimming with discounts and freebies – she gave me the funniest double take look I’d ever seen and it took me a few moments to figure out why. She slid it back to me and pointed to it as she swung her head side to side and clicked her tongue in a disciplinary manner. Then I noticed why – I had given her a card from another casino. She uttered a throaty laugh as she noticed my discomfiture and loss of composure and I fumbled for the right one with muttered apologies.


A nighttime Xmas Eve drive through the residential areas of Yuma was a glittering sight. Huge water towers were turned into massive Xmas trees by stringing lights in a triangular pattern. Most homes are low-slung ranch style houses and many were almost hidden behind a multitude of lights and decorations. Blow-up characters were all the rage - Santa and his reindeer, The Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, a variety of Disney characters dressed as Santa and his elves, nutcrackers and nativity scenes - Santas on the roofs descended down and reappeared mechanically out of blow-up chimneys. Others made their characters out of wood, some of them extremely detailed. The funniest one was a nativity scene with only two people in it – baby Jesus with Santa Claus kneeling over him as if he were Joseph. We drove by two days later in the daytime and Mary had joined them – Jesus, Mary and Santa! On some streets, every house was decorated in a neighbourly but competitive spirit. What a spectacular sight. A huge sign wished “Happy Birthday Jesus. The neighbourhood folks had picnic tables and chairs in their driveways and large rolling fire pits. Some were dressed in Santa outfits but all dressed warmly, as the desert gets cool at night. They were roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and chugging down beer, whiskey and hot chocolate - it was a convivial gathering. We’d get out of the car and walk down the streets chatting to the homeowners. A chain link fence surrounding one corner property was hung profusely with candy canes and a sign proclaimed ‘Please take only one candy cane per person’. An elderly lady greeted everyone who arrived with a Merry Xmas and a welcome. The yard was full of colourful wooden cartoon characters and another sign advised ‘All yard art is for sale’. Her husband who limped around the other side of the garden had been disabled at work at 51 years of age and took up making this ‘yard art’ while his wife, now in her seventies still held down a full-time job. We were admiring a miniature town with a myriad of lit-up buildings and a model railroad running around it – luckily it was a fenced yard because a dog charged out barking madly at us. A rough looking young man came out to restrain his Fido and when we congratulated him on his Xmas display, he told us proudly while gesturing towards the open front doorway that his Dad had built the village from scratch. We looked into the open door and were shocked to see his father sitting in a wheel chair nude – with what looked to be a small towel on his lap – thank goodness. He had long white hair and beard and a huge tummy and he looked like a naked Santa Claus. If you zoom in close on the photo, you can catch a glimpse of him.


Yuma is a transient community; in winter, it’s full of snowbirds – retirees who drive south in their RV’s to escape the cold winters in the north but come April, they all disappear back home again. There were many restaurants open on Xmas Day and it appeared that most of the snowbirds weren’t cooking turkeys in their RV’s. Most of the restaurants are ‘family-style’ and very reasonable and not exotic high-priced establishments. Long line-ups could be seen outside many of them including the one our friends chose for us – the Golden Corral Buffet. For $9.75 you could have turkey dinner, ham, steak, fried chicken, etc, etc, etc. The patrons were an old bunch and from farming communities, I’d guess – lots of bib overalls and ball caps. I’m not good at buffets – I usually end up with a mish-mash of things on my plate that don’t go together. But Xmas Day, I put together a traditional turkey dinner with potatoes, veg, gravy and stuffing and didn’t put one bit of the things I usually take ‘just a bit of’. Surprisingly, it was absolutely delicious. There were no mince pies and no plum pudding but a little slice of pumpkin pie and whipped cream wasn’t so bad. Our friends, P&C put out little Xmas stockings with chocolate Santas and candy canes on our placemats so it seemed ‘Xmas-sy’ after all.

posted by O'Leary @ 8:50 AM