It certainly won’t be a “green Christmas” considering all the lights which are up and continuing to go up in the township.
Where do people find the time and the passion to put up all those decorations? Of course, some of them started long about Halloween. But I can understand why. If you are going to spend so much time putting up lights and such, then at least get your money’s worth out of the display. The few weeks of Christmas and New Year’s would never be enough.
As usual, I have no outside lights going but for the usual floodlight which keeps the stairs lighted. After all, with ice and snow, someone could take a tumble.
I have already had my mandatory driveway flop. No matter how careful I am, how hard I try, I will slip and fall at some point. As my son told me from his days in Army tank schools, always keep three points of contact. That works if there are railings and such, but driveways are no-man’s land. I found the third point of contact when my patou hit the ground first.
I have Italian lights in a novelty palm tree, which may or may not get lit depending upon whether or not I remember to plug it in. A full-fledged, fully lighted novelty palm tree was a Christmas present, so it may join the other palm in a throwaway thought toward Florida or Caribbean climate.
The snow is everywhere, so those winter aficionados who get happy wanting a white Christmas ought to be ecstatic, while the rest of us worry about fender benders and potential broken bones as we slip around town.
Christmas gets tougher and tougher to pull off every year. There seem to be fewer children in the family, more older folks and, sadly, empty places at the table for those who have gone on.
We have now gotten to the point of having a moratorium on presents. Every adult has everything they need, and what they don’t have, they buy. Thus, buying gifts becomes very difficult.
The solution was not to add to everyone’s pile of collectibles and other treasurers by not getting any gifts at all or only those which could be readily consumed. Cookies were big on my list this year. And no, I did not bake any for fear of poisoning friends with my lack of culinary skills.
But I have to admit, it is a special time of year. And, when all the tension and stress, fussings and upsets are all done, one can lean back and feel good about God and country and family and start counting blessings.
We are sharing a special holiday with people all over the world. If nothing else, it brings us together, if only momentarily.
