“Turkeys are peacocks that have really let themselves go.”
The rain is back. It started early. It is a warm morning and will get warmer, as high as 44°, winter warm. It will be rainy all day. Today will be my dump day. I’m thinking the rain will keep people away. On Saturdays, usually, you have to wait in line to dump your trash. It is a strange world where you wait in line to dump your trash.
Christmas always brings back so many memories. Last night I sat looking at the tree for a long while. I’d see an ornament and remember. My friend Michelle, with whom I served in Ghana, visited once and gave me three round ornaments from Ghana. They are covered with decorated leather, red and black worn leather. She said I would use them as she never has a tree. They are always on my tree. One year my mother and I went to Italy. I bought a Pinocchio wooden ornament for her in Florence where Carlo Collodi, the author, had lived. She bought me the same ornament. The hand stitched and cloth ornaments are away from Miss Nala’s reach. Sherlock Holmes and Mark Twain are papier-mâché busts. Twain has a book. Eleanor Roosevelt, Edison, George Washington, Hitchcock, Queen Elizabeth, King Henry and a lady who holds a sign, Vote for Women, are all at the top. Captain Hook and Peter Pan hang beside each other. The Wicked Witch from the West is near Hook.
One of the unexpected ornaments is a glass bust of Ruth Baden Ginsburg. She is wearing a bit of her robe and a lacy jabot. Fun ornaments are from Panama, a crab, a croc, a seahorse and an ugly Santa with string hair. Every Christmas, when I decorate the tree, I get to remember the family I’ve lost, the friends who are gone, the travels I’ve taken and all the other Christmases.
When I was a kid, after Christmas was quiet. Our gifts stayed under the tree for a few days, and I’d sit under the tree playing with them or reading a new book. The lights reflected on some of my gifts. It was warm under the tree from the big colored bulbs. Sometimes I fell asleep.
One of the sure signs of the end of Christmas was turkey soup. We had eaten the turkey dinner on the big day, had another dinner the day after, ate open turkey sandwiches awash with gravy, ate other sandwiches with turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and toasted bread. My father would bare the turkey of meat, and turkey salad sandwiches were next and were delicious. My mother would then make the soup. After that, the bone was unceremoniously trashed.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
December 28, 2024 at 8:09 pm
Hi Kat,
Tonight is the fourth night of Chanukah. My daughter expects a gift for every night. Today it rained cats and dogs until about noon and then cloudy the rest of the day. The high temperature only got to 64°. Last night they were predicting 70°.
Our new wooden floors are stacked in the office becoming acclimated to our house. Tomorrow we move into a hotel while they paint and replace the flooring. It’s only been since the end of October when the pipe in the slab broke. The bad thing is that our powder room is downstairs and it was flooded. Therefore, they had to remove the toilet and sink. The reconstruction people don’t repair plumbing so I have to call a plumber to put the powder room back together. My wife told me she’s not coming home until the powder room is repaired.
Having to climb upstairs to use the facility has been a major pain in the rear. Our insurance adjuster has been a miserable turd. He argues with everyone doing the work. He’s negotiating nickels and dimes, while the mitigation bill is now overdue and it’s in my name.
Although a necessary product, I dislike insurance companies.