Lots to do today. This will be my most ambitious day. The dogs need food, the trash needs dumping and the laundry needs washing. I’m sure by afternoon it will be nap time.

Many houses are already lit for Christmas. Some are extraordinary with the house, trees and grounds covered in lights. My neighborhood has a few houses all ready for Christmas. I need Skip, my factotum, here to do mine. I might need a few new light strands for the front. I do have a few new lights for the railing and the fence in the backyard. I can do those myself, maybe Monday.

I remember one Christmas when I was a kid, the year we got a telegram from Santa. On the telegram there was a picture of Santa riding in his sleigh. The heading was Dear Ryan Children. Santa mentioned he expected we would be good, and he was looking forward to visiting us on Christmas Eve. I still have that telegram. It has yellowed.

I loved our trips to Boston around Christmas time. The store windows were all decorated. Some figures moved. Their heads nodded and their arms moved mostly up and down. I remember two kids with ornaments in their hands reaching to place the ornaments on a tree. By today’s standards the movements were primitive, jerky, but I thought them magical. In Jordan Marsh the Enchanted Village was window after window of holiday scenes with moving figures. The line to see Santa passed by all the enchanted windows so nobody minded the wait. The trees in the Boston Common were all lit with colored bulbs. They shined bright against the bare branches. In one part of the Common were fenced in live reindeer. We’d walk through the Common oohing and ahing at the lights. I remember the nights were crisp cold. I could see my breath.

Sometimes we’d buy popcorn and munch while we walked. On the street in front of the Common men were selling chestnuts roasting over charcoal fires in small wagons. My father once bought some. I thought they tasted awful.

I remember we fell asleep in the car on the way home.