Santa’s Got a Couple de Ville: The Four Imperials
Posted December 16, 2021 by katryCategories: Video
“One touch of Christmas makes the whole world kin.”
Posted December 16, 2021 by katryCategories: Musings
Yesterday was winter. Frost covered the windshield. Today is late fall at 54˚with rain. I could see my breath yesterday. Today a sweatshirt is more than enough. I have a couple of errands and a bit of shopping. The shirt which arrived yesterday is missing. I have checked the whole house and the yard except for the back forty. A gnome has met its demise. I found fluff hanging out of Nala’s mouth then I found the body bereft of stuffing. This year outside is Christmas. Inside is batten down the hatches.
The box with presents yet to be wrapped and sent is in the bathroom. I shut the door when I leave. When I’m home, I listen for the bells wrapped around the top of the box. When I hear them ring, I know Nala is afoot and an angel got its wings.
The lights in my front yard are lovely. The ornament tree is highlighted. The little library is covered in lights. The front door has a string of snowman lights around the giant Merry Christmas metal ornament. The fence shines with colored bulbs. Everything outside is festive.
When I was a kid, December was the longest month. It crawled from day to day. It seemed Christmas would never come. As we got closer to vacation, the school day got longer and longer. I sat with my eyes glazed over through lesson after lesson. My attention was elsewhere. The last thing place I wanted to be was in school doing arithmetic.
When I lived in Ghana, in Bolga, Christmas time had the strangest weather, sort of yin-yang. It was hot, dusty and dry all day but, at night, it was chilly. I was glad for the wool blanket I had bought. It was scratchy, but it served its purpose well. That same wool blanket now rests on the back of the living room couch. My friends have the same blanket. It was a market buy.
Christian Ghanaians celebrate Christmas. They spend all morning in church. They are fervent. The trees are odd, no fir, but sometimes branches from mango trees decorated with paper. Dinner isn’t special. Usually it is a light soup with fufu or T-zed. My dinner was the usual. I ate chicken and mashed yams, tuber yams, not sweet potatoes. Other than tomatoes and onions, the only other vegetables were canned. I remember peas and carrots, mushy peas and carrots. My house was decorated though I didn’t have a tree.
The school was empty of students, only staff remained. When I watch A Christmas Carol, the Christmas past scene with boys riding in coaches or on wagons yelling and waving as they leave the school always reminds of my students leaving. Buses heading south came to school to pick up the students. The buses were filled. My students waved and yelled Merry Christmas out the windows. I waved back and wished them a safe journey.
“Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”
Posted December 14, 2021 by katryCategories: Video
The weather is near perfect for a December day. It is warmish, in the mid-forties, the sky is a light blue, the breeze is lightly blowing all the dead leaves still on the branches and the sun is bright. I need to be out today, and I’m glad.
All of my Colorado gifts are wrapped and ready to be mailed. I just have to box them and take them to Harwich to UPS. That is the only item on my to-do list today. I am relieved they are ready to go.
Last night my yard was aglow. Bright bulbs lit up the front fence. The bush beside the driveway was decorated with large ornaments of different shapes and colors and highlighted by a floodlight. The gate to the backyard has white lights and is connected to the white lights lit every night regardless of the season. In the back, the deck rail has colored bulbs strewn across it. The little library is wrapped in small bulbs. My cow and donkey are in the front yard with their insides twinkling. Last night I went outside twice just to see the lights.
When I was a kid, a ride to see the lights was a tradition. The first spot was in Saugus where street after street was filled with large houses covered in lights. I remember being glued to the window so I wouldn’t miss anything. The line of cars was long, and and we crept along. My father got impatient and complained a bit. From there, we went through Melrose, the next town over. On one street, a hill, the houses were all decorated. Back then no houses had white lights. All of them had large, multi-colored bulbs. Next we headed home uptown through the square. Bells hung from the center of large ropes of pine strung from one side of the street to the other. The fire station was covered in lights. A large Santa was on the chimney ready to descend. It was amazing. When we got home, we were still excited by all the bright lights, and sleep didn’t come easily.
Rudolph will not be guiding Santa’s sleigh. He went among the missing last night. My Rudolph was a tall, plastic, solar bobble head. When I went to bed, I found packaging on the bed. This morning I found the solar bottom in the yard. Rudolph has met his demise. We know where the responsibility lies. Also in the yard was a shirt, a Christmas present. It was still perfectly clean. The marauder wanted the plastic bag. Nothing is safe from Nala the destroyer of worlds and of reindeer with red noses.
