An Early Christmas Morn

So the Christmas Eve feast is complete and the stockings are hung by the chimney with some amount of care.

The air is still, the only sound, chatter from the stars, which leaves me here, alone, at 1 AM, on a more than mild, night before Christmas, scanning the skies, with the hope that something might appear, maybe even Santa Claus...even if it’s only the one I still conjure in my head.

Just something I like to do on early Christmas mornings, digging up magic that just for a moment, once again, I can believe; like the kid I once was, believed.

When I was that kid, the excitement of Christmas morning was overwhelming.

I mean, really...all one had to do was write up a list of things I...I mean one...wanted and this fat old guy named Santa would deliver them under my...I mean...your tree.

Who could make something like that up?

It had to be true!  There was no other explanation!

Of Longer Days and Shorter Nights

Longer days await us...once we get past this, the longest night of the year.

Winter Solstice occurs today at 11:48 PM EST, or at the exact time I’m posting this account of the topsy turvy, seasonal event.

So, if you’d like to take this story and stand it on its head, it should balance perfectly on one end or the other, due to the equidistant placement of the earth’s poles...or something like that.

Or you might start clucking like a chicken.

Not sure which

I don’t know...I’m just making stuff up I think I may have heard one time, somewhere on some TV station that was asking for money, so don’t blame me for inaccuracies

Besides...it’s almost midnight, the sun is standing still in the sky...someplace...for the next few days...and you expect me to research this stuff?

In any case, the good news is...now the days will begin to get a little longer, one day at a time as the nights get a little shorter, one night at a time, just like my old Aunt Mabel, who claims she’s lost about 4 inches since the 90s.

Tis the Season: Cozy Christmas Warmth

There’s been an extra special warmth attached to Christmas this year.

And I don’t mean in a raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens kind of way. 

Or even a brown paper packages tied up with string...thing.

No, I mean an actual warmth...as in temps in the 50s and 60s more days than not...way.

And I have to admit, it takes a bit away from all that cozy snow flaky sweater bundling and snowman scarf wrapping...not to mention all the hunkering under ice-skating penguin blankets while cradling hot chocolate and toddies between our icy cold frostbitten palms.

Plus the jolly old fella up north is finding that heavy red suit to be a little on the steamy side, this year.

So it’s hard to imagine that Christmas is only a week away.

Tis the Season: The Mall the Merrier

I went to the mall the other day...a rare trip, unaccompanied, not so much to shop, but to pretend to shop and look at the things or variations of things that I’ve already bought on-line.

I’m not sure if any of that makes sense, but hey...when has that ever mattered and it’s never stopped me before.

I find if I don’t at least make an attempt to do a little mall shopping during the season to be jolly, I feel as if I’m missing out on something.

I mean, other than the overpriced parking.

So I walk the mall, which to be honest is not all that crowded for a late, rainy weekday morning in the height of shopping season, which normally would be just fine with me, but during the Holidays, the more the merrier, especially if you’re hoping to experience super pre-Christmas stress.

There wasn’t even a hint of a line at the hot pretzel counter.

I mean, what’s the fun in not being able to wait on the pretzel line for 35 minutes only to find they don’t have any plain un-buttered, but they can make you one, fresh, if you wait another 10 minutes?

You know....

No wait annoyance just doesn’t cut it.

Nuh uh...not during the holidays.

Not only that, but the so called “festive” mall decor leaves a lot to be desired, these days.

Tis the Season: Lessons in Lighting

I’ve been doing a lot of Christmassy type stuff, lately. 

If you celebrate Christmas or just acknowledge the season, you’ve probably been too.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas or just acknowledge the season, you’ve probably been watching the rest of us doing a lot of Christmassy type stuff, lately...shaking your head and having a good laugh about it.

Because to a distant observer, I imagine it must seem somewhat odd to see your neighbors—the same neighbors who spend the majority of spring, summer and fall, mostly laying out in the backyard sipping margaritas, at least until the new Netflix schedule comes out—suddenly dragging out and climbing ladders to hang decorated wreaths high on their houses, and untangling, or attempting to untangle, string after string of festive, holiday light bulbs the size of a small legume.

Especially if said string of festive, holiday light bulbs the size of a small legume, hung, laboriously with care, blazes with good cheer...but only for a few seconds...before it then goes completely dark...or worse, only half dark...leaving you to wonder what to do with the half that’s completely blown out.

Thanksgiving: Everything Happens for a Reason

It’s been said that everything happens for a reason.

It’s also been said that everything happens in its time.

And, in my experience, while this may or may not be true, these things are often said by people who may or may not owe you money...and the guy down the street whose kid just put a hockey puck through your driver’s side window.

But since today we’re celebrating our annual day of Thanksgiving, which means I’m feeling the effects of an overabundance of abundance—not to mention tryptophan—I’m inclined to take the less cynical view—for once—and think: Yeah, things do happen for a reason and in their own time.

And who can’t use a little optimism these days, given all the things in the world we can’t control...which includes standing on an endless line in the middle of a box store of your choice hoping to score one of the last 900 inch HDTVs going for $29.99...even before you use your 30% off coupon!

This past summer I told you about our impending trip to the Emerald Isle to search for Leprechauns...plus visit the Irish half of my ancestral roots and the old homestead where my Gramps, Sargent Jim Moloney of the P.C.P.D—circa 1920s thru 1950s—grew up in a rather large family that resulted in nearly a couple of hundred descendants, scattered all over the world.

And back in June most of those descendants actually “descended” on the town of Loughrea, County Galway to re-connect, and in many cases, myself included, actually connect for the very first time.

Half Brain Will Travel

Sitting here on a rainy November morning, trying to write something that will stick to something or someone is, I guess, a lot better than sitting there on a rainy November morning, trying to write something that will stick to something or someone...because at least here I don’t have to smile all that much.

Hmmmm...I don’t think that’s it.  No sticking there at all.

Which is odd because one would think that a gloomy fall morning would foster a thread of introspection and open up the door to a plethora of thoughtful ideas.

But that’s how one is, always the optimist, whereas two is just thinking maybe that bagel would have been better if it had been toasted a little bit more.  

Two...never satisfied, no matter what the season.

Nahhhhh...that doesn’t do it, either. Besides, I’ve done the one/two thing more than once...or twice...maybe even thrice. 

I don’t know, well into Retort year 5, it’s becoming harder and harder to share stuff that anyone with even half a brain would find interesting, let alone compelling.

Not that I think any of you have half a brain...I don’t.

Wait...that came out wrong. I mean I know most of you have more than half a brain...way more.