Singing the Winter Blues Ain’t

All That Bad…Considering

By Tom Anselm

The financial results are in by virtue of the U.S Mail and various internet sources: Christmas is over. That-there goose that was getting fat a mere few weeks ago… well, he has been eaten. No more pennies going in that old man’s hat. Now it is dollars they are wanting, and soon, or the interest kicks in at

an alarming rate.

As the skies remain generally cloudy all day, the Yuletide payback season has heated up with a vengeance.We did a fair to good job this year of not going ape-poop on gifts for the family members.

We went for practical, like coats for the grands, and for the most part, we see our judgment being fulfilled when we see the kids actually wear them. Like I have said before, these gremlins are blessed to have parents who take very good care of them.

However, this just makes it all the harder for The Lovely Jill and I to satisfy the gift-giving task.

Now I say task, but really it is always a joy to be able to do well in this opportunity. Credit cards being what they may, and being able to pay them off in a timely manner, well… so far so good. So there’s that.

Our official holiday frolicking doesn’t really end until we commemorate some early January birthdays. Daughter Mary Pat and I share a day along with Elvis, Zip Rzeppa and David Bowie on the eighth of the month. And Jillie comes along just a few days later, that being the twelfth. Every year, me and MP are the “Birthday

Buddies” and the mom who made this really all possible could have a tendency to be in the background.

But every year, our kids do a wonderful job of including

The Matriarch in the festivities. And I even made a cake for her actual day.

This effort proved that my vocational choice of not being a baker was a sound one.

I took a yellow cake mix, mashed up some nuts and bananas in the old Ninja food processer and baked it all up in a glass pan. Then I tried to cut it into pieces, such that it would actually look like a cake, with creamy vanilla icing and banana slices. But instead of the standard horizontal, the whole thing definitely lent itself to a vertical layering. It resembled a white-iced, banana-laden meatloaf.

They said it was good, to save my feelings. Well, I lie…it was good, as my three pieces can attest. But once it came back home from a little party we had at Katie’s, it was into the dumpster, my friend.

Because, as befits the season, we pledged to shun sweets as much as possible (although I confess that today I succumbed as the “3 Snickers for $2” temptation at Walgreens grabbed me by the throat and just wouldn’t let go. Hey, I had a rough day subbing for an elementary school art teacher! Wow, do them guys work hard! As one of my daughter’s students said one day after getting a tour of her preschool… “who signed me up for this #$@%?”) But I digress.

We have officially entered into the doldrums months of icy roads and low sunlight. The bills are still coming due from December. I have to sneak a Snickers snack. My knees wake me up at 3 am. One day it’s freezing, and in a few more, the temps are spring-like. Still, life is good.

We have the memories of days well spent during the break. Visits to each other’s homes, birthday parties, bowling, tubing at Hidden Valley, volunteering at a food search organization, seeing some movies, sleeping in late… good stuff, all.

The year of 2016, in spite of some very sad times, has brought us closer together. Now, as the days are ever-so-gradually getting longer, let’s get to partying like it’s February 2017.

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