Holiday Ramblings

Holiday Ramblings

The first H1N1 inoculation clinic that was to be held in my hometown for people without specific ailments was held today. It was advertised in the local paper where they specified the locations, times and places to receive the medicine. This first one was to be at a “learning center” about 6 blocks from where I live. I refer to the building where this particular learning center is located as the old Beall Avenue Grade School, which it is. I attended there as a youngster for the 4th, 5th and 6th grade sometime during the late '50's. After the grade school was closed, a local philanthropist purchased the property, had it renovated and it's now used for pre-school, retarded children programs and a lot of other community-related activities. The philanthropist is named Stanley Gault and you can see his name on lots of edifices around town. We're lucky to have him around.

According to the newspaper, the clinic was to begin at 9:30 in the morning and I planned on attending, along with my wife and my adult son. I wanted us to arrive there by 9:10 or thereabouts, figuring it had a high probability of being busy, but, as usual, my best-laid plans were thwarted by my family. After taking care of our dog, waking up my son, checking the newspaper, waiting for this and that, etc., etc., we finally arrived at the facility at 9:30. As I had feared, the parking lot was already full and cars were going up and down the rows hunting for spots to park. I mumbled about punctuality, preparedness and other subjects under my breath (I was lucky my family didn't hear me!), but we were lucky enough to find a parking spot on the second pass through the lot and soon we were stepping inside the building.

As an aside, stepping inside this door reminded me of my first date – kind of. It was a school dance at the grade school, possibly 5th grade, and it was to be held at that particular school. I'd asked a girl who, coincidentally had a very similar last name to my own, and we attended together. It was through that particular door that we entered the gym to where the dance was to be held. I could still remember the sweaty nervousness and awkwardness even today as I stepped across that threshold. I smiled as I paid homage to those old memories.

I really had to hand it to the planners of the clinic as the operation was well set up and had plenty of volunteers at the door and at other choke points. After filling out a quick questionnaire, we got in line and soon were baring our arms for the injection. My son, since he is younger than my wife and I, and met the criteria, was offered his choice of either a nasal vaccine administration or an injection. He opted for the nasal dose as he's not overly fond of needles. I teased him on his timidity while we were leaving the building and, before you knew it, we were back in the car and heading home. Even with our “late” arrival, we were in and out in less than 20 minutes. Not too bad. And now we are protected from this specific “bug” for this specific season. I feel so much healthier already!

***

On Sunday my wife and I took part in one of our “cherished” family traditions – decorating the house for Christmas. This is an activity that I don't look forward to with much excitement any more. Yes, I enjoy the decorated house, the lighted tree, the Christmas knick-knacks and gee-gaws strewn all around the house – the wreaths on the doors, the garland hung here and there, the festive appearance of our home after we're done. It's not something that I'd easily give up. But... That's after the fact. Doing the actual work is a bit of a chore. Hauling down the 8 – 10 tote boxes containing the goodies from the attic. Hauling down the awkward box that the dismantled tree resides in. Taking down the year-round “stuff” so there's room for the Xmas “stuff”. Moving furniture around so that there is room for the tree and other “stuff”. Assembling the tree. Lighting it, garlanding it, ornamenting it and tinseling it. Placing all the other items here and there. Hauling the newly-emptied boxes upstairs to store during the holidays.

Lots of work.

This year we were unpleasantly surprised while attending to this activity. I was starting to add the lights to the newly assembled Christmas tree when we heard a quite audible “cracking” noise that emanated from the bottom of the tree. And after each “crack”, the tree began to list a bit more to one side. I did a little look-see under the tree and saw that one of the 4 cheap plastic “legs” at the bottom of the tree had broken.

I sat back and thought to myself – Great. Just great. Now what?

I took a further look at the damages and saw that it was pretty much a goner - unrepairable. I'd have to do something about it. I would have to play handyman, which is not one of my best roles.

I think I might have whispered a few un-Christmaslike words about that time.

So we jumped into the car and ran up to Walmart, our usual destination for almost anything we needed to buy, everyday or exotic, and looked around for a new base for our artificial tree.

Have you ever tried looking for one of those? Specifically? As you might imagine, we had no luck. Apparently we were the only people in existence who ever had this problem (!?!?), so we settled for a natural tree base and I figured I could jerry-rig it to work even with the thin pole of the artificial tree's trunk instead of a thicker real one.

You can already see where this is heading, right?

After arriving home and spending about an hour fussing and adjusting the base, I realized that it just wasn't made to hold up an artificial tree with a 1 1/2 inch pole for a trunk. I'd have to add some shims and do some other adjustments. I finally did get everything attached – sort of – and stood back to look at my handiwork. It had looked about right while I was laying under the tree, but, after standing up I could see that the tree was tilting about 20 degrees starboard.

A few more un-Christmaslike words slipped out of my mouth.

So I did what any red-blooded American would have done at that time. Instead of taking apart the assortment of shims, plastic, steel bolts, chunks of wood and other assorted pieces holding up the bottom of the “tree”, I just shoved three thick magazines under one side of the tree holder, which brought the tree into some approximation of vertical, and called it OK. The tree skirt covered up all the sins of the lower portion of the tree and we were back on track. Finally.

I told the wife - “next year we get a new tree!”

***

Saturday night my wife and I attended the retirement party of a gentleman who works in my office. He'd just finished putting in 33 years with the county sanitary engineering department where we all work and had decided that was enough. Heck of a nice guy.

The party was held in a huge equipment storage building at a landscaping business north of the town where we work. I understand they have parties there fairly often. His family had decorated the room, set up tables with assortments of munchies, erected an open bar and had several kiddie pools full of various beers and sodas and bottled waters on ice. They had buffet tables set up on one side with barbecued roast pork and turkey, salads, pasta, veggies, breads and a big dessert table with the obligatory retirement cake and assorted cookies, and other pastries. A very nice spread. Quite a few of my fellow employees attended and we all had a nice time visiting, drinking, eating and watching the antics of the other employees and families, questioning why some folks came and some folks didn't, why so-and-so was with whosit and what that might portend, and didn't whats-his/her-name look good/bad/cheap/hot/drunk. After the meal, the guest of honor took the microphone and wandered around the crowd, picking out first one person, then another to get comments from. Everyone was congratulatory and enjoyed taking their last shots at him. It was fun to watch the consternation of the participants as the mike was placed in front of them, but most replied quite cogently and lost their mike-fever quickly. After this “entertainment”, the disc jockey took over and started playing music. Our only real complaint at that time was the volume setting of the disk jockey's speakers. I joked that my ears were bleeding, but that wasn't too far from the truth. He'd definitely cranked the volume knob to “11” on the 1 to 10 scale. Maybe it's because a lot of us are “older” folks, but we really didn't appreciate the über volume pumping out of the speakers. It was virtually impossible to carry on a conversation, so we bid adieu perhaps earlier than we would have if the music had been a bit more tolerable.

On the way home I mused about the party. I thought about how, when we were first married and attended parties, they were bridal showers and bachelor parties, new job parties, new baby parties, etc. Or parties just for the hell of it. Fun stuff. Now it seemed we were attending more retirements and funerals and less of the fun stuff. Didn't hardly seem fair.

And I pondered about whether there would be any retirement for my wife and I, let alone any parties. We'd taken a beating with the bad economy and were unsure of when or even if we could say adios to our jobs. I'd often said I'd continue to work as long as my health allowed me, and it looks like that will be the case.

But enough about the vicissitudes of fate and the uncertainty of the coming years.

The holiday season is now upon us and that is certainly the time for good fellowship, for decking the halls and for burning the Yule log and hoisting the wassail cup. And I intend to do just that! So, to all my dear friends and family, I wish you a Christmas full of joy, presents under your tree, a belly full of great food and someone you love to share it all with.

And may the upcoming new year bring you health, prosperity and peace.