Christmas Storage

FINALLY! The boxes are starting to return to their hiding places, under the stairs, nestled in the attic and “hanging” out in the rafters of the garage.

There is, however, an annual mystery about this event...every year the amassed array of ornaments, garlands, beads, nativities and our “blue santa’s” (many of which have their own box) seem NOT to match up with the box or bin they arrived in?

Well actually they do...BUT the dedicated boxes seem to eventually be found in another tub (every different type is assigned to a tub). So the mystery is really how we can (we think) carefully unpack and display this plethora of Christmas decorations, carefully segregating the myriad of dedicated boxes and bins...only to have then ”re-arrange” themselves?

Eleven months of the year they quietly and patiently stay where they are assigned during the storage process....but for that one month they are collectively stored in one bay of the garage they celebrate this gathering (in one place) by playing musical chairs, then laughingly enjoy the consternation of the packers as the try to corral this assemblage back into their assigned boxes and tubs.

So...for now they are quietly resting in their assigned place...waiting for the game to begin again next Christmas...”Merry Christmas.

“HOPPIN JOHN”

For those of you who read the blog you will note that 2010 certainly held true to the title “The Ramblings of a Retiree.” And that is the fun part...taking life one day at a time and waiting to see what’s around the next bend. I believe it was Yogi Berra that said...”when you come to a fork in the road...take it”...and we have!

Someone else coined the phrase “water under the bridge” and that now applies to 2010, good bad or indifferent it is now history. It will, however, be a most memorable year! One that will easily be one of the road markers that defined our passage along life’s road.

That being said and not wanting to “wax philosophical” we move on with the excitement and anticipation of what is around the next bend.

Today we start that journey with a southern tradition, eating “hoppin john”, black-eyed peas. The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who was known as Hoppin' John.

Or... traced back to a legend that during the Civil War, the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, ran out of food while under attack. The residents fortunately discovered black-eyed peas and the legume was thereafter considered “lucky”...there are more,your choice ).

So however you celebrate the New Year...we wish you a most prosperous, health and happy 2011.

Reindeer Droppings:

As reported earlier this year has flown by!

Our life this year has been a real “As the World Turns”, full of those at the end of each show moments that leave you thinking “what next!” Thanksgiving was upon us and flew by (turkey’s do fly ya’ know) and Christmas (which had started waaaay before Thanksgiving) seemed to be on us like a summer storm, full of flashing lights and loud noises.

Finally the decorations were up (inside and out)...all 90+Santa’s holding court on their appointed shelves, mantel, and display cabinet. The presents were wrapped and looking royal as they were artfully arrayed around the Christmas tree (Mrs. Clause is really creative).

Finally Christmas Eve was here... We all attended Christmas Eve service and grandpa “gifted” everyone to supper at Carrabbas, (wasn’t that nice of me?)....no one ever reaches for the check?? On Christmas day we opened presents, Bobbie fixed a great brunch (ham with a marmalade crust, cheese grits, egg casserole, orange flavored French toast and onnnnn and on!), and watched movies, Schreck (I may have dozed off a few times...I tried to just “sample” her offerings...really).

THEN we had the desserts, yes desserts, three of them, varied and decorated like Christmas presents!

Well that was last week.

Santa the reindeer were last seen heading north...we, on the other hand, have finished cleaning up after the reindeer (present droppings you know) and are enjoying the "afterglow" of the memories.

The lights are still up, however, everyone’s stocking are no longer crowed across the mantel, so we can have a fire in the fire place again, and it crackles merrily as we contentedly watch movies we’ve been meaning to watch for months.

So...”Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.”

Blue Santa's

In my last installment I mentioned our “Blue Santa” collection.

From its humble beginning, a single Blue Santa carved and painted from a cypress knee, it now fills four cabinets (oh...and this doesn’t count the ones on the Christmas tree) and numbers in excess of ninety!

From small, less than two inches tall, to floor models that tower nearly four feet tall. Each has a story, as do most collections, and are from almost every country I traveled during my flying career.

They are made of everything from glass, porcelain, metal, wood and elaborate cloth versions. The themes are also various, serious to comedic, cops, pilots, doctors...all are represented.

Eventually friends started finding and giving us Santa’s...that is when we lost control and the numbers soared. “Thank you, thank you...but please stop!”

We still are on the lookout for that “truly unique” one and suspect that more will come...100! is getting closer each season...so time will tell.

Christmas decorations

It has been a tradition for twenty years to haul out the Christmas decoration the day after Thanksgiving.

At first that wasn’t much of a problem...they all were stored in one place, under the stairs. Well as the years passed, the collection grew, pieces bought on our travels, gifts by friends and on and on. As the collection grew so did the requirement for the number of cabinets and trees to hold this growing collection.

Did I mention the “Blue Santa’s”? Years ago we bought a clever “Blue Santa’s” carved and painted from a cypress knee. That one grew into 90 (that I counted yesterday!). This collection alone requires the empting of every cabinet, shelf and piano top.

Oh...remember the storage under the stairs? We now store the boxes and crates (twenty plus) there, in the attic, and the guest room closet...and that is just the inside decorations.

The garage attic holds all the outside decorations... and that's another whole blog entry.

We are a week into the process and are just about finished and ready to put away the boxes and crates and enjoy the display.

Wow what a year (so far?).

Retirement is one of those “great unknowns”...it could be boring or full of strange twists and turns.

This year is an example of all of them...it started off slow and by April had taken a turn toward the wild side. January, February and March rolled along with the normal few consulting jobs and a little “body overhaul”...knee surgery.

We are not gambler, however, our good friends are. They had been asking us to join them at Coushatta Casino in Louisiana, a two hour drive away, for a night. We did, fed the slot machines, had a nice meal and turned in.

At 5:30 the next morning the “turn toward the wild side” occurred. Finding your cell phone at 5:30, deep in sleep, isn’t that easy. Half asleep I answered..”hello”? My contact, an always perky person said...”How soon can you get to Houma Louis.iana and work with us on the BP oil spill”? I woke up quickly after that! “Late this afternoon” I replied. He replied...”Ok, come prepared to stay thirty days”.

Three months later I was finally released...see earlier blog entry.

I am now three months behind on my consulting committments and ready to settle down to a somewhat more predictable routine when another turn toward the wild side occurred. I had two TIA (transient ischemic attacks...mini-stokes...no damage but a real eye opener). Oh...and my blood sugar, cholesterol, thyroid and everything else was “out of whack”. Seem like working seven days a week, ten to fourteen hours a day, are not that good for a sixty five year old!

Well that was twenty five pounds, many mile of walking and an adherence to a diabetic diet ago. The odd part was that I never felt bad before, during or after this adventure, however, all my blood work now pronounces me back to normal.

So once again I headed out to catch up on my previous commitments and spend a little time in the retirement mode (remember “I am retired”).

Now, with Thanksgiving just around the corner and Christmas not far away, we have caught up on most of the commitments and had no new adventures...thank you!

My Lost Summer

The summer slipped by and I missed it! Buried deep in the bowels of the BP Incident Command Center in Houma LA, dealing with the oil spill, from "O" dark thirty to "O" dark thirty (that's before sunrise to after dark), time slipped away.

Finally the job was done and we returned to our "other" lives. Just as I was settling into my return to full time retirement I had to deal with a medical problem and there went the remainder of the summer.

Well I am back...better than ever and I will try to post more often.