A Little Family Time

 

Well, Christmas has come and gone and we're starting a new year, which I hope will be much better than the one we just experienced, although if the news is any indication of what the future holds, it may be more of the same. If last year left you with a bad taste in your mouth, please do yourself a favor and look up the Washington Post magazine article by humorist Dave Barry. I believe it's titled A Review of 2020. It was one of the funniest things I've read in quite awhile. He totally captured the year, describing it as "one long, howling Category 5 crapstorm." Honestly, if you're feeling down, having a bad day, mad at your spouse, your boss, your kids, the government, the neighbors or just life in general, please look it up. You'll be glad you did. OK. Now that that's out of the way, I'll continue on. Like many other Americans, I left Dr. Fauci flapping his gums behind an N95 mask and enjoyed a pleasant time with my family over the Christmas holiday. Maybe we were being foolish, but life is a risk at the best of times, and if my time here is limited, I wanted to enjoy the company of those I love. As it was, my daughter Liz and her family came for a visit and we had a great time. I think Liz would have liked to have been born with a 50/50 combination of flesh and Silly Putty. As it is she can twist her face into some fairly interesting shapes. In the last picture, we're just getting started with making faces, and I'm not really sure what's happening with Jan in that picture. It's like a ghost or some other worldly being is standing between her and the camera. There was no shortage of sitting around and stuffing our faces with all manner of unhealthy food. For some reason it's become tradition to take a whole year's worth of cookies, candy, soft drinks, chips, various cheeses and meat sticks and eat them all between Thanksgiving and New Years. I don't know why we can't just spread it out a little, but we never do. Frankly, I'd trade the key to Fort Knox for a slice of chocolate cake or a piece of custard pie right now. Of course all that binge eating leaves it's mark on your body. It seems like every time I stood on the scale for the past few weeks I had gained a pound or two. It's distressing. Not distressing enough to make me not want to eat mass quantities of sugar and fat laden food, but distressing nonetheless. Fortunately I didn't just sit around all day and let the fat gather in my ankles. I did get up at least once and exercise a little.  My daughter Autumn and her husband have a ping pong table in the garage and on at least one occasion we availed ourselves of it. Autumn is a chip off the old block and managed to beat me  most if not all the games we played. Of course that's not surprising, seeing as how she can practice all day and all night if she wants, and the only time I play is when I visit. Also consider that I have arthritis in my knees and back and am about forty pounds over weight. If I could strap a few sacks of potatoes to her waist and smack each of her knees with a ballpeen hammer, there wouldn't be such a contest. However, life just isn't fair. I did however manage to beat my eleven year old granddaughter handily though. That's always good for the ego. I was also looking out for Autumn's health by sending ball after ball off the table and into the dark recesses of the garage. Of course we had to watch those Christmas Classics, It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. They are as annual as spring flowers. We enjoyed each other's company, and when we were tired, Jan and I just retreated to our own home and left the younger people to party on. It was our first Christmas in our new home and it was pleasant. I hope that you too have some pleasant memories from the holidays. If not, there's always next year.