Phew! Another Christmas behind us. Every year, I think it’s the best one. And you know, every year I’m right.

Did you do a lot of entertaining over the holidays? We did. As usual, Charlie and me kind of held our breath with our dog, Scamp. He’s been getting better, sure, but he’s still kind of unpredictable.

Christmas is less than a week away, and presents are piling up under the tree at Mahoosuc Mills Town Hall. See, every year, they put up a Christmas tree down there with stars on it. On each star is a request for a present from a kid in town. You know, a kid whose family needs a little help. Some of them will just break your heart: a Barbie doll, Play Dough, a new winter hat and mittens. I mean, these kids have nothing. Anyone can go down there, take a star, buy the present, wrap it and drop it back to the Town Hall.

 

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I don’t know about where you live, but up here in Mahoosuc Mills, seems like the minute Turkey Day was over, folks started flyin’ into Christmas! Big time! And it’s just been building ever since. We’re all scrambling to take advantage of this beautiful weather to hang lights and get our decorations up. It’s just all so festive, you can’t help but being swept up in it.

Now, I don’t know if you know, but the Women Who Run With the Moose, (Celeste, Rita, Betty, Dot, Shirley and me) are big into crafts. We just love to get together and cut, paste, and hot-glue. Then we put sequins on everything to cover up the boo-boos! We usually spend half the year trying out different ideas, see if anything flies. When we find one with potential, we focus on that for the last half of the year, in preparation for the Christmas Bazaar down to St. Hyacinth’s.

Charlie and me buzzed over to the Agway, Saturday. He was picking up his snow blower, which was in for a tune up, and I wanted to get some more bulbs to sneak into the ground. You know, before it’s too late. I got some assorted tulips and daffodils. Come spring, you can’t have enough of them, in my opinion. Those hopeful, green shoots pokin’ their way up out of the remaining patches of snow. Then, gorgeous flowers: red, yellow, pink, orange! It perks my spirit up, no end.

Ran into Pearl Plaisted at the A&P this week. She was doing a little pre-holiday shopping.

“Hi there, Pearl,” I says, as I’m ringing her out. “I see you’re gonna to be making some pies for Thanksgiving.”

“Yup! Desserts are my department. My daughter Sally cooks the main meal. Oh, and I’m responsible for the homemade cranberry sauce.”

“Yum! I bet that’s good. Where’s your side kick?” I ask, referring to her husband.

I run into my cousin Ronnie’s daughter, Shannon, down to the Wally Mart the other day. She was there with her friend, Emily. They’re cute girls, both in their mid-twenties, unattached. You should have seen their shopping cart loaded to the gills with paper towels, toilet paper, feminine products and about twenty bottles of Oil of Olay.

“Wow,” I says, “would you look at that haul!”

“We’ve been couponing!” Shannon says. “Got some wicked good deals, too.”

“I’ll bet.”

I know, I know, I should probably be talking about last week’s storm. How no one can believe we had snow like that before Halloween; how the power was out a couple of days; how there’s still folks without power. (Can you believe that?) ‘Round these parts, ‘bout all you could hear was the sound of people whining and generators doing their thing. You got your little portable ones that give you a few lights, heat, fridge, and hot water all the way up to what we call the “Taj Mahal,” where life goes on without interruption.

Halloween was one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. I mean, people give you candy for dressing like a princess. What’s not to like about that?

Fall’s hunting season here in Maine. Bow hunting takes place in October, and come November, they bring out the heavy artillery. So if you’re out walking in the woods, be sure to wear your blaze orange vests, hats and what not. I know, it’s not in my color wheel either, but sometimes you gotta forgo fashion for safety. Why, even our little dog Scamp wears his colors. Got him a blaze orange bandana and vest, and boy, oh boy, does he ever look cunnin.’