Thursday, January 3, 2008

The I-Feel-Icky Season

Right in the middle of Christmas festivities, I came down with a...a what? A cold? A flu bug? A sinus problem? I don't know. I just know I was blah, with a runny nose. I soldiered on, though, and didn't miss any of the events. I suppose I should have stayed home so as not to pass my malady on to others, but I didn't. And I noticed others didn't either, because there was a lot of sneezing and blowing going on at every gathering.

That's the thing about this vague condition. It's not severe enough to shut down the business of life, but it is annoying enough to make the infected person feel like he or she is dragging 100 lb. weights around, while progressing through the day in slow motion.

To my knowledge, there's no scientific name for the illness...I call it the "galloping croup," or the "creeping crud." A friend has an even more expressive name for it...the "epizooties." Whatever it's name, it's common at this time of year, and while hand washing and other hygienic acts may help, nothing completely keeps it at bay. At our house, we all seem to come down with at least one episode of it each winter. Already, I've suffered two in the past several months, so I hope it's out of my system.

Mother is just recovering from her bout, but Hubbie is in the throes of one...his being severe enough to require a doctor's attention. Hopefully, the prescribed meds will clear it up.

New Year's Day

New Year's Day was another quiet day around here. Lunch was delicious...ham, a cinnamon-seasoned and baked dish of sweet potatoes and acorn squash, black eyed peas for good luck, asparagus, deviled eggs, and fruit salad, with a cherry topped cream cheese pie for dessert.

New Year's Day is our day to take down the Christmas decorations. I have mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, decorating took so long that it's sad to have to say goodbye to the trees, the ornaments, the wreathes, and all the other bright bric-a-brac of Christmas. On the other hand, after five weeks, it's time to get our house back in order...time to put away last year and get on with the business of the new year.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, though, I do leave the ceramic village on the mantel through January, since the pieces are more winter-themed than Christmas-themed. The lighted houses, barns, churches, etc., set among puffs of cotton batting, are cheery on cold, gray days.

2007 was a mixed bag of goals achieved, goals not yet attained, challenges faced, births, deaths, and farewells. It will be interesting to see how 2008 unfolds.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve at our house is as quiet as Christmas Eve. It has been years since Hubbie and I attended a New Year's Eve party, and we're glad, because we don't enjoy them. Invariably, at public parties, we found the music too loud, the attendees too raucus, and the champagne served up at midnight too nearly resembling the taste of shoe polish (or what I imagine shoe polish to taste like). Private parties were somewhat better, though we yearned for home way ahead of the midnight hour.

So, at home, Hubbie, Mother, and I entertain ourselves with a game, snacks, and watching "Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve" on TV. Our preferred game for New Year's Eve is Michigan Rummy, which we have modified a bit to suit ourselves. For instance, we use regulation size poker chips, instead of those tiny ones that came with the game. Each person is assigned 100 chips at the start of the game. And of course we use jumbo cards, with easy-to-see large numbers and suit symbols.

We play until someone wins one of the big pots, so full that overflowing chips are consigned to a cereal bowl...those pots are usually the king and queen of hearts, and the 7-8-9 of any suit. This time, Hubbie and Mother kept the king and queen of hearts cleared out, but the 7-8-9 pot grew and grew. I got the king and queen of hearts only once, when the pot held a measly four chips.

In fact, I barely stayed in the game, having almost depleted my chips stash early on. Near the end of the game, I didn't even have enough chips to add to all the pots, but Hubbie and Mother took pity on me and let me play anyway.

Michigan Rummy is a game that Mother usually wins, and this time was no exception. Just as the midnight hour approached, after playing since around 7 p.m., she laid out a 7-8-9 of one of the suits and took that pot of chips, which hadn't been won since Hubbie won it about an hour into the game.

Up to that point, we wondered if we would have to just quit the game and declare Hubbie the winner, since he'd garnered more chips than Mother. I, with no chips left, was the clear loser, of course.

Game ended, we watched the ball come down in Times Square, and toasted the New Year with glasses of Golden Spumante...may it be a peaceful one for all of us.