Is this a great time of year or what? Here we are, smack-dab
between Christmas and New Year’s.
Is this a great time of year or what?
Here we are, smack-dab between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s that “coasting” kind of week when we’ve mailed the greeting cards, cooked, baked and eaten ourselves into a coma, and nearly made it through the gift-purchasing-wrapping-giving-returning cycle.
Yes, indeed, we made it through yet another holiday extravaganza.
Today, a few left-over Christmas cookies are sure to be found, and we’ve discovered that cranberry nut bread and eggnog make a pretty awesome breakfast.
Life is good.
This week we are free to pad about the house in our footy pajamas. We are liberated at last to mull over the instructions for the new crème brûlée blowtorch or the 18v cordless reciprocating saw with keyless blade clamp (Motto: “Every tool-lover’s dream.”) Note to self: Check Aunt Madeline’s meds since she’s under the delusion that I need power tools.
Next week – and it’ll be here before we know it – we’ll hike up our britches, button down our brains and fortify ourselves for PUTTING AWAY THE CHRISTMAS STUFF.
All over town bulky storage boxes will be brought forth, ladders will be hoisted against houses and our happy homes will resemble the streets of Times Square the day after the celebration of the new Millennium.
And as you are contemplating the dismantling of the Christmas cheer, be thankful you live in Morgan Hill and not in the newsworthy town of Aurora, Illinois.
It is there that a new piece of proposed legislation has residents in quite an uproar.
It seems that a certain Alderman Garza has introduced plans for a new city ordinance requiring the locals of Aurora to remove all holiday décor from the exteriors of their properties within two months after New Years or face a hefty fine.
The fine begins at $50 for the first notice and then jumps to a staggering $500 four weeks later if the infraction goes unheeded.
Now, I don’t particularly care to think about children hunting Easter eggs by the light of Rudolph’s red nose or our Memorial Day flag shining brightly in the reflection off Frosty the Snowman’s belly. On the other hand, I like even less the thought of rapping on the door of “Spike” on South Schlub Way to hand him his legal notice that the lighted reindeer regalia complete with inflatable Santa trooping across his front lawn is going to cost him a few hundred smackers because here it is March already.
I attempted to reach Alderman Garza by telephone to see how her project was going and if her husband had entered the witness protection program yet.
I was told by her staff person that she was “in a meeting,” which, roughly translated, is Alderman-ese for “I’m hiding out in my office beneath my desk because I brought up a zany piece of legislation, and angry residents are intent on tying me to a stake in the town square and pelting me with cow patties.”
So, good citizens of South County, celebrate that it is the “week between” and that you live exactly where you do. Rejoice that you made it through the office parties with your dignity intact and that you made the wise decision to forego (even though the lettering was sewn in sequins) your “Santa’s Vixen” pullover for Christmas dinner with the in-laws.
But best of all, be joyful in the reassuring knowledge that those pesky New Year’s Resolutions you made are still just the faintest of glimmers on next week’s horizon.
