Christmas, Pt. 1

According to the music that keeps playing incessantly on the radio this is the season that comes but once a year.  Thank god in my opinion.  It's hard enough buying gifts and decorating the house for December 25th imagine if it had to be done on a routine basis?  I didn't bother with too many bright lights or baubles this year, nope, just settled for the tree and some lights in the bushes.  Oh, and a bit of garland on the railings.  I just about fried some of those friggin birds that were swarming around the neighbor's feeder, if I've told him once I've told him a thousand times to move that thing to the other side of the house.  One of these days I'll take a shotgun out there and go Penzias & Wilson on'em.  Heat's holding steady, I suppose I don't put enough strain on it for it to conk out like some of the other folks have.  All and all I'd say it may not look like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting (almost, I mean it's furnished like something out of the fifties) but it looks pretty damn cozy.  

This year I'll even have guests, shock of shocks, so the good sized roast's cooking away in the stove.  Most of the side dishes are already finished.  Fresh rolls from town, mashed potatoes, broccoli, stuffing (gave in after mine caught fire and bought it from the store), and a fine dish of macaroni with cheese; not bad if allowed to brag about myself for a moment.  Hopefully dessert won't disappoint either, plum pudding or chocolate cake (good for any season).  Can't forget the cookies either, I didn't make many but they all turned out well this time.  Sugar, Chocolate chip, peanut butter, and snickerdoodles. The pictures were finished Friday, it seemed like it took forever for them to clean them up but they did a good job and the it covers up the empty parts of the wall.  

I've always liked photos, and when your memory is prone to being sketchy you rely on them even more.  There's the color picture of mother and I in front of her office at MIT, Ivan and I in dress blues in front of the  McGuire AFB direction center building looking appropriately serious, another of us in cold weather gear throwing snowballs at Captain Delaney in Michigan, me in my uniform with the Doctor in a suit the day I was inducted into the Air Force, Jeanie and I hard at work on a match of Tic-Tac-Toe, both of us again with me in uniform (same day as induction), one Tess insisted on having taken of us together and next to it both of us with a young Minerva (only Tess looking particularly happy), a much more recent shot of Jeanie and I in front of the Montauk AFS radar dish, another recent shot of myself in front of my house, mother in her Naval Reserve uniform, another one of her and the Doctor in her lab, Ivan and I with Captain Delaney at some banquet (another formal shot, everyone prim in dress blues with stern faces), an overhead shot of Lexington, a slightly skewed photo of my development team all lined up around a young me (in a formal dress of all things), Minerva and Tess together (a rare relaxed shot, they're both laughing at something I did), Minerva and I in the main computer room at the Air Development center pouring over something together, Ivan Randy Eleanor and I in front of the headquarters building at Wright Field all smiles and happiness, the shaky Chicago Tribune photo of the medic treating me after I got hit in the head (can't have just the good times), the Doctor with his arms around Jeanie and I looking guilty as two small girls can, a small Polaroid of me and Ivan in front of the Montauk railroad station (I'm giving him bunny ears and he doesn't realize it), another color photo showing a very nervous (and very young) me shaking hands with President Eisenhower, and finally a picture of mom holding me on her shoulder while I'm reaching for something on a shelf at Lincoln Labs.  Of course there are other things on the wall, as if the photos alone don't cover enough space; my framed commendation from the President, the display case with my medals and insignia, a print of Edward Hopper's "Corner Office", and Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech".

Doesn't hurt to lay out my wall coverings on paper in case something goes missing.  For some reason that I can't fathom.  Maybe I'll cover my furniture and appliances some time?  I guess I'm just killing time before everyone arrives, not many people of course, then again I don't have too many living friends to celebrate with. Enough to finish off the food waiting and cart off the packages waiting in the living room I hope. Last year I went out to the farm to spend the holiday with everyone in that part of the world, but quite honestly it was a bit too festive for me if you know what I mean.  So this year, the mountain will come to Mohammed. Or Long Island as the case may be.  And if by mountain you mean four people.  The ever nebulous "they" also proclaim that Christmas is the time to count your blessings and reflect on what has happened in your life.  A couple of years ago I never expected to be living in my own home, awaiting the arrival of my thought dead best friend to celebrate a holiday I essentially ignored for twenty years.  Wonders never cease I suppose.

Hopefully the railroad got the tracks clear of snow.  I promised to be at the station to meet them in an hour, I'll find out then.  Suppose instead of writing I should be out warming up the car then, eh?