Its Grinch time again.

            This year it came a little early. Usually the Grinch in me appears the day after Thanksgiving, this year it came a couple days before Thanksgiving.

 

               I hope this note finds you well and that you and your family had an excellent Thanksgiving. Here at the “Fords of Hewitt Homestead” we had our family together, and as usual, too much to eat. Friends dropped by to visit and enjoy and afternoon slice of turkey and some pie (except for Cayson who had two plates full while he was here, and he took two plates full with him). 

               As usual our Thanksgiving meal was a huge success, mostly due to my first wife’s efforts. She is an excellent cook and during the holidays puts too much effort into everything she does.

               That brings us back to the, “Grinch time again” heading. Although I do enjoy the holidays I do not enjoy the decorations that go with the holiday. The shed in the back yard (notice I did not say” my” shed since it is  used for storage decorations) is where about half of the Christmas decorations are kept. At this point I should also note that fall, spring and Easter decorations are also stored there.

               If it were not for my skill at stacking, storing and packing the shed would be nothing but decorations. My first wife of 43 years also fills closets with decorations and who knows what she has under the beds.

A couple days before Thanksgiving she instructs me to,

“Bring fourth the Decorations”.

You may have noticed that statement has somewhat of a Biblical or Authoritarian sound to it. It was not a request and I knew I had better get it in gear.

Removing the decorations from the shed is no small task due to the fact that anything that is mine must be removed from the shed before I can get to the “decorations”. Now you may be starting to understand the “Grinch time again” comment.

I should, in all fairness state, this year the weather was warm and pleasant unlike most preceding years where I was forced to work in cold, windy and sometimes wet weather.

My part of the decorating process is to bring the decorations from the shed to the garage and then put up the lights along the edge of the roof across the front of the house.

I believe the outside work is now complete although there are the occasional maintenance items such as a wise man may fall over or a light may burn out.

My first wife has begun the inside decorating process and we now have three (3) Christmas trees in the front room. I have no idea how many she plans to put up this year but she has had as many as eleven (11) Christmas trees in the house.

Last night our grandkids arrived after dark. All the outside Christmas lights were on plus the inside decorations were also lighted. I was in the bed room when they came in and I heard a lot of wows and I love Christmas. It was the first time they had seen the decorations all illuminated.

 

From the *Grinchly mind of                          Don Ford

 

*Yes I have coined a new word, “Grinchly” meaning “Grinch like and enjoying it”.

 

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