Christmas Odds and Ends

Alright; it’s over. It took us a week longer than most to have our family Christmas, but we finally did it. And what a show! 15 were in attendance; 10 adult sized children and 5 normal sized children, ranging in age from 1 to 13. The 15 includes all 7 of our grandchildren and our great grandchild. Very special.

It was a cold and wet day, but we were certainly warm inside with all of those bodies in the house. We finally had to open the windows and turn on the fans. Woodstoves are very difficult to regulate for comfort and they’re either on or their off. We had to choose off.

It really was a day for children and they took advantage of it, racing from one end of the house to the other as they played. It certainly wasn’t a day for cats and our cat enjoyed the solitary life out in the garage. Plus, there was a dog in the house, one of those teacup sized dogs, which, for its own safety, was passed from hand to hand all evening. Very cute, but scary to see it on the floor. How could it survive among all those moving feet?

I don’t know if our gift giving saved the economy this year, but I’m sure it helped.

And speaking of economy. We did a quick and very random check, not at all scientific, and oddly enough, most gifts were not made in this country. The majority were made in China. Here’s a photo of the new Supercenter in Willows. I’m pretty sure that’s the right photo?

Last night I was commenting that China doesn’t sell anything directly in this country. If I were in Portland, I could shop at a ‘Made in Oregon’ store. The same for Texas and Virginia. As far as I knew, there were no ‘Made in China’ stores. But, this morning, as I looked at the photo above, I suddenly realized that I had overlooked the obvious; there really are ‘Made in China’ stores after all.

By the way, I’m not a China basher. I think it’s a fascinating country and I would love to visit. I would say that I’m more anti-sanctimony than I am anti-China and I love to point out how we, as a country, will preach one thing and do another. Very similar to the way we raise our children.

It looks like we will be doing something for the economy, our little bit, in the coming year as well. Our television set has a definite problem going on with the sound system. (Hey, it’s twenty years old!) It has never given us a bit of trouble…till now. Since we are not television viewers and only use it for movies, I’m not sure what we should do for a replacement. I suppose we should think positively and assume that sometime in the near future, television programming will improve and cable/satellite providers will allow you to buy only the programs you want. Right! And we should look for a moderately sized flat screen HDTV. Made in China.

To recap; the house became relatively silent about 9 PM. And the cleanup began. The living room was the hardest hit and we’re still hoping that the governor will declare it a disaster area. Strange, but when the younger children were quizzed as to how it happened, most pointed to Colum as the likely culprit. Colum, all of one year old, remained silent and would not confess.

Now, at 6 in the morning, the woodstove is back in operation and the cat is stretched out in front of it. The twins are asleep, so the security level is Orange. All is well.