I can’t believe in two months it will be October, one of my favorite months. Mama is not a fan of fall like I am. She says she’s more like Grandma. Mama believes (as Grandma did) that fall brings winter, the most horrible time of the year. It brings the dreaded drearies of cold, death, and depression. It does sound ominous if you think of it that way but I don’t think of it that way. Can you curl up on a couch under your favorite blanket with a hot mug of coffee or tea in the summer? Can you sit by a warm fire in the summer? Can you bring out your favorite sweaters in the summer? Can you go two minutes without sweating and swatting mosquitoes? No!
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spring and a little bit of summer. I just wish that summer lasted about a month and that’s it. Just end it right there but sometimes it doesn’t want to end. That dad gum global warming. Ugh! If Jesus doesn’t come back soon, everybody’s gonna think that we all got left behind and we’re in the bad place. It won’t be ‘hot as Hades’ anymore; it will be it’s ‘hot in Hades.’
I love the colors of autumn. Autumn just sounds cooler to say so I’m not going to say fall anymore. I love the smell of autumn. I love the spices of autumn. I absolutely love the cool crispness of autumn, especially since I began going through the change and my body stays about 150 degrees. I’m on the hormones but I still get hot. One of the ladies at church told me, “One of these days, you’ll wish you were hot because eventually you’ll feel like an iceberg all the time.” If that happens, I’ll just put an extra sweater on.
After autumn, comes winter, the special time of Christmas. Don’t you just love Christmas? It’s wonderful when you start thinking about the baking (until you’re knee deep in baking and your back is tired) and the gift giving (until you’re broke and you don’t know what to buy). The anticipation of Christmas is so magical. I’m not so crazy that I start listening to Christmas music in October but I do look forward to it in December. Kenny and I go all out putting up Christmas decorations – not that we have much traffic on our road. I’m sure the dairy farm trucks appreciate it when they’re hauling cow poop to the fields.
I have great memories of Christmas, like going to grandma’s and seeing her Christmas tree in the couch. Yes, she put it in the loveseat. It was a sight. She had a small living room and well, there was no place else to put it. She did remove the cushions first.
I love spending time with my family. My aunt Sandy likes to have everyone over for Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas too. She gets mad at Uncle Jerry because there’s always a piece of pie missing before anyone even gets to her house. We all know he ate it. We all know he couldn’t wait but we just laugh because that’s just Jerry. Mama always brings the spiral ham and I always bring the cranberry salad. When Aunt Betty was alive, she always brought the banana pudding and a whole bunch of Tupperware for leftovers. She always thought ahead.
After, with our bellies full, we would play the card game, 31. Now that’s a hoot. Somebody years ago changed the rules a little bit. Instead of starting out with three quarters, we start out with four and when you’re left with one quarter, you’re on the welfare or “on the draw” as we liked to say. Now some of you know that I have a big laugh, but my Aunt Betty had an even bigger laugh. If you had a good hand you would knock and then everyone would have one more turn. She would say things like, “I’m putting my knockers on the table now.”
My mama hates snow but I still get excited like I’m going to get to stay home from school. Wasn’t that a great feeling when you were young? One time when the boys were little we had a big snow and they made an igloo fort in the back yard. Everything was fine and dandy until Max, our dog, decided to poop in it. Max was a mess. He got confused one Christmas and peed on the Christmas tree (on grandma’s present which was house shoes). I guess he was just excited to see a tree in the house.
All this talk about Christmas and cooler weather is getting me so excited! Hopefully I can wait and not get too impatient. I know I’m supposed to enjoy the moment so I’ll do my best.
Karen G. Bruce 