Holiday Snapshots

Christkindlmarkt, Heidelberg, Germany
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As Thanksgiving recedes in the wake, as the progeny return to their own lives, things are kind of quiet. After a week of five adults (though one of the adults is a fighter pilot), two kids, two dogs, and two cats all "peacefully" co-existing at Chez Sarge, it's going to be rather dull for a while.

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After all, this all started with Your Humble Scribe manning the ramparts solo (well, the cats were around, but they refuse to stand watch, go figure) for nigh on to four weeks. I was gradually turning feral then suddenly The Nuke, The Missus Herself, and The Nuke's canine pack showed up late on a Saturday night and I found myself having to "behave" once more.

But now the lull sets in. Four weeks until Christmas (give or take), which is far less insane without young kids around. (Far less fun as well, truth be told.)

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I had the "opportunity" to drive up to Boston (and back) to collect The WSO and her clan. Traffic was, amazingly enough, rather uneventful on that trip. For which I was very grateful indeed.

The junior granddaughter, L'il Sweetie, is developing quite a personality. Whilst in the process of saying Grace at Thanksgiving dinner, I was in full "and we thank thee for..." when she began to expound, "blah, blah, blah."

No, seriously. "Blah, blah, blah." As if she was mocking Yours Truly but in truth she was just chiming in as if to complement my efforts at thanking the Almighty for our many blessings.

A lesser man would, no doubt, have taken her comments as criticism.

The turkey was deep-fried this year. Which involved a number of things, all most strange to me.

Big Time was in charge of actually ensuring the bird was cooked. But before that could happen The Nuke and I had to go to Lowe's to pick up the fryer which The WSO had ordered and had shipped to our AO. That being done, all I had to do was put the box containing the thing in the basement. The Missus Herself having personally advised me to not touch anything.

The next day I went outside (that day being Monday) and nearly broke my neck tripping over a rather large box, leaking some oily substance, which was lodged upon my deck, fast by the door.

"Hhmm," I pondered, "what could this be?"

Turned out to be six gallons of peanut oil. Again I was instructed to move the stuff to the basement and not touch anything. Do you know how much six gallons of peanut oil weighs? (Around 46 pounds.)

Who knew peanuts needed lubricating?

Once that was done it was off to pick up a rental van to carry The WSO and her clan from Logan (in Boston) to Chez Sarge, in Little Rhody. Two kids requiring car seats and enough luggage to support those two grandkids and their parental units. Traveling with kids is quite an exercise. These days parents will actually bring some of the kids' toys along, to keep 'em entertained when the adults want to do adult things, like drink adult beverages.

I don't understand it because grandmothers will, apparently, always buy the grandkids a lot of toys when they come to visit. At least my grandkids get that treatment. It is fun watching their mom, my daughter, try to pack all of the toys she brought with them plus the new toys. Somehow she manages.

Harrumph, in my day you played with a stick. Which you harvested yourself from the nearby forest, careful, of course, not to wander too far from the cave entrance. And, of course, we walked to school, uphill, both ways, in driving snow, while fighting off bears...

The only thing missing is the attacking bears.
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Anyhoo, traffic to and from Logan wasn't too bad. Only once did I wish to "end someone," and that's while we were still in Rhode Island. But everyone made it safely to Chez Sarge.

So yeah, we fried the turkey. (Before or after the digression, Sarge?) Well, Big Time fried the turkey, I supervised watched. It wasn't that cold Thanksgiving day, though there was a bit o' wind which made it a tad nippy. So we drank Bloody Marys to stay warm.

No, really.

Also the football boycott is over. Not that I was actually boycotting anything, I just didn't feel like watching. Until now.

So I got to see all new ( to me anyway) commercials. Yes, for the most part they still suck. Some are clever, once, but not 85 times. But it is fun to watch football with the family, while imbibing adult beverages, of course.

I also learned over the week that the Senior Granddaughter, Little Bit, has gained quite the vocabulary in her education so far. It amazes me how she correctly used "sarcasm" in a sentence. In a humorous way. At my expense.

No slack in this family, I can tell you.

But now Christmas is on the horizon, still hull down, but I can see its mast tops. (When was that Sarge? Around Halloween. Sarcasm. I can do it too, Little Bit.)

I have been informed that the Christmas holidays will find me on the banks of the Potomac.

Should be fun.

I so enjoy the holidays.

Even when fighting off bears.

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