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Praetorium Honoris

Saturday, December 28, 2019

It's The Little Things...


My youngest kid brother, The Musician, is famous within the tribe for giving the most interesting gifts, at Christmas and at other times of year. This year was no different. He puts thought into his gifts and they always are a hit with Your Humble Scribe. (Who as he gets older appreciates the little things more and more.)

As you can see in the opening photo, one of my gifts from The Musician was that wee owl in the wee snow globe. The quarter gives you an idea of the size of it. Not large, but it captured my fancy almost immediately.

Christmas Day we went over the The Olde Vermonter's house for dinner. As some of you might remember, he and Mrs. Olde Vermonter live in the house where I spent my formative years. He added an addition for his late mother-in-law some years ago. Unfortunately she didn't get to spend a long time with them, passing not long after moving in as I recall.

So the ancestral home is larger than it used to be. Growing up, there were my Mom and Dad, my two brothers and myself, a cat, three bedrooms, one bath. The living room seems small now, but it seemed more than adequate growing up. The one bath though, yeah, that was a problem with five of us. (Our cat, first Tommy, then later Ulysses, had his own bathroom.)

The addition added a second bath and a new living area about the size of the living room and kitchen combined in the older part of the house. With nine adults, two large dogs and one small dog present for Christmas dinner, there was enough room. Not that we could have held a dance but it was roomy enough. (The Olde Vermonters have two cats, who make themselves scarce whenever there is company. I have actually seen them only once, and that was as they fled for the safety of the upstairs portion of the split level.)

After a magnificent repast of turkey, ham, two varieties of meatballs (one pot of store-bought and one pot made to my late father's recipe, proud of his meatballs he was), shrimp, cranberry sauce, two magnificent vegetable casseroles (one broccoli, one candied yams), and various beverages, we gathered in the new addition to exchange gifts. The Musician handed out envelopes with a tiny snow globe attached to each one.

I immediately began to play with the snow globe, shaking it to watch the snow flakes swirl around the little owl. The Missus Herself asked me what I had received, so I showed her the little owl.

"No, you ID-10-T, what's in the envelope?"

"Oh, let me check..."

For those keeping score at home, it was a Cabela's gift card. Very nice I thought, I've never shopped there, but I checked their website, they do have some really neat stuff. But my attention was fixed upon the wee owl. I guess I really am a small boy at heart.

We had a marvelous time, laughing and telling stories of the old days, that old house rang with laughter and Christmas cheer just like in the days of my youth. I swear that the spirits of both sets of grandparents looked down on the gathering, and I could feel my father's spirit there, also uncles and aunts who have gone on ahead. Not to mention a couple of old cats and one black lab who looked on from the Rainbow Bridge.

It was splendid. I hated to see it end but end it did, as all things do.

I pray your Christmas was blessed and for my Jewish friends I hope your Hanukkah is truly wonderful. It's a great time of year, my favorite time of year.

Ah well, I'm off to watch my owl in the snow.




28 comments:

  1. In rather an interesting coincidence I was trudging through a treeline at sunset last evening when it had just begun to snow. One of the great horned owls who live at the ranch was just getting up for the day and we exchanged silent greetings for a few moments before he ghosted off into the snowy fading light to get him some rabbit for breakfast. Magic moment.

    Cabela's began as a mail order tied fly enterprise in a garden shed in Sidney, Nebraska, not long after WWII. Sidney is just down the road from here. It was strictly mail order for years and I remember seeing catalogs all around the globe during my naval service.

    Sounds like you had a great Christmas, as did we.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I visited Cabela’s, for the first time ever at Sidney, in 2010.
      It’s definitely better than a roadside rest area.

      Delete
    2. Shaun - Nothing quite like seeing an owl in the fading light of a winter's day. They seem so serious.

      Looking forward to the Cabela's adventure.

      Delete
    3. Skip - So you visited the mother ship?

      As for roadside rest areas, some are better than others. Oddly enough, New Jersey springs to mind as examples of some of the better ones.

      Delete
    4. Yup, GS and I were headed to her 50 year HS reunion on a road trip that I think is explained somewhere in WHTPFIHC.

      I have experienced some very nice rest areas.
      The best were in Italy.

      Delete
    5. I remember a few Italian rest areas between Rome, Florence, and Venice. They were good.

      Delete
  2. First visit to Cabelas' required over an hour's drive and the mouth hung open when I walked inside, biiiig store! Now there's one closer but the "kid in a candy store" feeling still persists going there, actually the Terminator grin from the second movie scene in the underground weapons cache is more accurate. Glad to see your clan had a good time together, that's what is most important.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nearest Cabela's is about an hour from here.

      Not far from "my" tank museum, so that would be a dual purpose trip!

      Delete
  3. Hey Old AFSarge;

    That owl is really cool, especially if your brother made it. or if nothing else, it shows that his gifts show thought and consideration. Now you can have fun with the cabala's gift card, depending on the amount, you can buy something that you wanted but could never justify pulling the trigger on due to cost.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The owl is awesome.

      As to bang sticks, I have all I need.

      Delete
    2. Now you can afford food for your bang sticks, and bathing implements, and red dots for the old eyes...

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    3. It is clear that you are an Air Force guy. No self respecting Marine or Army guy would ever claim that he had all the weapons he might need. (Don't ask me haw I know) A very happy new year to you, and to your most beautiful bride.

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    4. Of course I'm Air Force. One can only use a limited number of weapons at once. It's having the right weapon for the right job which is key.

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    5. Just treat yourself as if it is the Mighty F-4. Now how much armaments can you load on the plane? Yeah, see?

      Delete
    6. Sigh...

      Somebody has to hump all that stuff. I don't have two J-79s strapped to my ass.

      Delete
  4. Our family get-together was on Christmas Eve. My "Cousin-in-law" smoked a brisket and some pork and it was amazing. I'm still savoring it. We left early though because my wife didn't feel well. Turns out she was typhoid Mary, as 7 others were sick the next day. Fortunately, neither I nor our kids got it, and she was fine the next morning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yum, smoked brisket.

      Ah, sick on Christmas, son and senior granddaughter were all under the weather Christmas Day. Here in the East we all felt fine.

      Delete
  5. Like Tuna's wife, Mrs. Andrew and I spent the first days of Christmas under the weather. Still managed to finally get the tree up and decorated, along with all the tree parts (we have a 7' tree that was perfect for the house. One half of the top half is set up on a table for smaller ornaments and our angel, and about half the remaining branches are stuffed into spaces on top of our bookshelves, so this is the first year we were able to see all of our nice ornaments (we got rid of 3 boxes (12x12x16) full of normal, plain, regular unadorned ornaments) and see them well. Nice to do.

    Now we are living off the remnants of the Christmas feast, taking a break for pizza, and working on more Christmas feast until HamFest 2020 starts on Jan 1.

    Overall, gift of candies to each other and new moose antler for our dog to chew on, and it was a surprisingly wonderful Christmas day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A moose antler! Wow, that's gotta be kinda-sorta big neh?

      Hope everyone is on the mend!

      Delete
    2. Aboot 14" long by 4" wide by 1" thick. By Evening Time of Christmas it was 11" long...

      Delete
    3. Dang, sounds like the pup really enjoyed it.

      Delete
  6. Cabelas' - Sydney. I would go there twice a year and still wear some to the wool clothing purchased there. Sadly, corporate raiders meged them with Bass Pro Shops and are now closing the Sydney store.

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  7. Oooo!!Cabela's gift card!! One of my favorite places to go. Lots of camping gear there besides lots of bang sticks...and good BBQ stuff, also some very durable clothing for chilly days, which can be useful if ya live in the great Northeast. Sorta like LL Bean in Freeport MA, only with lots of stuffed animals mounted up high for décor instead of canoes. And, yeah, not as nice since Bass Pro took them over.

    And a very cute owl indeed. Wonder where your brother found it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm in the market for some winter clothing, so this works for me.

      My brother lives in the Boston area, I'm sure that there is some neat little store where he finds these things.

      Delete
  8. He reminds me of the owl in Disney's The Sword in the Stone.

    ReplyDelete

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