The Final Month of 2009

The Christmas decorations are all boxed up and in the attic and the house looks bare--six hours to put up and less than three to take down. Tradition has become—put up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving and take them down on the 2nd, the day after a full day of football on the 1st for everyone except me. I used to hate that day of football but now I treasure it. While everyone else is gathered around the TV I can do as I please (which usually includes reading) and I like that.

December was a month of many nightly movies for the five of us. We wrapped up in blankets, ate popcorn and watched The Christmas Story, The Christmas Box, The Christmas Card, The Christmas Angel, White Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Home Alone 2, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Elf. Elf always makes us laugh. He is a combination of Clark and Phil. Elf loves to talk; Clark loves to talk. Elf raises his hand to get permission to speak when he is sitting in the corner of his father’s office; Phil raises his hand at the dinner table when he wants to talk. Elf has a wonderful innocence, Clark and Phil do also. Elf is happy almost all the time; Phil is happy almost all the time. Elf is a little kid in a big body just like Clark and Phil. When we read that Kim Peeks (Rain Man) had died we got out our edited version of Rain Man and watched that too. We love it because we can see a few similarities not only with Clark and Phil but in the way some people respond to them. It has been a very busy month with unfinished projects and Christmas cards which still have not been sent but it has also been a very good one.