People have been pushing for it since early October but now the Christmas season is “officially” here. It cannot begin until the month of December arrives. There’s a rule about that somewhere. The Sheda household even got tricked into getting into the season early. For years, the Christmas decorations came up from the basement on the Friday AFTER Thanksgiving. Then the mumbling, groaning, cursing, (Deb, not me), grunting and sweating began. Trying to remember the assembly of the tree, figuring out the lights, (oops, one’s out, so they’re all out), trying to get lights in the windows, unraveling the garland, (some ten years old) and then putting the ornaments on the tree.

By this time, we’re hardly speaking to each other, being exhausted from it all, but then I pull out an ornament from the box–a picture of one of the kids from third grade embossed in the center of a hand-made red bell. And another similar one with a date on it, December 1993. Then Deb finds one from years ago and we both begin another annual tradition-reminiscing!

And yes, Deb sheds a few tears and we begin sharing memory after memory. No tears from me of course, but from time to time, I do get something in my eye which requires some light wiping every now and then. Then finally the tree is up, the decorations are all over the house and the lights are on–well, some of them at least! Now we begin the process of deciding whether to just throw all the lights away and buy new ones or work for the next three hours trying to find the one that’s burnt out!! Every &*^%&^&*^ year this happens–but wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ok, enough of nostalgia. Here are some of my other thoughts:

I am not a fan of commercials. Click the remote until they’re done. Did you notice they seem to be longer and longer? My gosh, sometimes it’s like there’s more commercials than shooting, killing and violence of the show itself. However, there is one commercial that is kinda cute. It’s been around for a couple of years and it’s when Santa Claus and the M&M boys meet for the first time. I love it, when each one exclaims, “He/They are real,” and then both faint. Sure beats “it’s Jake from State Farm.”

As many of you know, Deb and I celebrated our 40th anniversary a couple of weeks ago but I did forget to share one little conversation we had. Deb, (jokingly of course…maybe) asked me, “John, do you remember when we vowed to each other “for better or worse” and all that?” I remembered of course and then she remarked, “Well, don’t you think it’s time for the better to begin?” Ouch! However, sadly, I approached her, hugged her warmly and whispered lovingly in her ears, “Sweetie-pie, I think maybe I peaked about four or five years ago. I’m sorry you missed it but it could be all downhill from here.”

The other day, I was cooking supper, (yes, I do cook), and I couldn’t find a lid to the electric frying pan, so I rolled out a long sheet of aluminum foil and covered the pan with that. Well afterwards as I removed the aluminum foil, I thought of the old days when Mom would use aluminum foil and then wrap it up to use again. Sooooooo……without anyone looking, I did the same thing and actually felt quite proud of myself and satisfied. Mom would of been proud too. Does anyone else remember your moms doing this?

That’s The Way I See it. Let me know what you think at jsheda@indytel.com or call me at 319.327.4640. Have a great rest of the week!