Christmas has come and gone, taking with it my expectations (which are premeditated resentments) and illusions. The party turned at Chateau D despite my premonition that it would not. Tweets, text messages, and phone calls from the Valley of the Cumberland lead me to believe that, while perfectly fine, the events of the day there were not going to grace a Saturday Evening Post cover anytime soon. It definitely would have been nice to see Ace, Elvis, and their respective clans but on the whole my sense of “being ‘here’ while ‘it’ is happening ‘there'” was relieved. Hearing that Nemo and trAce were expecting 35 in the Mothership sounded more overwhelming than enviable.
So with our celebration of the solstice (dressed as it was in the socially acceptable guise of the birth of Our Lord) under our belt, and following a long winter’s nap, my Sweet Lady, Tallulah and I decided to take a little bit of the hair of the dog what bit us and head out into retail land. Tallulah had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that she had scored about $25 cash this year. This kind of purchasing power has never been hers before, so she was not sure how to wield it. She did know better than to make a temporary loan to her father, but I have to remember to warn her about combining her money with Beavis’.
It’s easy to see how a seven year-old could be overwhelmed in the full-contact retail environment that is the post-Christmas sale. Of course all the — now outdated — Brumalia decorations were on sale. Up at the entrance (and well picked over by 1pm) was the seasonal display of hugemongous plastic containers. I am confident that Rubbermaid doesn’t go into the black on the day after Thanksgiving. They have to wait for the day after Christmas. I want to ask the people buying these over-sized under-bed storage containers why they bought all that crap if they just had to turn around and put it away. Such a question would probably be as welcome as a denizen of Ahriman at the feast of Ahura Mazda. I kept my mouth shut and bought some underwear.