Hands up if you hate Christmas! .. (sorry, edgar!)

We spent last Christmas in Hawaii. Very strange to be playing in the surf of Wai Mea bay on Christmas. But I could get used to it.

Mangoes; fresh mangoes, eaten over the sink, juice running down your chin (stains clothes!) Margo's mango chutney on the ham; mango ice cream, mango sauce.......

mango overload - they're absolutely at their peak, and cheap as chips around Christmas time.

There is an old farmer,Ernest, who lives not far from us. Hes in his 80s now, and his wife, irene, died about 12 years ago, in the mid winter. He and his wife were quite a team.They were married in a time that required folks to 'work through" their problems. These two, I always suspected, were on the editorial board of the original manual. They milked and tended a herd of about 100 holsteins for the years wed known them and for 25 years before that. WHen ernies wife died, the light of the holidays went out for him. They were childless and because they loved kids and people in general (except for the farmer whose propertty adjoined his and whom Ernie and tthe farmer had a lifelong fued about 2 feet of property line)anywayeach Christmas eve eve Ernie and Irene would dress up as Santa and Mrs Claus and visit the few neighbors that made up the immediate countryside'neighb orhood" (were talking about 2000 acres distance here). Whhen wed see the lights on their festive vehicle coming up the laneThey were always welcome and, by the end of a similarly festive evening, Ernie was pretty well hammered, so much so that Mrs Claus would take the wheel and drive the big rig.I have to say tthough, drunk as he got ernie never lost his decorum and, whenevr a kid maTERIalized around his seat, he would immediately sober up and go into his Santa character. i mean totally and, symmetrically sober and caring. Hed ask Mrs "Claus" for the "rap sheet" on tthis little child (of course he knew all the names cuz he was running a scam and the kids didnt know till later in their lives). Mrs Claus had a little present for everyone and most all were pre-arranged by talks with the parents in the previous weeks.

A number fof the neighbors visited him this past week and we , having seen that roles are somewhat reversed,sort of take care of his Christmas calendar and presents for him. This is done from now through New Years so he doesnt have muchh time to sit by himself and become sad.
From the county road tthat leads tto his lane we can faintly see his tree , all lit up in front of his parlor. this is The last tradition hes maintained to connect him to the Christmases when Irene was still alive. when we visit, you can see that he drinks a little bit more and hes letting himself go a bit. However
Hes always glad to see people and , to many of us, hes been the symbol of christmas that will endure as a happy memory. my kids used to love it when the real Santa and his wife would visit , and on a John Deere no less.
Even I would be cheered up by their performance.sorry, didnt want to bring it down any more but, tthis was a memory that was kicked up by Msolgas horror filled word "alone"