'Tis the Season
  by J.K. Brown

This was the year that Thanksgiving forgot. Christmas displays started going up in the major department stores September 5, leaving no room for paper pilgrims, glass pumpkins, and cornucopia centerpieces. I didn't even see any Thanksgiving specials signs -- the only commercial sign that Thanksgiving was upon us was found in the form of butter balls molded into the shape of turkeys and tucked away in the dairy section of my local supermarket. Christmas has eaten Thanksgiving — can Hallowe'en long survive?

Red Claus is coming to town

But this sort of thing has happened before, don't forget. The Christian high holy days are voracious. That's how Easter got its bunnies (and by some accounts, its name) and Christmas acquired its evergreens. If we are to preserve remnants of our beloved non-Christmas autumn and winter holidays, we'll need to have them incorporated into the Christmas season.

Wow. September 5. That's not just Thanksgiving and Hallowe'en (forget Columbus day), it's also... Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARRRRR!

Thus my proposal to establish 'Red Claus' as a recurring symbol of Christmas. Dear old Santa/St. Nicholas/Father Christmas has already gone under so many aliases and costumes that one more shouldn't hurt. Red Claus, terror of the high trees, incorporates both the spirit of Hallowe'en and Talk Like a Pirate day, with his jolly cries of Yo Ho Ho Ho Yarrrrrrr. With that flowing white beard, he even gives a nod to Grandparents' Day (first Sunday after Labor Day). Meanwhile, bad children everywhere would rejoice in the abrupt lowering of standards and the chance to bribe Red Claus with sufficiently rum-spiked eggnog. (You wondered, didn't you, why I said "terror of the high trees." Now you know. A few cups of grog and no redwood is safe from the scrape of his ship.)

Come to think of it, that would also give parents a solid excuse for why Johnny didn't get his Wii this year. "Well, you know, Red Claus was a bit sloshed and had to go take a nap. I'm sure he'll finish out his run in" (the parent sneaks a look at the rain check) "January sometime. You should take this as a lesson. Drinking can keep you from doing the things you want to do."

Now, Santa Claus might have left a lump of coal in the parent's stocking for that one. But Red? Red Claus would surely understand.

It could work. Red could become a part of our traditions. All it would take is people willing to spend enough money on it and some major department stores convinced they could turn Red into green. So next September 5th, look for Red in a department store near you.

Commercialism aside, my favorite part of the Christmas season this year was early October. The thing about early October is that nobody can seriously expect you to have your cards out or your shopping done. The obligations of merriment are virtually nonexistent. So it's possible to wander over to the display of artificial Christmas trees and laugh at the flamingo pink one made out of feathers, free of any dread. If a Cadbury ornament egg shows up on the checkout counter, there's a certain amount of amusement in thinking back to earlier in the year when they brought out the Cadbury Easter eggs before Ash Wednesday. This pre-Easter season they've managed it even earlier. What will they think of next?

I suspect I'm not alone in having a favorite part of the season that's not, strictly speaking, the bits always featured on cards and in commercials. What's yours?

Keeping in mind that I might be forgetting something important, here's our 2007 recap:

This spring Garth and I went to Grant and Chris' wedding and had a great time seeing people, meeting some of their friends, etc.

Despite a jam-packed time of family togetherness, we did manage to stop by and see Barb and Jerry "on the way to the airport." It was fantastic seeing them again. It would have been even more fantastic if I hadn't got the melatonin pills mixed up with the vitamin pills and given us each melatonin with breakfast. Unfortunately, we didn't have the chance to see everyone we wanted to see.

We also visited the Canyonlands in Utah this spring. (No, not while we were lost after having sleeping pills for breakfast.) Utterly stunning, and not just because Garth saw his first free range cow ever. I recommend it as an off season jaunt. If you decide to go we can give you some route suggestions. I started making a Web page for it, then got caught up in other things.

It was great to catch Theo on our way back. We hadn't seen him in years.

This summer I taught summer school for the first time and it went fairly well. They asked me back again next summer.

Garth brought home a tree trunk. It's a tree trunk of our very own. I made a Web page for that and most of you have probably already seen it.

My big achievement on the house was that I unpacked the last of the kitchen boxes, forcing Garth to find something to do with the contents. That wouldn't seem like anything to someone who hadn't seen those kitchen boxes.

This autumn Chris and Abi came out from the East, and there was much gazing at the sights. I started a Web page for that, but got caught up in other things. I just may get it done yet.

If you decide to come out here, we can recommend some great places to go and things to see. We might even be able to give some of our friends a place to sleep.

Garth survived a round of layoffs at work.

Speaking of survival, over the year Garth's attempts to start some bougainvillea from cuttings have begun to pan out.

Speaking of survival, the Saab didn't last out this year. We found a more fuel efficient car that should be less expensive to fix when things go wrong. It's a Miata and they're everywhere around here.

And that's the gist of 2007. We hope the year was at least as good to you as it was to us.