Why is it that when big things break down or go wrong, it seems to be at the worst possible time?  I mean, have you ever had a flat tire or a washing machine explode on a quiet Monday morning when you happen to have the day off and all the service companies are open and available?  Maybe we just remember the times that are the most inconvenient because they are the most memorable.

               It reminds me of a Christmas Eve about 20 years ago now.  We were celebrating with friends with lunch and a matinee and then returned home to play board games in our kitchen. That was the year we added a family room next to the kitchen where the garage was located.  The builders had removed the garage and then left for the holiday weekend, planning the new framing to start the next workday after Christmas. We found out when we arrived home that our pipes had frozen, as they had been outside and not sufficiently insulated from the December temperatures. My handy husband took care of that and we felt pretty smug.  Then it began to rain. Poured, actually, which we didn’t pay any attention to, as our game of Taboo was much more interesting.

               We paid attention though, a lot of attention, when the rain started coming through our window like a waterfall.  We had to go out in the rain and put up plastic sheeting. Well, the menfolk did that, while the girls stayed inside and mopped up the floor and put down beach towels.

               Merry Christmas. 
               Then about two years later, we were hosting our niece’s wedding at our home. It was an outside wedding, with the reception outside as well, but we would need our kitchen to be organized and functional. So naturally, the morning of the wedding dawned clear and sunny and our kitchen sink clogged up. Thank goodness for plumbers who work on Saturdays and fixed that sink one half hour before the wedding march began!

               About a decade after that, our sewer system completely backed up.  Again, this was on a Friday night and coincidentally, we were hosting my side of the family’s first every family reunion. About 40 people were descending on us, mostly the next day. Several were staying in our home, and we guessed that they might all need to use a bathroom over the two day event. So again, plumbers that work on weekends were most appreciated.

               I’m sure the overtime was appreciated by them.

               So it came as no surprise to us when, on New Year’s Eve, about 7:30 p.m., we began to hear a disturbing clicking and popping sound from our utility room. We cautiously opened the door, and saw a cloud of steam hissing from our 11 year-old water heater. The clicking and popping sounds were coming from inside said water heater.  This didn’t seem like a good thing to us, so we shut off the power to it. Now, it’s possible that some plumber somewhere would just love to work on New Year’s Day, or the holiday weekend, but we decided to rough it (thank goodness for the pandemic, right?  Like who are we going to see, anyway?!). We heated water on the stove for sponge baths and used paper plates and made it an adventure. 

               We will replace that water heater, but at least we won’t do it on holiday pricing terms. I’m sure many other things have broken or stopped up in my life, it’s just that I only recall them when they were the most inconvenient (and most expensive).

               I am honestly happy that the water heater broke in 2020. Wouldn’t want to start the new year like that!  Happy 2021!

A couple of years ago, a good friend of ours gave me a set of Santa coffee cups with matching plates. They are adorable, and I get them out the Friday after Thanksgiving. They rest in a wrought iron holder on my kitchen counter and I enjoy my morning Joe with Santa winking at me.

This year, as I was sipping my favorite brew, I began to reminisce about Christmases gone by. Though I love each and every moment of each and every Christmas, there are some memories that stand out as amazing. This year, for many and varied reasons, will remain one of the strangest and most wonderful of them all. In the middle of the pandemic that has brought so much sadness, so much grief, and so much isolation, we received one of the best gifts of our whole lives – a new baby grandson.

It’s been a long time since I had a baby to hold. Over 30 years ago, in fact, when Matt and I first held our own little one and gaped in wonder at this miracle in a tiny babe. I fell in love right away, just as I did this year. Watching our son grow was a delight. We saw him become an inquisitive and sensitive boy, then a caring and patient young man, and now a father himself. Those wonderful years of family games, meals, trips, and adventures seem to be just a little while ago, but decades have passed. I’m thrilled to have the chance to be part of another little life as it grows.

Six years prior to that Christmas, I married the man of my dreams. He’s still pretty dreamy, too, and we’ve had so much fun and so many adventures. He always surprises me at Christmas time, which is no easy feat. He has to work twice as hard, too, because our anniversary is just three days before Christmas Day. I remember telling him when picked our wedding date that it was contingent upon, “NO merging of gifts!” I didn’t want to get “one big gift” to commemorate both events. He’s done very well on both counts, that’s for sure. Probably the most memorable gift of all, though, is the book of matches he gave me for our very first Christmas together. You might think this a strange gift, given that I am a non-smoker, but when you see the attached note, you’ll think it’s pretty cool, as well.

Whenever people talk about “favorite” Christmas gifts, I tend to drift back to my childhood. Most folks likely do. The year I was seven years old, I spent Christmas in the hospital. I had chronic nephritis, which is a severe inflammation of the kidney. According to my mother (who may have been prone to a bit of exaggeration from time to time), they were on the verge of removing one of my kidneys, since they couldn’t find the source of the infection that was causing the trouble. Turns out, I had an abscessed tooth, and once that was addressed, the nephritis disappeared. Thanks goodness! However, all this drama (which likely caused my parents great distress) was lost on me. My biggest concern was whether or not Santa would come to a hospital. How would he know where to find me?

But find me he did and thus I received an unasked for, unexpected, absolutely fabulous gift – a doll as big as me that could walk and blink her eyes. When I awoke on Christmas morning, she was lying in the bed next to me! And yes, through many moves to college, apartments, homes, and even states, she has remained with me. I never did name her – I couldn’t decide between Cathy or Sally. But she has been a faithful friend and confidante.

Her hair is a little worse for wear, and her pink and white dress is pretty thin – so our son, when he was about six – dressed her in his old Spiderman jammies. It seems to suit pretty well.

Maybe Cathy (or Sally)’s arrival in the hospital is why I never fully let go of my belief in Santa. Over the years, Santa has come to mean to me any miracle that happens. My life has been a series of miracles – small, unexpected gifts that have steadied my world and steered my path. Meeting and marrying my husband, having a child, and now having a grandchild – these are truly miracles.

So I’m sipping my coffee as Santa winks at me, as if to say, “Sure, 2020 was strange. But there’s more, Susie. There’s more. Just be patient.”

Merry Christmas to you all! I pray for each of you to find your miracles this Christmas and in the coming year.

I was watching Ellen’s TV show last week. Ellen gives away things in December for her holiday fun.  I have heard of this and even seen it a couple of times (on YouTube or Facebook).  Generally, the giveaways look fun and often practical – like Amazon gift cards and new electronics.  This particular day, one of the prizes was something called the HiMirror Slide.  It looked like a pretty straightforward make-up mirror – the kind that lights up around it with various settings and likely had a side to enlarge your features for easier application of products.

               But uh-oh.  I came to full alert when the description on television said, “It reads your skin tone and tells you what products to use.”  What??? The mirror is going to “read” my skin tone?  And then talk to me?

               Heavens to 1984, but that is a little creepy.  The presentation on television went on to the next prize, but I leaped over to the computer and pulled up my Amazon site to see what this thing really was about.

               Turns out, it’s somehow linked to Siri, or Alexa, or whoever you have on your gadget that does stuff for you.  I don’t have one of those gadgets (and don’t want one, either!)  Because getting up to turn on or off lights is about the only exercise I get.

               But you get this HiMirror Slide and it hooks up to your disembodied servant voice.  Then, the computer microchip (or whatever) inside it does, in fact, look at your skin and recommend products to use.  (Side note:  I thought that was the job for a mother-in-law). But there’s more! 

               It will also play music. And you’d think this mirror would be huge, but it’s not!  It’s totally portable, so you can pack it up and take it with you on vacation.  Nothing says “relax” more than a computerized voice saying, “Your skin is dry. Use moisturizer.” This little device reads your skin by looking at wrinkles, fine lines, dark circles, dark spots, red spots and even pores.  Wow.  That’s a nice way to wake up.

               The mirror also tracks your skincare by analyzing the results of your skincare regimen “over time.”  This is so you can “efficiently target problem areas and move toward your beauty goals.”  My beauty goal is to wear a mask forever! But seriously, it will track what products you use and give you an analysis of their effectiveness.

               It does light up, just like the old-fashioned make-up mirrors did.  It has settings for sunset view, outside on a sunny day, brightly lit office, shopping mall or supermarket, and restaurant or party venue.  Hmm…there doesn’t appear to be a setting for sitting around the house all day in pajamas.

               Not done yet!  The HiSlide will instantly let you try new makeup without actually putting it on your face!  It does this through something called augmented reality technology.  And finally, you can do all this while linking to Spotify, Google Duo, Facebook, Instragram and YouTube.  Because we all want to share every detail of putting on our faces in the morning.

               For me, I’m not wildly excited about my $279.00 mirror telling me every day, “You skin is…old.”  I can get this for free from my vintage hallway mirror!

My husband and I watch some game shows fairly regularly.  We occasionally see Wheel of Fortune, but never miss an episode of Jeopardy! (RIP Alex Trebek). We don’t have to worry about scheduling, because we record it each evening and watch it when we can.

               During the pandemic, we’ve also been recording America Says and 25 Words Or Less.  Both of these are fun to watch during breakfast, and we play along sometimes. Just as in sporting events, we’ve realized that yelling at the television does not make the contestants or the players perform any differently. But it is a great stress reliever.

               Being fans of game shows, we know about some of the classic bloopers and blunders that have occurred in many of them. There are a quite a few available on YouTube, if you need a 10-minute laugh.  One of my favorites was a classic Family Feud episode with the late, great Richard Dawson as host.  The question was, “name a month in which a woman begins to show her pregnancy.”  The probably nervous player said, “September.”  Similarly, one gentleman was giving answers in the bonus round and when told to “name your favorite day of the week,” he responded, “December.”

               Ah, well, they were at least in the ball park of days and months.  In an old episode of the Newlywed Game, Bob Eubanks asked the question, “What is your favorite part of this game show set?” Husband number 3 answered, “Probably Wife Number 2.”  There was awkward laughter and obviously he wasn’t sure what the term “set” actually included. I do have to wonder if couple number 3 later appeared on the So You’re Getting a Divorce show (that one’s not real).

               Lately, we’ve really enjoyed some of the blunders that have been made.  In 25 Words or Less, teams of 3 people (2 of whom are celebrities) try to get each other to say 5 words with a limited number of clues (hence the name of the show) within a minute.  In attempting to get the word “Chicago,” a very geographically-challenged contestant gave the clue, “Ohio city.” Her teammates tried gamely, but never came up with the correct word – for obvious reasons. Later that same week, another contestant was trying to get his teammates to say “Baltimore.” He gave the clues “Maryland, city” and listened wide-eyed while his teammates guessed first “Detroit” and then “Marilyn.”  I have no idea where Marilyn is, but Detroit?  Seriously, these folks proved that being a great actor or entertainer doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart.           

               Now I can’t really criticize, as geography is not my strong suit. I can, however, do simple math.  This week, while introducing herself, one player said she had had 14 surgeries on her knees during the last year.  When the gracious host of the game, Meredith Vierra, commented, the contestant went on to explain, “yes, 7 on this knee and 8 on the other.” 

               Seriously?  I mean, I’m sure she was nervous, but still. The good news for us is that these gaffs just add more fun to watching the shows.