It's Coming to Town

My timing is off.

Starting with our school calendar, which keeps us in school for three days after surrounding districts are already on winter break, and adding to that situation a change in our traditional travel plans, plus the loss of Heidi's dad, and a few other things, and I can barely keep track of the date.

The tree is up, the lights are on, but the ornaments are still stored away. As of this morning, I hadn't baked a single tea cake, my personal favorite, but several other varieties were ready to be exchanged and shared. My shopping? Is mostly done, I think, which is good, because since we're teaching the next three days and then heading to Buffalo on Thursday, I'm not sure when else I would finish.

It seems like only yesterday it was late November after an early Thanksgiving, but weeks ago we couldn't find a tree (until we did!). Despite it all, I don't feel anxious or stressed in the least, a little disoriented maybe, but perfectly calm even so. Because, as the Grinch learned,  Christmas will come, even without ribbons and tags, packages, boxes, and bags.

Not that I intend to find out, though!

The Way it Crumbles

"I was looking at the Cooky Book this afternoon, " Heidi told my brother as they chatted at dinner. "Do you know it?"

Bill's eyebrows shot up and a dreamy little smile crossed his face. "Do you mean THE Cooky Book?" he asked.

From my seat down the table, I laughed as Heidi nodded.

"The one where every page is worn because we looked at every picture so many times?" he continued.

"Some of the pages are loose," Heidi confirmed.

I turned to the younger people at the table and explained. "Our mom used to give us that cookbook on rainy days."

"Oh, so you could choose the cookies you wanted to make?" my nephew's wife asked.

My brother and I shook our heads. "We didn't actually make the cookies," I said, and to be honest,  I never even considered that to have been an option, then or in the 50+ years since. "We just looked at the pictures." 

"We don't really think about it, but baking is expensive," my sister-in-law said. "Your family probably couldn't afford just to make cookies because it was raining."

And she was likely right, but I never really thought about it until now. Even so, we sure did love to look at that Cooky Book, and I can’t say I ever felt deprived. 

I Do Have a Job Y'Know

"What are you doing here?" one of my students asked as I walked down the hall toward the library. "You're not in your room?" She seemed genuinely confused, but I laughed as I breezed by. 

"I have a meeting," I explained.

And I had completely forgotten the interaction when the next day I passed through the after-school program in the cafeteria on my way to a basketball game. "What are you doing here?" another of my students asked. Then her face brightened. "Are you here to see me?"

Again I laughed. "I'm on my way to the game," I told her. "Why don't you come?"

And then yesterday, when a few kids were using my room for their Asr prayers during my planning time, I chose to give them some space and take a walk around the building. "What are you doing here?" asked a colleague as I strode down the hall. "It's not often that you leave your area."

Clearly, I need to get out more.

If only I didn't have so much work.

Every Time a Bell Rings

I'm in between books, having just finished Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and so I was looking for a podcast to listen to while I cook. In the mood for a little holiday flavor, I happened across one called George Bailey Was Never Born. I was all in to hear the backstory of one of my favorite Christmas movies, dark as it may be, and at first, the show really delivered, explaining how the film went from obscurity to one of the most well-known and well-loved movies of all time. 

But near the end of the first episode, following an overview of all the pop-culture references made to the movie in the 80s, there was a line drawn from Mr. Potter to Biff Tannen, casino owner and powerful bad guy in Back to the Future II. From there it was just a hop, skip, and a jump to Donald Trump, casino owner and powerful bad guy in the real world today. And when the narrator reminded us "dear listeners" that we live in a world where George Bailey was never born, I literally gasped.

Fortunately? The podcast promises to be about more than just the movie, offering future episodes about what we can do to fight the rise of Potterville, Biff's Pleasure Paradise, and other evils. 

I will definitely stay tuned.

Zoinks!

I confiscated an iPad from a student who was playing games in homeroom after the bell rang. "You know better!" I told him as I placed his device out of reach. "What do you have to say?"

In reply, he made a strange noise. 

"What was that?" I asked.

"Just gulping," he said.

Not Today

"Where do you think he is?" asked a gruff voice to my right. I was sitting near the end of the long rows of chairs at the DMV, watching Heidi negotiate the paperwork for her Real ID.

"I don't know. Go ask." a woman's voice behind me answered. 

I didn't want to crane my neck and look at either of them, but the drama had me hooked. 

"Ooooooh! There's ketchup!" a little kid chimed in and I could smell fast food being unwrapped.

"I think he's sitting in the car," said the man, and when I glanced over he was peering out the plate glass door.

"Isn't that the guy?" asked his companion.

"Yup," he answered.

"Eat a french fry," she told the child. "Go ask," she repeated to the man.

I watched the tall, grey-haired guy in a flannel hoodie shuffle up to the service window next to Heidi.

"How was it?" he asked. 

I couldn't hear the reply of the uniformed man behind the safety glass.

"He's my grandson," the other man explained.

I saw him nodding and when he turned to return to the rows of chairs he was not smiling. "He said that there was a problem. When he told him to come to a full stop and turn left, he didn't do it," the man reported to the lady behind me.

"Well," she said, "he must be upset. Let's go."

And the three of them pushed their way out into the dark December late afternoon. Heidi was smiling for her picture, but I was feeling a little sad for the kid in the car.

To God's Ears

The local weather folk have been making noises about an extra-snowy winter this year. Something about the combination of El Nino and some polar situation has made it likely that our snow draught may soon end. As for myself, I usually only pay attention when wintery weather is imminent, otherwise, wishful thinking can just break your heart.

Even so, my two new students who have only recently moved to the US from Nigeria and Kenya were very excited this morning in first period. The slushy dusting of wet snow that coated our cars and yards overnight was the first these girls had ever seen, and they were not disappointed.

"Hopefully you'll get to see even more this winter," my co-teacher told them.

"Yeah," said another student at their table, "A LOT more."