Normally, when I visit my son no one is up when I get up. So, it’s quiet and I write in silence. This morning everyone is up. The dog has gone out to do it’s business twice. Coffee is being brewed. Conversations are flowing and I’m having a devil of a time concentrating.

A weird thing happened on the way to spring. I took down the Christmas decorations. Packed them all away. The cleaning lady came. Presto. My house went from Christmas bright to being a clean, well lit place…

Went for another walk through my little town yesterday. Spotted another house for sale. This was by owner. That makes two within two blocks of each other.

Yesterday was a good day. All the Christmas decorations are down. Most of them are stored in the attic. I worked until I lost the light. And you lose the light early these days.

Christmas is officially over. January 6, the holiday’s 12th day is past. I have turned off the outside lights, and I’m starting, today, to dismantle the tree and take down decorations.

I remember the outrage, when we lived south of Alvin outside Houston, at the proposed route for the Grand Parkway. It was coming close. People were up in arms because it would destroy the countryside, the very reason they moved there.

I had a good day on the golf course yesterday. I got invited to fill in a foursome. Mostly guys around my age, and older. We played best ball which meant all four of us hit and then we played the best shot.

The full moon is coming. I like full moons. It came to my attention last night. I woke at an early hour and noticed the pasture bathed in soft light.

We built our home in 2009. As with most homes, it has aged. Most particularly, light bulbs have gone out. Usually, it’s an easy repair. The under cabinet lights, however, were another matter.

What I did on the first day of the new year. Talked to a dear friend. Talked to my daughter just home from Maine. Napped in my recliner. Watched a bit of TV. Ate some lunch. Walked down Back Forty road.

The end of the year. Surprising how much importance we attach to it. It’s just a day. In a long line of days. On a planet that is billions of years old.

We near the end of the ninth year for these little essays. It is a record setting year, and it’s not quite done.

Once upon a time, we bought a honey baked ham. We ate the ham and cooked the bone in Navy Beans. It was delicious.

The cold still lingers. The days or nice, but the nights are hard and cold. I’m happy to be inside. We’re in that period of time, where the old year lingers as well. Done. A little tired.

So far, I’ve had a brilliant Christmas season and a brilliant Christmas day. I’m sure there’s more to come because this, now, is the twelve days of Christmas and it lasts until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. So, I can be in the Christmas spirit for at least another ten days, and that feels pretty good.

As always, I’m waiting for the kid to get up. Kid as in one, and he’s not a kid, although to me he’s still about six. In the old days, it was the kids, as in three.

We had a nice family Christmas yesterday although we missed the brother, son, and middle child. He was home ill. We ate, we drank and made merry then swapped presents. It was fun all the way around.

I finally did it. Bought a cheap, hang on the wall, outdoor thermometer. It’s on a porch pole right outside my kitchen window. This morning the little red column of mercury stands at 10. That is shiver my timbers cold.

The Christmas cards are arriving in a fairly steady stream. I left space for them on the pie safe with the angels. We used to have fancy hangers to display the cards, but they’re long gone. I know not where or why.