I’d like to share a few things that I have found humorous or noteworthy during my holiday season thus far. I invite you to laugh along with me.

This past weekend, the contractor who has been working on a tiny construction project at my house…well, it seemed to be tiny in the beginning, came over in the afternoon around 2pm to update me on a few things because we don’t see one another much during the week. Unfortunately, my daughter and I were still in our pajamas.

Initially, one would imagine that I had been lounging around my place in my fuzzy slippers, partaking of the plate of Oreo/cream cheese/almond bark Christmas cookies that a neighbor brought over and watching TV, too lazy to even dress for the day. That was not the case, I assure you. Did you ever have one of those mornings where you start cleaning something…not just cleaning…but CLEANING!? Especially now, before all of the relatives and other company is expected to come over, enjoy some holiday cheer and at the same time, inspect your housekeeping skills. We all do it, be honest. Anyway, it was one of those days where one feels compelled to remove everything out from under the beds and dressers, shove it all over, vacuum and sweep and dust, then proceed to organizing the closet that hasn’t been touched in years, then on to the cupboard under the sink and so on. Well, I was having that kind of Sunday and I just kept on going without stopping to change clothes because, as we all know, I would have lost my momentum. I ended up in the kitchen with my daughter, baking several different types of cookies, simultaneously, when the doorbell rang rather unexpectedly. My first and last-born: Justice, runs and opens the door with not so much as a “Who is it?”, nor a “Just a minute…” Everyone is welcome to walk right in at the Simanek’s house as far as Justice is concerned. Oddly, Gene didn’t appear shocked as I came out of the kitchen in my lounge wear sprinkled generously with flour from the baking which went nicely with the dry wall dust covering my shins from the old-fashioned floor washing that took place before the baking extravaganza began. We had a “normal “ conversation and then for some reason, after he left, I went upstairs and changed into my jeans and a regular-sized t-shirt, and I even combed my hair. I’m not sure why, by that time I could have just continued as I was. As you would guess, I lost that original drive and the pepper nut dough sits in the fridge, awaiting the cookie sheets and the oven, to this day.

Then on Monday night, I was innocently on my way to our annual Legion Christmas Party, I went to step down onto the first stair of my deck and I slipped on a small patch of ice. I must have hit my gluteus maximus as my foot went out from under me because I had to have bounced to land the way I did. If you’ve seen my derrière, it wouldn’t require much stretch of the imagination to visualize the whole scenario happening. Somehow, I ended up face down, five steps later, on my sidewalk with my legs twisted under the last stair. I actually yelled: “Son of a Nutcracker!” (We’ve been watching a lot of “Elf” these past few weeks.)

It was that kind of fall where you lay there, motionless after the cascade of motion ceases. I was static there in a heap for a few minutes, taking a head-to-toe inventory to make sure nothing felt broken before I attempted to rise up to a standing position and give the legs another go. I was lucky; I came out of it with just a large bruise over my right shin, a scratch to my right forearm, and another large bruise on my springy, elastic, bouncy….well….”pride”….we’ll call it. I’ve talked to so many people in the last couple of weeks with broken bones and dislocated rotator cuffs resulting from their spontaneous adventures on ice, so I’d say I was pretty fortunate. Again, serendipity was on my side in that Carol Wilson’s Armadillo Punch at the Legion Party was just what the doctor would have ordered and I was soon feeling no pain. Thank you Carol! Seriously everyone, please be extra careful out there.

Last thing, I promise. My work has required me to drive to our plant in Nebraska City once a week or so for the last month to help out and I was unsure about it when they first asked me to do it…okay, I’ll be honest, I was kind of whining about it. It’s my view that most of us can be that way when someone forces us out of our comfort zone and routine, plus with the weather being what it is here in Nebraska, I had my concerns.

I say it over and over again, but I have to be the most fortuitous person I know. I’ve been paying closer attention to the weather, with it being different every day; I try to plan my week with this four hours of driving across Nebraska highways smack in the middle of it. There were many times last week, I wondered if I was even going to venture an attempt. Somehow every time I have had to take that long drive, the sky opens up, the sun comes out in full force and the day is clear, crisp and beautiful. Thursday was extra amazing, I don’t know how else to describe it! The unending, rolling hills on the drive south were seamlessly covered with this brilliantly white, perfectly untouched, glimmering immaculate snow. Every once in a while I would see a heard of Angus grazing in the stalks, flawlessly spaced, just begging to strike a pose for a wintery, Christmas-card-like shot against the knoll behind them. The result of the ice storms lingered longer south of Lincoln and every blade of grass, every tiny branch of every tree, every old, crooked fence post and it’s joining lines of barbed wire were laced with a lovely, clear, glass-like coating. The morning sun added to their magical sparkle and back lit the glistening trees with such drama I don’t even remember driving. I was there before I knew it, singing along to the Christmas carols on the radio with shameless abandon the entire way. Later in the afternoon, things warmed up nicely to make it a truly pleasant December day. Who on this earth can say they have such luck to be anonymously presented with such a gift on a routine, mundane drive to work? I almost stopped the car on the side of Highway 2 to count my blessings. With presents like that, who needs Gordmans or Sears?

Have a Happy Holiday everyone and don’t forget to laugh at yourselves every now and then.

Be safe, be warm, be together and enjoy the season!