 
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 347
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 2:16 pm: |    |
I do not know if Christmas "re-runs" are allowed on this Forum site.
I do have a valid reason for doing so.
I am presently engaged in a wrestling match with my new Dell Computer. After hooking it up and plugging it in, a vicious villain, named, Vista, leaped out of the monitor and challenged me.
Any advice for an 80 year old man (with his fair share of dementia,) on how to cope with this monster?
My first offensive thrust was to buy the 'bible': Windows Vista For Dummies.
So far, Vista has me pinned to the mat and the referee is already slapping the floor and counting in the thousands.
So, "What the Hey, Let the hide go with the hair!"
Here is the re-run.
Dear Family, Friends and Neighbors
(Sometimes it is hard to tell them apart.)
It is somewhat difficult for us to associate Christmas with Arizona. The specter of Santa wearing a bikini and delivering his presents in a Dune Buggy is ludicrous to say the least. Everyone knows he has to have snow.
Skeptic that I may be, I still remember the pomp and ceremony of Church Services during our two-week holiday vacation from school. The obligatory attendance at various Church and School functions was reluctantly, but always unanimously complied with. The threats of eternal damnation and Hells Fire were always lurking in the back of our minds and we were never quite courageous enough to challenge those threats by our absence.
In addition to the spiritual duties, an incredible number of secular activities were crammed into that brief holiday season. The chores at home were never ending. Do the dishes, wash the floor, shovel the snow, take out the cinders, take a bath and press a crease in your slacks to save the 30 cents that Joe Truillo, the tailor, would charge for pressing them. And all of those chores were done with a smile because we knew Christmas was just around the corner.
Devising ways to earn a nickel or a dime to augment one's Christmas Fund was an ongoing crusade. Parents were hard pressed to have a "nice" Christmas." All families were not created equal at this time of year. Many children and adults alike had to get their material satisfactions through the simple expediency of "window shopping."
In the month of December, a day seldom passed when we did not trek the 13 blocks down Moffat Street to the Sears Store Toy Department on Gratiot and Van Dyke. Sometimes it was hard to get near the Lionel Train display or the Erector Set exhibit. That did not matter very much because we had everything memorized and stored in our "wish" bank. The household chores, the window shopping and the Church rituals only whetted our appetite for the more exciting theater that was ever present on the street.
I cannot remember a Holiday Season when the streets were ever completely deserted. With their horse drawn wagons, the milkman and the iceman were out before dawn, delivering their wares. The newspaper boy was up bright and early delivering the morning edition. He was scrupulously careful to deposit his papers in a clean and dry location, perhaps in anticipation of a few Christmas "tips" on collection day. Then there were the women shrouded in black, wending their way in an irregular procession to attend the six o'clock weekday mass. The bus stop on the corner was always inhabited with either the weary neighbors, returning home from their midnight shift job or the bleary-eyed, not yet awake denizens of the daytime shopping parade whose destination was always, "Downtown!"
This potpourri of humanity typified our Holiday neighborhood. They had one thing in common. They were all approachable. Some were smiling and brightly animated and others were grudgingly cordial but very few of them wanted to be ignored.
Perhaps the frenetic pace of the holiday season pumped up the adrenalin in many of us, creating the excitement that we reveled in. We created our own "highs," long before any of us heard of "recreational drugs."
The children were extremely adaptable to the weather conditions in December. An abundance of snow encouraged sledding, snowball fights and the creative building of snow people. With a light snow covering, hockey was the sport du jour. An unseasonably warm day would bring out the football in anticipation of the New Years Day bowl games.
In mid to late afternoon the older people would come out, bundled in their overcoats, to be entertained by those in command of the outdoor stage. Fathers returning from their day shift jobs would augment the audience and either kibbitz with the kids on the street or join in serious discussion with their neighbors or just content themselves with a warming drink, happy to be removed from the monotony of the assembly line.
There would be a lull during the dinner hour. After supper the kids would congregate on the street corner and verbalize their expectant fantasies. Hope was a constant companion. Later, disappointments would be rationalized.
Funny, we never seemed to get cold on those nights. At the end of the evening there seemed to be a universal feeling of, "Peace on Earth to Men of Good Will."
Christmas was a sharing of activities, a sharing of relationships and a sharing of responsibilities. The greatest gift we had to give, was, simply, ourselves.
Tom and Peggy O'Neil |
Bigb23
Member
Username: Bigb23
Post Number: 2901
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 3:37 pm: | |
Great post Tponetom, and just like Man Mountain Dean, you can beat that Vista OS. And welcome back. |
Jiminnm
Member
Username: Jiminnm
Post Number: 1589
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 3:46 pm: | |
Tom, I also just got a new Dell, but I ordered one that came loaded with XP Pro. They provided a Vista CD should I want to update (and I use that term loosely) later. My problem, though, was hardware. After two days, I started getting the blue screen of death. After spending 3 hours on the phone with a rep on the other side of the world, he concluded that my systemboard and memory cards needed replacement. That happened two days ago and I'm trying to type with my fingers crossed. |
Maof2
Member
Username: Maof2
Post Number: 1248
Registered: 06-2008
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 4:43 pm: | |
Great post T. We sure do miss you. Keep 'em coming. Hope you and the Mrs. have a safe and wonderful holiday.
Regarding Vista, when I ordered my Dell, I went directly with XP on the advise of my "computer guy". Apparently, there are problems with Vista and what they are, I really don't know. Now, I have a few friends that went with Vista and have had nothin' but problems. |
Jams
Member
Username: Jams
Post Number: 7320
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 5:02 pm: | |
Thank you for that Holiday Treat, Tponetom.
I wish you and yours all the peace and joy these Holidays promise, and may the New Year bring the rest of us more of your wonderful stories. |
Eriedearie
Member
Username: Eriedearie
Post Number: 4261
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 7:42 pm: | |
As always, I love your story Tom.
Merry Christmas to you and Peggy and a big wish for a Happy and Healthy 2009! |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 802
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 4:18 am: | |
Merry Christmas Tom & Peggy,Your Christmas,s sound like the ones My DADS, and my Mom had. By the way I have had no problems with Vista, Maybe cause I know jack about computers. |
Ragtoplover59
Member
Username: Ragtoplover59
Post Number: 409
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 1:09 pm: | |
Great to see you back to posting, sorry you are struggling with that new computer, I had vista for about 1 week when it 1st came out, re-booted to XP and never looked back?
Others in the family swear by Vista now, but I did enough swearing then! It's really just a learning curve to go through, I just don't care to do it every couple years.
Hope all enjoy a wonderful Holiday Season ! |
Kathinozarks
Member
Username: Kathinozarks
Post Number: 1746
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 9:31 pm: | |
Thank you for the wonderful rememberance, Tponetom. I stopped watching The Wizard of Oz to read this (and that's high praise from me!).
You typed "Peace on earth to men of good will" I have not seen it written that way. Might be a dumb question, but why is it not 'good will toward men'?
Well, the cowardly Lion just jumped through the window so I had better go. Things are getting pretty scary! Now the monkeys are flying to get Dorothy. Oh geez......
Merry Christmas to you and your wife from me and my hubby in Arkansas. |
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 349
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 1:40 pm: | |
Kathi,
First of all, that was a Freudian SLIP on my part. I do that more and more often as I get older. I may have been overly influenced by comedian, "Norm Crosby," he of the slippery, glib tongue.
No subterfuge intended. Just a continuing confusion of how to include women, men, (people), and children in one homogenous word.
"God bless ye merry gentlemen,,," Does that include women and children and men who are not gentle?
Perhaps we could replace the word, "mankind," with 'humankind' or 'peoplekind'
The word, "guys" has become a shortcut in referring to women as well as men. I do not care for that. I like my ladies to be, just that. "Ladies."
Yes, I still open doors for ladies and take my hat off in the elevator. Also, when Peggy and I make an entrance, I always walk one half of a step behind her. I love to hear people say, "Oh, isn't she lovely! But who is that mug walking beside her?" And I just BEAM! |
Kathinozarks
Member
Username: Kathinozarks
Post Number: 1752
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 10:22 pm: | |
It's all way too worrysome, isn't it?
I agree that that women shouldn't be called "guys". But, when we are speaking to eachother we sometimes know what we are speaking of and signifying man or woman isn't necessary. I'll tell you one thing, I love it when I am treated as a lady by a man. Open a door for me, that's nice. Offer me the first of someting and I am grateful, etc.
The 'old' ways have a lot going for them. |
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