Friday, November 13, 2009 8:56 PM CST
COLUMN: This month's a hodgepodge of candy, parades, family
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
Newspaper columns about just a single subject are overrated, don’t ya think?
As usual, my wife Janet and I erred on the side of caution and bought more Halloween candy than we could hand out three weeks ago. We live in a neighborhood that frequently gets slammed with treat-seekers to the point where it’s best to just wait on the porch and not return inside each time. I love it.
Still, on the morning of Nov. 1, there was a bowl of leftover candy, which I quickly relieved of the peanut M&Ms. Then, the rest of their little voices kept calling me until I bagged ‘em up and put ‘em in our pantry. Demons.
There was one Halloween when our planned over-buying of candy didn’t work, though. We nearly ran out well before trick-or-treat hours ended, so Janet made a quick trip to the store and returned with two bags of Kit Kats. I don’t think we had a single trick-or-treater after that. If anyone would like a 4-year-old Kit Kat bar, let me know.
We’re getting close to the holidays, but the “season” starts earlier year after year. I swear to you, we went to the Tuscola outlet mall on the day after Halloween, it was about 60 degrees out and there was Christmas music playing on the outdoor sound system. Ticked me off.
I’ve been a Mattoonite for several years now, but last week’s city Veterans Day parade was the first I’d attended. I covered it for work, but by the same note, it was other Veterans Day assignments that kept me from going to the parade in other years.
I really like parades and live in a city that seems to like having them. There are two in November when you add in the holiday parade Thanksgiving weekend, and we double up in July, too, with Independence Day and Bagelfest. Am I forgetting any?
Thanksgiving always make me think of how my family spent the holiday when I was a kid. My mom insisted on inviting her brothers and sisters and their families to our house, which totally infuriated my dad, who didn’t like crowds or about any social situation, for that matter.
Memories of the days leading up to the holiday include Mom frantically shopping for the dinner menu and cleaning the house and Dad being a total grump. I’d wake up Thanksgiving morning to the smell of cooking turkey and to find Dad in a fine mood by then for some reason. He was OK and friendly enough when the guests arrived, usually about two dozen of them to crowd into the four rooms of our house’s first floor.
Fights with my cousins were fairly frequent but I was always disappointed when it was time for everyone to go home. Mom explained to me that she decided to have the holiday gathering after her mother died and decided she didn’t want the family to only get together for funerals. I don’t see those aunts, uncle and cousins very often now. Ends up she had a good idea.
Well, it looks like this was mostly about a single subject after all, namely November. We’re right in the middle of the month, too late for me to wish you a happy Halloween or Veterans Day. I think it’s still too early to say happy holidays, too, so I’ll just say best wishes for the rest of the month and the year.
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Mama says wrote on Nov 14, 2009 12:22 AM:
We gave some to the childrens sunday school class as an added treat. "