Opinions

Right around Christmas time, when days are beginning to get longer and the advent of spring is within sight, my spirits, while they don’t exactly soar, do show a few weak flutters of future flight and I begin to believe I may actually live to see the buds and birds of March and April. I don’t know why it is so, but as I get older, winters are longer and harsher than they once were.

I never knew my paternal grandfather. He died young, of tuberculosis, before my parents married. He was a photographer by profession, in the small town of Mellen, Wisconsin, and he and my grandmother operated a grocery store there. Above the store was office space they rented to a dentist and, I presume, my grandfather’s photography studio. He had immigrated from Norway as a young man and built violins as a sideline and hobby.

I received a number of Christmas cards from my high school classmates and was reminded the mascot for our athletic teams was a panther. For a long time, I was unaware a panther was really just a black leopard, not a separate species of cat. I’ve been told you can actually see the spots, black on black, on a leopard pelt, but as I’ve never had the opportunity to examine one in person, you may want to check that out for yourself. I assume the spots show up because of a variation in the texture of the hair, or perhaps the coloration of the skin beneath it.

Way in the back of the bathroom cupboard, I found a roll of toilet paper that had been there for probably as long as 12 or 15 years. I set it on the counter next to one, of the same brand, I had just brought home from the store. What a contrast! Both claimed to be double rolls. One was, not only fatter than the other, but wider, and the newer one had a larger cardboard tube in the center.

For years, I tried to convince my family and friends I was done with the commercial rat-race that had taken over the Christmas season. Everything from Christmas cards and tree decorations, through the piles of purchased and gaily wrapped gifts, right down to the peanuts and oranges that went into the toes of the stockings was due for a drastic makeover. For too many years, I tried really hard to make sure those presents met my expectations and made at least some of the wishes come true.