By Staff
Everywhere around me I see Christmas trees laying out by the curb and people outside trying to take down their outdoor lights without ending up with a tangled mess.
I on the other hand still plug in my little fiberoptic tree every evening and enjoy the colorful glow.
Though I did pick up the crumpled tissue paper and decided which boxes were good enough to keep, I am not ready for the holiday season to end.
It seems each year decorations are put out earlier and earlier with soon Thanksgiving becoming lost between Halloween and Christmas.
Now we are in the dry spell with nothing to look forward to until Valentine's Day. What's really bad is when your anniversary and birthday are also in December.
I have enjoyed relaxing and watching movies and the World Poker Tour. The Law and Order and Monk marathons were fun, but I faded out instead of staying up all night.
In one old movie I glanced up out of my new Su Doku puzzle book and saw something I had forgotten I used to do. The main character was getting ready for bed and he wound his watch. How long has it been since I wound a watch everyday to keep it from stopping?
So many things have changed through the years, improved or gotten more complicated.
Finding myself alone one night I settled in to watch a movie only to find “my” television, really my daughter's, was locked. I didn't have our secret code.
There are so many controls and buttons on the remote control I find I would rather read a good book. Gone are the days of choosing what to watch from five or six channels. Sometimes an hour goes by while you are still searching.
I am sure during the holidays some meals which take a long time to prepare were made the first time in a long time in many homes.
Where I would have once entertained for crowds in the past making many different dishes, today I might buy a prepared vegetable tray and stick in the oven snacks.
With all the time savers and labor saving devices we have nowadays, why does it seem as if we don't have more time, but less?
So much has been lost, like the look of the table set with freshly ironed linen.
Granted I didn't like ironing all that much, but there was something calming about the repetition and the neat stacks of fresh smelling clothes.
I still use cloth napkins, but only those which don't need ironing.
I wash my sheets and immediately replace them on the bed, just hoping most of the wrinkles will be gone.
I used to actually make my own clothes and many for my kids. Now I am lucky if the button which fell off gets sewed back on.
My gas tank is larger, therefore I should fill up less.
I can purchase stamps through the Internet, instead of going to the post office.
The Schwann man can even deliver most groceries.
Along with the usual resolutions this year, I think I am going to look for all this time I gained - I could really use it.