I haven’t posted since August and here it is December, with Chanukah just past and Christmas and New Year’s on the way. How could it be 2014 when I haven’t gotten used to writing 2013 on checks or correspondence? To be perfectly honest the last date I really paid attention to was the coming of the new millennium, year 2000.
But now with the holidays, a friend’s party is coming up and each guest was request to make a little something homemade for each of the other guests. Anyone who knows me even superficially knows I can cook but not bake and even my cooking is not the kind that gets gifted around town. Some of the other participants are great chefs, bakers, artists, bon vivants, but hey, I thought, I’m a writer. Why not give the gift of words? What could be more personal or creative, albeit a little schmaltzy, but who cares? It’s the holidays when sentiment should reign supreme. I never said I was Plato, Shakespeare or even Dear Abby, but I can and did put together 12 different thoughts, most of which occurred to me at three o’clock one morning. Since these are meant for others, I won’t reveal the contents. But if you’re thinking of what to do, with a personal touch, you, too, might want to send a few words to your friends and neighbors. (Just to make it more palatable I’m enclosing a little snack pack of homemade spiced nuts to go with the words.)