Today is Sunday, December 7 and there are only 18 days until Christmas!  Make sure you get your holiday candy now because in the next week or so the Valentine’s Day stuff will be out.  Let’s take a moment to remember the birthdays of Girolamo Trombeti, Solomon Schechter and Eli Wallach.  On this day in 185 Chinese Emperor Lo-Yang saw a supernova, in 1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the constitution and in 1945 the microwave oven was patented.  It is the Ratification Day in Delaware, National Day in the Ivory Coast and Pearl Harbor Day in the US.

I would like to spend just a little time talking about Pearl Harbor Day.  This is a day that commemorates the attack on the US naval base there.  The attack was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy.  It was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the US Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia.  The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighter planes, bombers and torpedo planes.

Eight US Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk.  The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer.  In addition, 188 US aircraft were destroyed.  The attack killed 2,403 Americans and 1,178 others were wounded. The following day, the US declared war on Japan and entered into WW II.  If you get a chance during the day, take a moment to remember those who lost their lives that day in the service of their country.  Thank you.

Now let’s move along to other issues.  This is a time of year that creates issues for me.  On one hand I love the season – the music, the baked goods, the happiness, etc.  On the other hand I dislike the season – the music, the baked goods, the happiness, etc.  Let me explain why.  I am going to skip the music aspect for the moment.  First I want to address the baked goods.  I enjoy baking Christmas Stollen every year.  It is a favorite and it would not be Christmas morning without it.  The batch makes two loaves.  Now we enter into the area that becomes an issue.  I am somewhat nuts about Christmas baking.  I was raised in a household where you did not touch Christmas cookies, breads and so on until Christmas Day.

My mother made 20-some varieties of cookies, so there were tins of them sitting around long before Christmas Day and they could not be touched.  I try to adhere to that idea now.  Why?  Because that is the way I always felt it should be.  To be honest, I did snitch cookies, but I never admitted it.  The problem comes now because the lovely Elaine feels that if it is made we should consume the stollen and not wait.  Besides there are two loaves, so we can still have it Christmas morning.  I go along with her, but my inner child disagrees.

The other problem with the baked goods is they all taste so good.  Being diabetic, I should not be eating them.  I only make a couple types of cookies because of that.  I know that when we visit people, they will have cookies, or they will bring them if they come to visit us.  They all look so good that I hate to pass them up.  Plus, I feel that it would be impolite to not partake of their generosity.  I like to believe that sugar and calories consumed during the holidays don’t count, but I really know better.

So that is one issue.  The next is the happiness aspect.  I love seeing my family on Christmas Eve.  We have the traditional Italian fish menu and it is great fun to have everyone here.  We remember past Christmases, laugh a lot and have a great evening.  We exchange gifts and the happiness is genuine and heartfelt.  What bothers me is the fake happiness you see at large parties, brought on by alcohol and the feeling that you have to be happy because it is a party.  You go to these festivities and express how happy you are and how great it is to be together, even though there are people there that you would rather kick in the groin than hug and wish the best holiday greetings to.  I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Now let us turn our attention to the music.  I love Christmas music.  I play it as much as possible from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.  There are songs I could do without, like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” or “It’s Christmas and I Don’t Know Where I Am” but those songs say Christmas to someone.  What I dislike is pushing songs on me that say nothing about the holiday and passing them off as Christmas songs.  Things like “Winter Wonderland” or “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.  It gets cold in February, but we don’t hear that song then.  One request I have is could we please, PLEASE stop playing “My Favorite Things”?  I mean forever not just during this season.

I also hate when companies take a standard song and rewrite the words to sell their product.  I can’t stand using the “Twelve Days of Christmas” to sell cars or any of the other lame attempts you hear during December.  What would happen if other groups started doing this?  How about this commercial:

(to the tune of Winter Wonderland)

You’re getting old, things are changing,

And your body is rearranging.

You should have no fear, when dealing with your rear,

Come in for a colonoscopy.

(Announcer)

Yes, Dr. Hugo (the H is silent) Rectuman will be glad to check you out. Call us today at 1-800-RECTUMS

(Jingle)

Things you do will affect you.

Causing problems when you go poo.

You should have no fear, when dealing with your rear,

Come in for a colonoscopy.

This week our fact tells us that Ethelred the Unready, King of England in the tenth century, spent his wedding night in bed with his wife and his mother-in-law.  No offense to my mother-in-law, but that is not the direction I would have gone for a three-way.  Was she there as a tutor?  This might explain why not too many people have heard of Ethelred the Unready.  If he was that inept in bed, he probably was worse as a king.