It is Sunday, December 27and there are only 364 days (next year is a leap year) until Christmas.  If you are careful you can get some good bargains for next Christmas.  Just be sure to leave notes so you remember what you got and where you put it.  Today we remember the birthdays of Johann Arndt, Louis Pasteur and Tovah Feldshuh.  On this day in 1825 the first public railroad using a steam locomotive was completed in England, in 1900 Carrie Nation made her first public smashing of a bar (Hotel Carry Annex Bar, Wichita, KS) and in 1932 Radio City Music Hall opened.  In Bhutan it is the Day of 9 Evils, in Indonesia it is Independence Day and in Namibia and South Africa it is Family Day.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas or other holiday.  I know we did.  The lovely Elaine and I did the traditional Italian seafood dinner on Christmas Eve.  It was not without its problems; however.  The biggest issue was the stuffed clams.  Usually we buy frozen stuffed clams.  This year we were unable to find them in our supermarket.  The manager of the seafood area said that they did not get any this year.  We checked several other stores in the area and no one had them.  I had to go back to our old stomping grounds for a doctor’s appointment, so I stopped in our old supermarket to see if they had them.  The seafood department manager told me that the company had discontinued the item.

I was distressed as this was an item we always looked forward to having.  When I got home, I decided to contact the company and express my disappointment.  Surprisingly, they responded the following day.  Even more surprising was the fact that they claimed the product was not discontinued.  The woman who responded even told me of two food chains where I could get them.  Unfortunately, one chain has no stores in NJ and the other has no stores anywhere near here.  She also indicated that our local chain should have them and I should ask if they could special order them.  I did and they claim that they were told that the item had been discontinued.

I e-mailed back and told her what our store was being told.  She assured me again that the item was not discontinued and would address the miscommunication issue.  She also said that she hoped that would help.  This was on Wednesday, the 23^rd.  I pointed out that it would not, because even if they placed the order the chances were good that they would not arrive in time for me to have them on Christmas Eve.  I ended up buying fresh clams and making them myself.  They were good, a little dry, but good.  However, there was a lot more effort involved than there would have been if I could have just put the frozen ones in the oven.  Hopefully they will have this worked out by next year.  The only other issue we had was that to get the seventh type of fish we had to use Peppridge Farm Goldfish crackers.  I hope that counts.

In one respect I am happy to have Christmas behind us.  Now that the holiday has passed, we will no longer be subjected to some of the awful commercials that come out every year.  Car commercials are the worst.  There is one that would have us believe that Santa does all his work in a fleet of the company’s cars.  There are several that want us to believe that people are out buying cars and putting big red bows on them as gifts.  I was out driving around on Christmas day and I did not see one driveway with a car with a big red bow on it.

There is one company that has young people riding along in their cars singing the song the commercial is using and laughing and having a great time.  That is one of the most unrealistic ones.  Have you ever seen a car with four people in it?  The driver is driving with a bored look on his face while the other people in the car look at their phone.  No one is singing, no one is laughing, no one is even talking.  I would bet that if the car stopped at a traffic light and one of the passengers got out, the others would probably not even notice.

So the Christmas commercials are over and now we can get to the ones where you resolve to buy a new car before the end of the year, or make a resolution to buy jewelry for your loved one, or any of the other inane commercials they gear toward New Year’s Eve.  Of course once we get past those we can start gearing up for when Valentine’s Day cars and jewelry are being pushed and when George Washington and Abraham Lincoln start trying to get us to buy cars, jewelry, clothing, trips, etc.

The worst part of the next few days will be the wrap up shows that will proliferate in the coming week.  Why do we have to have this every year?  We get the top newsmakers, the best shows of the year, the 10 best of just about everything and on and on.  The one that always gets me is the Funniest Commercials show each year.  One of the things that makes me crazy when I am watching a show is how they run several minutes of commercials after only 9 or 10 minutes of show.  Now they want me to watch a show of commercials that they will break up with – commercials.  I’m probably going to skip that one.

This week our fact tells us that the book “Green Eggs ‘n’ Ham” only contains 50 different words.

I waited while you went and counted them.  I know that some of you did, or will after you finish reading this.

I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy, exciting New Year!  I hope 2016 is a year filled with joy, family and friends, laughter, love and fewer Republican presidential candidates.  Happy New Year!