It was a crazy day.

A trip with Maureen, ostensibly to go to Balboa Park and use our new park pass to see some museums we don’t often visit, prefaced with a trip to a sewing machine shop and a tailor for Maureen began mid-morning. Her sewing machine developed a problem when she had attempted to put in a button hole on a high end fabric for a beautiful jacket she had designed.

The sewing machine visit developed into a machine assessment, adjustment, and repairs if needed. Now folks, this ain’t my mama’s Singer pedal-powered sewing machine of the past. These suckers cost more than the national debt. The repair was worth it.

We then went across the street to our tailor who announced she could create the needed buttonholes.

We were happy, and headed off to the park.

i turned onto the exit to normal path up a hill to the park only to find a line of cars all the way up the hill, probably a half-hour if not an hour to get to the parking, which was likely full. i did an illegal u-turn, tried another way and found the same thing with all entries to the park.

We decided to just go to one of our favorite digs for lunch. The first one had many folks waiting to be seated, and no parking was nearby. We went to the second, and it was closed for the holidays. We went to the third and the wait was until sometime next Wednesday. We searched for the third and fourth on unfamiliar routes and had to double back about…oh, a half dozen times.

i shall not tell you what i said, but we headed home. We stopped at a brand new place in route for take out Mexican fare of a beef stew (birria) on a corn tortilla and a shrimp taco.

We felt better.

Hell of a day. In its own strange way, it was fun.

We spent our afternoon with our own projects and settled down in the family room for our evening.

i turned on the television. Football. The think-of-the-name-of-a-corporate-advertiser-with-a- really-stupid-logo-name Cotton Bowl. Good teams: Ohio State, Missouri. Good game except for listening to announcers who wished the world to consider the game equivalent the next world war. Ugh.

As i watched a pretty decent athletic contest marred by about two dozen unsportsmanlike penalties ignored, i looked up the scores of other bowl games. That’s when it occurred to me there as a fitting quote.

Violating my usually very loose rules for what to include in my posts, i stole this from today’s “Writer’s Almanac.” It is a quote of William Gaddis, an author in the middle of the last century who wrote two apparently noteworthy novels: The Recognitions and J.R. Not only have i not read them, but i didn’t even know about them until this morning, adding them to my “to read” list which will require me to compete with Methuselah for the longest living man to read all on my list.

But William Gaddis said, “There have never in history been so many opportunities to do so many things that aren’t worth doing.”

And sitting here tonight i thought this applied to every post season playoff game of any sport.

Then i thought Gaddis’ quote applied to most damn near everything today except for my relationships with good folks.

And you know what? Those relationships are enough.

i hope you all have a bountiful and healthy 2024.

This is a quiet Christmas for us. Patsy, Maureen’s sister, will be joining us for brunch and opening presents. Maureen made an incredible supper of scallops last night and we watched “The Ref.” We have reservations for a “Christmas” dinner at Giardino’s, one of our go-to restaurants this evening. We will call our daughters, brothers, sisters and their families throughout the day, probably a couple of close friends as well.

That’s it.

It’s okay. i’m not big into getting gifts. Don’t get me wrong. i appreciate the ones i get because it shows the one(s) bearing the gift care for me. The caring is the feel good part. And i have not had a perfect Christmas since back in the late seventies. Someone was not there with me ever since then. i missed my father in 2014 and my mother in 2013, and Christmas was special when i was with them.

In the Navy, i missed several Christmases (and more Thanksgivings) away from my family. They were the toughest. Now, if i began to feel sorry i’m missing someone, i think of all of today’s men and women service members who are away from home and quit my whining.

i find today a time for quiet, reflection, living with a few of the best memories. It appears my two daughters are both in a good place along with their families. That is the best Christmas gift for me. Most of my friends are still around, a blessing in itself considering our age.

Last night, i sat by the fire reflecting these things. i actually read the Matthew and Luke verses of the Bible relating the birth of Jesus. i have the bible my parents gave me when i was a pre-teen. It has my name, “Jim Rye Jewell, Jr.” engraved in gold on the front. But i chose to read from a smaller condensed version my mother gave to my father before he sailed for the Southwest Pacific and World War II. There is no engraved name on the front. But on the first page, a black extension of the cover, she wrote his name and address in white ink and on the following blank page wrote: “To my husband, Jimmy, with Love from Estelle.”

i’m choking up a little bit here. So, i will move on.

After reading Mother’s entries and as i read the passages, i thought of Maureen and i paralleling notes to each other showing the kind of love they had for each other. i kept thinking “love does conquer all.” i believe the man for whom this holiday was created and often forgotten in our celebrations would approvingly agree.

i hope all of you, even those of you in our country’s service who are away, have the best Christmas you can have with lots of love.

Merry Christmas.

P.S. The tree is green, not blue. i remain tech photo challenged.