By Phyllis Merrimann

I finally got my act together to store the patio furniture and plant pots in the garden shed. It took no time or effort at all. Why did I procrastinate until early December? Why to I procrastinate about other chores? Because of another Covid-winter?

Our anti-Vaxxer relatives continue to remain fixed. Sending forth the family patriarch’s voice as a final plea was met with a wall of kryptonite.

As 2021 wanes, Covid cases wax because of the unvaccinated, delta and the new omicrom variant, about which little is yet known. Anti-Vaxxers, the mask- hostile, and death-defiant/exhibitionists blame Biden for the viral spread. 787,000 now dead. Who will remember our Covid dead? Who will memorialize them? Do Republicans realize their unvaccinated are three times more likely to die of Covid?

Varieties of Covid-Christmas Responses:

Kentucky Republican US Congressman’ Thomas Massie’s 2021 Christmas card features him and his family gathered by their Christmas tree smiling, all toting large guns. The greeting: “Merry Christmas! P.S. Santa, please bring ammo.”

(His posting appeared just days after the latest American school shooting, of which there have been 48 in 2021, 32 of which have occurred since August.)

My neighbor’s yard is bright and seasonal with lighted Christmas trees that provide drive-by pleasure. Her best window decoration is a reproduction of the lamp featured in the 1983 film, “A Christmas Story” based on humorist, Jean Shepherd’s semi-autobiographic writings, featuring the boy, “Ralphie.” The lamp’s main feature is a lighted lady’s leg wearing a fishnet stocking and black spike heel. It remains my favorite seasonal movie. These are times when we can all use humor.

When my Dad was stationed at Ft. Dix, we always listened to Jean Shepherd’s popular radio show from NYC. If the weekly story hadn’t ended, we’d sit in our car in the driveway until the hilarious ending. I still remember one notable story about his mother’s after-school snack she always served him, which he hated. Tomato sandwiches. Shepherd would always sneakily drop the uneaten sandwiches behind the frig. There came a day when the family got a new refrigerator and his deeds were revealed to all.

Instead of buying ourselves presents we don’t need, my husband and I are donating money to AIO Food & Emergency Assistance and Pope Memorial Humane Society, both of which need as much financial support for their clients, as donors can afford, especially during this winter. AIO has the capacity – if they receive funds – to provide heating fuel the same day a family runs out, unlike city help that can take many days. Go online to see how you, too, can donate.