Up Early and Rambling

It's not quite 7 a.m. I've been up since 4:45 and right now I'm watching Bright Eyes with Shirley Temple. =) What am I doing up? I have no idea. I do need to run to the grocery store, so it'd be smart to go early before Big Bird is mobbed. Not this early, though. No big Christmas dinner this year (I'm working) so we'll brunch it tomorrow before I have to go in. I'm trying to get into the holiday spirit, but dang, it's hard this year. Hopefully by the time Kosher Christmas rolls around, my mood will improve.

One Christmas gift memory I've been thinking about--a music box from my Great Aunt E. A round, shiny-green metal box with an ornate lid, and it played "Some Enchanted Evening." I kept it for 20 years after she died (till it literally fell apart) because it was the only gift I remember getting from her. She'd been totally blind for years (my grandmother told me she'd lost her sight after cataract surgery; whether this is true or not, I have no idea) and rarely went out, and lived in a roach-infested apartment in the projects.

"Now don't put anything down anywhere!" Mom would warn us ahead of time. "And if she asks you if you see bugs, say no." Nothing, she explained, would ever be done about the roaches anyway. She called the so-called management herself to complain more than once, but "it's The Projects, for cripe's sake." There would always be roaches. No point in freaking out my aunt.

So off we'd go, and yes, I'd be careful to keep my coat and boots on and never-ever-ever allow my purse to leave my lap. Eventually my aunt would ask one of us, "Do you see any bugs? Do you see any bugs?"

Hell yeah, we saw bugs! OK, it's not like roaches were raining down on us from the ceiling. But every now and then I'd see one skitter across the floor. Or peek through the Venetian blinds. Or creep out from under the toaster. Can you imagine being blind and surrounded by bugs you can't see? Or is it better not seeing them? I still can't decide.

And we'd always answer, "Nope, no bugs."

LOL! How did my Christmas gift memory turn into this?