It's the most grumpiest time of the year...

I love this time of year. The snow (and we have tons of it right now... I actually ran out of space to put the snow, so I was tossing it over the fence into the neighbors yard... hopefully they didn't see me, and they will think it was just a snow drift... hehehehe), Vince Guaraldi Trio, bad Christmas decorations (especially the lawn ornaments that have been around since the 1970's that are now just undistinguishable blobs of frosted plastic and faded colors), good Christmas decorations (good store windows... lights twinkling off the snow), hot chocolate, warm wine, wrapping gifts, Christmas cookies, the smell of a pine tree, the Elvis Christmas Album... the list goes on and on and on!

BUT this time of the year also brings the ugly side out in most of us. Crowded stores, getting angry at the lurkers in parking lots following you from the store to your car so they can snag your parking spot, cursing under your breath in checkout lines, flipping off the moron drivers that are speeding in shopping mall parking lots, annoyance at lack of money, annoyance with debt that's being racked up holiday shopping, annoyance with most people in general... you get the idea.

Well, I noticed that whenever I start getting grumbly, something will always manage to make me smile. Like when I was fighting my way through Downtown Crossing into the T station and some random punk pushed me out of their way, I started to get pissy... but then there was a man playing 'Smoke on the Water' on the bongos singing the guitar part. hehehe. Or when I was fighting my way through the grocery store yesterday before the snow storm, I saw this tiny (I mean like 4'8") little old lady that couldn't find the pickles she was looking for (and let's admit it, there are like 50 different kinds in the grocery store... dill, kosher dill, polish dill, zesty dill... and it keeps going on and on) so I decided to help her. And even tho we couldn't find her pickles, she said thank you and patted me on the ass. HA!

And even this morning, as I hid under my covers dreading even more shoveling, I woke up to find that my neighbor shoveled a path to my back porch. How nice!


So... just remember, no matter how grumbly we all get during the holidays... there is something just around the corner to make you smile.