Sunday, January 14, 2007

At Least They're Honest

I wish to report that my Christmas decorations are down and safely stored. We keep the large, multicolored "Christmas" lights hanging across the front porch all year long, so I am finished. Not taking down the lights is not laziness. We use them for parties and holidays - Fat Tuesday, July 4, the entire Fair week, Halloween, and any other time we feel in the party spirit. It makes the house look festive, though somewhat seedy - not like a juke joint, but moving in that direction, which reminds me of something from my youth.

We used to drive to Meridian to go to the movies when I was in high school. There were, as always in the country, at least two ways to get there. Driving one way, we passed Ed's Beer Joint. Each time we passed we performed a head turning stare, hoping to see something illicit, something to make us more worldly, something of interest to tell. Coming from a dry town in a dry county we had plenty of curiosity, though obviously no courage, since we never even slowed down - only stopped talking and looked. After the faded wood exterior and the sign bearing "Ed's Beer Joint" disappeared from view, someone would always say, "At least they're honest."

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

As per your suggestion for year 'round festiveness, I've left my lights up! I feel so ... wild! I've also left my jester/voodoo doll on the mantel, for year 'round jamoker torturing.

I remember at my grandmother's funeral, all of these little blue-haired ladies coming up to me and telling me what a lovely woman my grandmother had been. "Why, even during the depression, if we wanted a drink, we knew we could count on Helen. She was poor like the rest of is, but she was always good for a snootful!"

Funny how my grandmother considered whisky and cigarettes elegant and sophisticated, and today they're typically deemed declasse.

Anyway, I'm going to become one of those little old ladies who leaves her Christmas tree up year 'round, so that when my friends drop by we can turn on the lights and share a snootful.

Wisteria said...

I did remove the tree. Don't blame me for that. I had never thought of people pulling in for a snootful. Yikes!

Yes, I think changing perceptions are interesting. Though, honestly, if the right person is smoking cigarettes and drinking scotch they can still seem elegant and sophisticated.