All's Quiet on the Homefront...

Today, the rest of my children left to head back to their homes. It was a nice but far too brief visit. None of them will visit the Bayou again for quite some time..perhaps months. This makes me sad as I miss them when they are not here but I know they lead busy, busy lives and cannot always be here. Plus, they have outgrown the laid back aspect of Bayou living. They enjoy the hubbub of city life which is something that I never have. To each his own..my own being the solitude of my little place. I am not sure just how the rest of the holidays will be filled but I am quite sure they will be filled. For now, the Little Bayou House is quiet.


The house is quiet except for one happy Santa. In the living room, there is a large oak buffet. I put a few Christmas knickknacks on the top of the buffet and called it decorated. One of these is a large oval frame that contains a picture of Santa Claus. It is nothing special, just the cutout picture from a gift bag. The bag had torn but since I really liked the Santa depicted on the bag, I saved the picture. It was a perfect fit for an antique, oval frame that I had salvaged from a box destined for the trash. I have used this picture for the past few years in one place or another. This year, it wound up on the buffet. It is just haphazardly propped against the mirror of the buffet. Son has found that if you stand in a certain spot in front of the buffet and move slightly, the picture frame moves a bit. This moving causes it to rub against the mirror behind it and makes a rather unsettling laughing sound. It sort of "snickers" at you. Now, every time he comes into the room, he makes Santa snicker. He gently rocks back and forth on his heels and Santa laughs and laughs. This would not be bad if it was a jolly "ho, ho, ho" but it is more like a cross between a hyena and a sneaky "Snidely Whiplash" type laugh. Snidely Whiplash was the villain in the "Dudley Do-right" segments of the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoons. He had a very distinct, sneaky laugh as every evil villain should! Santa Claus on the other hand, should NOT have a sneaky laugh! It would scare all the little kiddies! I have been tempted to move the picture to a different spot but Son asked that it stay put..he enjoyed making it laugh. Hmmmm...I am not sure that is at all in the Christmas Spirit!