Well, it’s Christmastime here at Union Grove Farm, and here at the Little House by the Vineyard, the spirit of the season is being enjoyed by one and all. Of course, one is all there is here at the Little House, but that one – me – certainly is just bursting with holiday cheer.
I’ve got all my presents bought, wrapped and shipped, so if you haven’t received one from me yet, that probably means I didn’t get you one.
Tough. I didn’t get one from you, either.
My daughter Amanda and her family are excepted from the above. “I’m bringing your stuff with me when I come to your place on Christmas Eve, Manda Panda.”
Have you noticed how much longer the days are getting?
Speaking about things meteorological, there’s much talk about doing away with Daylight Savings Time. Apparently, a plurality of Americans think that is a good idea, while a smaller percentage opt for keeping DST all year ‘round, and the smallest group opting for keeping things as they are.
I don’t know how the folks in Arizona feel about it, since they don’t observe Daylight Savings Time and never have. They stay on Mountain Standard Time (or Pacific Daylight Savings Time, depending on how you look at it) all year ‘round.
I also don’t know if illegal residents were allowed to vote in the poll. This seems to be a very important matter, one way or another, these days.
One of my favorite ways to celebrate the season is by watching sappy Christmas rom-com movies on Facebook, Prime, etc. My is favorite is The Holiday, starring Cameron Diaz. It’s my favorite for two reasons: 1) It stars Cameron Diaz on whom I have had a crush for decades, and 2) It features a subplot in which a superannuated writer – played by Eli Wallach -- is featured. I can really identify with this character, as you can imagine, even though he is a very successful old writer, whereas I am decidedly less so, except for the old part. Also, he does not, in the end, win Cameron Diaz, or even Kate Winslet, which is more to the point of the movie.
The plot of all Christmas movies is as follows:: 1) Boy meets Girl. 2) One of them has the Christmas spirit, the other doesn’t. 3) Opposites attract and so do they, Christmas or no Christmas. 4) They come within an inch-and-a-half of kissing, but something interrupts them. It is apparently against some union rule or something for them to kiss successfully the first time. 5) One of them discovers a Terrible Secret about the other and calls the whole thing off, with malice. 6) Fate intervenes, playing the part of mistletoe, and the offended one comes to realize that the Terrible Secret is not really so terrible after all. 7) In just the nick of time, the offendee catches the offender before he or she does something drastic, like moving to Ukraine and they kiss for real. Snow is falling. It’s Christmas, with peace on the set and good will for the whole cast.
There is also a movie called Christmas in California which follows the hackneyed plot to the letter. In it, there is a dairy farm and the way the heroine is saved from bankruptcy and allowed to kiss the hero is when he comes up with a plan to stave off foreclosure by turning the dairy farm into a vineyard.
Wait a minute! That sounds like Union Grove turning Maple View dairy farm into a fabulous vineyard filled with super-nutritious seedless, thin-skinned Muscadine grapes, using earth-friendly Regenerative agriculture methods.
So how about you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year including a tour of Union Grove Farm?
Who knows, you might meet the love of your life in the process.
