A 2013 Christmas Poem ‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the cellar, the barrels o’ Chard need not stirring, and the barrel racks no welder. The hoses were hung upside down by the staircase with care, in hopes that St. Trifon The Pruner soon would be there.
The red wines in barrels were finished this season and all stacked in the caves, while visions of sunny beaches danced in our post-harvest brains. And him with a suitcase, and I with my backpack, had just settled on a train for a short winter’s nap. When out in the dining car there arose such a clatter, I jumped from my skin and immediately knew of the matter.
Awhile back on the platform I had met the offender; perhaps a little of our newly-released wine will cause his surrender. With a beautiful bottle in hand and branded corkscrew in motion, I was confident he would relax and imbibe our magic potion. When, what to my wandering eye should appear, but a staff of army rangers, and eight large buccaneers!
With sparkling new revolvers, and knives pulled real quick, I knew in that moment that we must not get nicked. More rapid than raccoons we pulled on that special cord; the train screeched, lurched, smoked and then came to a halt. Now! Jump! Now! First we were off and at a fast pace, we leaped and we ran to get the heck out of that place!
To the next neighbors’ front porch at the end of the block, we rang the bell twice before beginning to frantically knock. And as we were about to leave for sure and just depart, the green door creaked open and revealed a welcoming heart. So in we went most thankfully with bags in tow, we looked around curiously and saw decorations of snow. And then the next moment, we heard in the basement, the joyful dancing and singing of each generation.
As I took off my coat and had just started to relax, I felt a nagging sensation and then spotted the giant scary axe! With sunny beaches on my mind and my hubby in tow, I made a lame excuse and said “honey, we have to go!”
As we stumbled out we saw the sign for the airport not far, we jogged then sprinted and then wished we’d rented a car! At the airline check-in desk short-breathed we finally arrived, our cheeks were like roses, and our smiles contrived. One thought on our minds please transport us out of here, checked were our bags and with no time to spare…
To security we raced, spotted a long line, bad news, yet we emptied our pockets, took out our electronics, and removed our shoes. Only to get pulled aside for that wine key I packed, DRATS! Lacking in time we ditched our bags and raced like mad.
We arrived at the gate sans bags only to find, that our flight had departed extra early – can you believe it? At quarter to nine! What madness is this I yell and shout in frustration, only to laugh goofily and come to quite an immense realization: I’m not sure what seasonal madness had gone to my head, but I never wanted to go anywhere, I’d always rather stay home in wine country instead!
We gathered our things and headed towards the exit door; asked a nice cabbie for a ride back up-valley and not to the shore. As we travelled back to our home and marveled at all the beautiful twinkling lights, we chuckled and laughed at ourselves and at last our crazy wonderful night. Even if it takes such an adventure to make us miss our home, we live in the most precious and beautiful place on earth and it’s second to none.
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