holidays

Well, it’s Groundhog Day… again… and that must mean we’re up here at Gobbler’s Knob waiting for the forecast from the world’s most-famous groundhog weatherman, Punxsutawney Phil, who’s just about to tell us how much more winter we can expect. This has been a strange year for my Groundhog festivities. The house is still very much under construction, with drywall dust and power tools and lumber scattered around the kitchen. Our family room is still bursting with odds and ends from different spots of the house as we wait to be able to put everything away at last. The result

I remember how much I used to look forward to April Fool’s Day each year. There was a stretch around 2000-2010 where I thought the things posted online by companies were just endlessly amusing, and I got a kick out of seeing what they all came up with each year. I also enjoyed playing tricks on friends or family. For some reason, that sense of fun is just not in me right now, and I’m trying to figure out why. Some of it is no doubt due to the pandemic. It just doesn’t feel right to me to be goofing

Normally I’d be gearing up for my annual Groundhog Day celebration tonight. Each year, we have around 15-25 people over for the party. These days, it usually consists of a groundhog themed potluck. Sweet and savory deliciousness, followed by a white elephant/Yankee swap (that’s ideally groundhog themed as well). The bar for a successful Groundhog Day party is blessedly low, of course, and I’ve found that in Maine, it doesn’t take much for people to feel like that had a fun time in February. The rush of the Christmas holidays are gone, and we need as many reasons to celebrate