It’s January 4 as I’m sitting here in the kitchen waiting for the sun to come up, sipping my Arbuckle’s. The thermometer reads 27°; it looks to be clear. We’ve already repaired three busted water lines, and checking cows horseback is truly a chore with the north wind shooting down my collar. The old Bohemians used to tell me that the first four days of January would foretell the four seasons. If that’s so, we don’t need to be looking for rain this year. There hasn’t been a drop so far. Yesterday and today were sunny, but the first and second we’re overcast and cold. I guess summer will be sunny and dry as usual, and now it looks like fall will be also. Reading my cattle publications, it looks like cattle prices aren’t promising much for 2018. So, with forage probably going to be short and prices low, cattleman better tighten their belts. From my porch it looks like the oil business is running like a “haint” as I see oil rigs in every direction. Today’s crude oil prices up around 60+ dollars a barrel.

Well,like the saying goes you can’t change a hair on your head by worrying (though you might change its color to gray) , so probably the best course of action is to do what you want to do, enjoy life and each other, and smile a lot! Kinder reminds me of the rodeo announcer after a cowboy gets bucked off.

“Let’s give that cowboy a big hand, because that’s all he’s going to get tonight!”

“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the old man’s hat.” So goes the old English Christmas folk song. This time of year, we get together as a family to celebrate the birth of Christ. We also attend the Christmas concert at the school where our third grader, nursery school student and soon-to-be teenager present music and poetry while being shepherded around by their saintly teachers.

We will be swilling eggnog, and steaming up the kitchen with traditional foods, then attending midnight mass. Meanwhile, some families will be celebrating the Miracle of the Light with menorahs, while others celebrate the Yule, the last of the short days and the coming of longer days again, with the coming of the light. Still others may be far away from loved ones, maybe even alone, separated from their loving families, perhaps sitting in heavy battle dress on a bare rock in far-flung mountains, looking up at stars, realizing their life might be worth no more than a fly in the kitchen. Some might be alone even in the crowd, separated by the demons in their own minds or out of a bottle.  Even more may be hungry, cold and sick.

For all those, we pray for the Coming of the Light, and for all the miracles that we can muster to make their lives better. The part of the season that relates to giving is more than presents.

It may be more about presence.  Being there for someone.

As we have traveled across the North American continent working at horse shows and visiting kinfolks I’ve noticed that in the culinary world Mexican food is now totally ubiquitous – and, it can also be found everywhere. This, in turn has caused many Spanish words to become a part part of our otherwise mostly Germanic English language. Here in Texas we sometimes referred to it as Spanglish, and it is certainly a large part of the cowboy vocabulary. 

It starts in the mañana with taquitos for breakfast. Then for lunch enchiladas, frijoles, and tortillas. The kids get Leche and tacos. As you put on your sombrero and walk out the door you might say buenos días to someone you meet, and invite them to join you for a cerveza later. In the evening you could go to see the rodeo, and see the vaquero get bucked off his caballo and land on his cabeza. Then afterwards you go to the baile that’s part of the fiesta, and have some more cerveza and possibly eat some fajitas. On the way home driving through the Arroyo and up onto the Mesa you see vacas and the lights of the motel on the edge of town called La Quinta, which means in English – next to Denny’s.