Happy New Year

         Happy New Year

Suzanne Marsh

“Hey, come on, it’s time for the Rose Bowl Parade”. The house was still decorated for Christmas, as my dad and I rushed into the living room, we did not want to miss the Rose Bowl Parade. Mom, always loved to see what they did with all the flowers. The floats were spectacular, as we watched in awe, it was the first year for our family having a color television. The colors were vibrant, as we ohed and ahed at the reds and yellows, whites, every color of the rainbow. The Grand Marshal that year was none other than Walt Disney. We sat glued to the television, seeing Walt Disney was about as exciting as it got around our house in 1966. Mom, already had the ham in the oven, she was making potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn.

The smells in the house were wonderful, as we sat and watched the parade. It became a family tradition to watch the Rose Bowl on New Years Day. That was the year, that changed a great many things, I went from a wise cracking teenager to a know-it-all teenager. I had a boyfriend; he was coming for dinner later in the day. I had to get the rollers out of my hair, get dressed, since we always watched the parade in pajamas. It was a ritual thing and actually it was family time. Both my parents worked, and I was an only child, so this was one of the few times we were all home together.

Mom loved the snow, at least until we had to go out and shovel, after the snowplow went through, then the three of us trudged outside, with winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves, boots, and froze as we shoveled. Then we would trudge back in dry the boots, gloves and other equipment used for snow shoveling. The snow began to fall around one o’clock in the afternoon, a few flurries, here and there. Then came the snowstorm from hell. White outs, warnings not to drive in it until the white outs were over with. Not the best way for the boyfriend to come for dinner. I called him, he said that his parents did not think it was a good idea to drive in the snow so he was going to walk over. I told him, not to bother, there was always next New Years Day.

My parents thought that was rather mature way to look at things, actually I was seething inside. I returned to watch the Cotton Bowl Parade, it was nice and warm and sunny in Dallas, Texas; here in Buffalo, New York it was snowing and blowing, what a way to spend New Years Day. I hated football but loved to watch the parades.

Before dinner, the snowplow came along, filling the driveway back up, once again the three of us armed with snow shovels went outside to shovel. Once we were back inside, mom made hot chocolate with marshmallow fluff. That was so good after being out in the wind and snow for an hour, thanks to the plow jockeys.

I was really getting board, when dad produced a game of Monopoly that had been on the closet shelf for the last four years. He blew the dust off, took to the dining room table, and opened the box. Monopoly was more like the state of monotony. He finally convinced my mom and I to play, after a superb performance on his part:

“Look, no one is going anywhere, Sheila, I know you are board, and Kate you need to

participate in games with us.”

My mother the skeptic, kicked dad under the table, me I smirked:

“Gilbert, you know I hate to play games, why don’t you and Shelia just play”

Never one to give into mom:

“Kate, we are a family hence we do family things, this is a family thing.”

Maybe for dear old dad but not for mom or me. The game began, my first throw of the dice I could not purchase any property, it was just the beginning. I made it to Baltic Avenue...whoopee! Then I got the railroad, then GO TO JAIL. This game was going to be a long drawn-out affair. Mom, managed to stay out of jail and passed me so did dear ole dad. I finally got out of jail, by that time mom and dad had bought up most of the real estate property on the board. I did manage to get Park Place and Broadway, the two most expensive, I had one railroad and Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues. Nice, I hated monotony.

The game continued, with me losing, I had to do something, the question was what? They were building houses, and hotels, I was trying to stay out of the poor house. Dad was beside himself he was winning, mom was getting aggravated, I was bored. Right about the time dad was in the lead, smoke began to fill the house.

Dad, jumped up out of his chair, mom followed. Mom had burned the potatoes so badly that it would take a week just to clean the charred remains of the pan on the stove. So much for dinner of there was still the ham and corn. I doubted there was much she could do to that. Then again, mom was not the best cook in the world.

Mom, decided to make another batch of potatoes, so we could play monotony for another twenty minutes. Dad was like a kid in a candy story, mom was seeing daggers. I just sat quietly hoping she did not burn anything else. The burned potatoes met with the garbage can, airing the house out was a different matter, we opened the window, put our coats and hats on, the wind blew now we had snow coming in the window, although refreshing, it was COLD. Twenty minutes later, the house smelled better. Mom did not burn the second batch of potatoes, the ham was delicious.

Mom got out the wine glasses, they had wine, I had grape juice, I was not old enough to have wine. New Years Day 1966.