Published: January 08, 2010 08:44 am      

In These Otsego Hills: The times they have changed

The Christmas of 2009 will go down as the first Christmas since 1971 that we have not celebrated the holiday in Cooperstown. Instead we found ourselves with the Christopher and Annie in Mount Vernon, Ohio. We were, of course, dubious that Christmas could actually be celebrated anywhere but Cooperstown.

Fortunately, we were proven wrong as Christmas in Ohio seemed every bit as good as Christmas in Cooperstown. Of course, we were not keen on the concept of traveling in the winter.

However, we did manage, thanks to Linda Crampton, who offered to not only drive us out to Ohio, but to also go back to Ohio to drive us back to Cooperstown. And, in spite of the somewhat sketchy weather, we had a great time both ways.

And while we missed our usual Christmas Eve celebration with Alice and Harvey Eckler and their family as well as our usual Christmas Day dinner with Sandy and Al Bullard and their family, we found new ways to celebrate. Christmas Eve, in keeping with Annie’s family tradition, we did fondue and on Christmas Day we partook of dinner with Peggy and Tom Turgeon and their family in Gambier, Ohio. And we enjoyed it all very much.

We are also happy to note that we survived the Christmas Eve fondue without impaling a palm on a fondue fork. Both of the others at the festivities were not so fortunate. Luckily there was a goodly supply of spiderman bandaids available.

We also greatly enjoyed attending the Dec. 19 baby shower for Boo, which was given by Annie’s good friend and co-worker, Nicole Pagano- Percy at her home on East High Street in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

We were not only able to touch base with a number of our friends from the Kenyon College community, but we also were afforded the opportunity to meet new ones.

And, of course, we greatly enjoyed seeing all of the various baby goods which are available these days for new arrivals.

We feel it is safe to say that it is certainly some different than it was 35 years ago. Additionally, at the shower we had the chance to meet Nicole’s two daughters, Sophia, five-and-a half, and Lilly, two-and-a-half. Sophia was perfect as Nicole’s special helper for the shower. And Lilly, we discovered, thinks that our Christopher is just one big jungle gym.

After the shower, Christopher was hoisting Lilly up, up, up in the air and then back down again only to have her say ``Do it again,’’ which he did a number of times. However, on her last ``Do it again,’’ he announced he was pooped.

Lilly immediately pointed across the room, telling him the bathroom was over there. She then, with great urgency, started pushing him, no small task for a two-and-a-half-yearold, toward the bathroom.

He then explained to her that he meant he was tired, not in need of a bathroom.

While in Ohio, we had the chance to see Annie’s parents, Hal and Judy Higby, who were also in Ohio for the shower. We quite enjoyed our visit with them and look forward to sharing Boo, who will be a first grandchild on both sides, with them.

Unfortunately, due to the east coast storm which hit the weekend before Christmas, Hal did not have the smoothest trip from Ohio back to Connecticut.

In fact, he sat in the Columbus airport for ten hours waiting for a flight.

And finally, when an airplane for his flight arrived from Philadelphia, having sat on the tarmac for three hours there, it turned out that the pilot had timed-out on his flying hours so it did not appear that there was a pilot to fly the plane back to New York. But, in a stroke of luck, one of the passengers slated to take the flight to New York was a pilot for that particular airline. He announced that, once he did the necessary paperwork, he would be happy to fly the plane to New York, which is just what he did, much to the relief of not only Hal but all the rest of the passengers on the flight.

And people wonder why we don’t like to fly.

And, although we stayed in Ohio long enough that we missed our usual New Year’s Eve festivities at the Hawkeye, we nonetheless enjoyed the rest of our visit.

And we left knowing that when we next visit Ohio, baby Boo will be there to greet us. And thus while the festivities for Christmas of 2009 and the New Year of 2010 were greatly changed, we know full well that the real change is yet to come.

In closing, we believe it was John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said, ``A capacity to change is indispensable.

Equally indispensable is the capacity to hold fast to that which is good.’’ We hope in 2010 to be able to do both.

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