Mr. Scalzi's first assignment of the year was quite enjoyable. He asked us to Share your favorite story of Winter cold -- preferably (but not necessarily) involving something freezing inconveniently and humorously.
This made me think of a funny story and here it is:
One Christmas my mother decided to add a little more sparkle than usual to our holiday feast and made an enormous punchbowl full of a beverage which bore the unfortunate name of Fish House Punch. Believe me, there was nothing fishy tasting about this punch. It was refreshing, delicious and had a pleasing citrusy flavor and it went down so easily. We were soon to discover that this seemingly innocuous drink packed quite a wallop. Most of the guests had already arrived and were ejoying a punch cup or two or three of this new concoction Mother had set out in the afternoon as an accompaniment to the hors d'oeuvres.
Quite a bit of snow had fallen and my sister and brother-in-law hadn’t arrived yet. My brother who was visiting for a week or so decided to arm himself with a snow shovel and ventured out to make a space available for their car. He had, of course, been sampling the punch along with the rest of us. Not long after my brother went outdoors, my uncle excused himself to retrieve some gifts from the back of his car. Quite some time went by and neither of them returned. My beau, who was also at our house for the afternoon and evening, decided to tear himself away from my side long enough to go look for them. Some more time passed and finally he returned with both of them, laughing quite heartily. Apparently, he spied my uncle first who never made it out of the car. He was stretched out across the back seat, arms clutched around the gifts, feet sticking out the car door, fast asleep. My brother had evidently abandoned his shoveling and taken himself off down the road several feet, dug himself a little tunnel and crawled in, shovel and all. He wasn’t exactly frozen but very cold indeed and was led back to the house to warm up. The alcoholic content in this punch snuck up on both of them and hit without warning. Its potency became legend in our family.
All’s well that ends well and many’s the laugh we’ve shared over the "Fish House Punch Incident". It continued to show up at subsequent Christmas gatherings but always in a weaker form that didn’t carry such a one-two punch!
Extra credit: Name a song that reminds you of winter that's not Christmas-themed.
My choice is "California Dreaming" by The Mamas and The Papas. It does a good job of conveying the chill in the air on a grey winter day.
1 comment:
We used to make a concoction we called "Nitroglycerin Punch" which contained an entire bottle of 180 proof grain alcohol. That was one drink you learned to respect very quickly. That didn't stop it from making it, of course... Great story! Lisa :-]
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