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My introduction to the Antishin family way of doing things came in December of 1976. I spent the holiday of all holidays experiencing a way of celebrating Christmas for many years to come.

Some special memories I have of Christmas Day at the Antishin’s would include having to stop on the way to their house at Farmer Jack (they were opened until 12:00p noon) for a gallon of milk, or a quart of cream, or perhaps a couple of pounds of butter.  Some vital ingredients for the perfect Christmas Day meal.

Also, the string of stockings on the fireplace mantle in the family room grew longer and longer as we added spouses, grand babies and now great grand babies.

My future father-in-law’s reputation for exterior decorations is well known and involves enough Christmas lights to light up Ford Field for a night game.  Along with a spinning electric meter running at about 9500 rpm due to a well-lit house, yard and a giant evergreen out front.

Judy was no slouch when it came to the interior decorations.  There were dozens upon dozens of crystal, porcelain and ceramic figurines.  Special Christmas plates, silver and serving pieces.  Red bows, bells and wall hangings.

The thing I remember most of all were the presents.

Piles and piles of presents.  Everyone with numerous gifts to open each Christmas day.  Massive number of boxes, bags and bows.  A literal mountain of gifts for each person in the family.  And the piles grew as we added more family members.

Opening presents took a large part of the morning.  What was left in the carnage was stacks of collapsed boxes to be saved for next year.  Plus, miles of Christmas wrapping paper, all stuffed into multiple extra-large black garbage bags destined for the curb.  Enough to gift wrap a large building.

But my favorite part of all.  The most fun to be had on Christmas day was the annual Christmas gift hunt.  It started with Judy making inquiries of each of us.  “What did you get?”, she would ask.  You would recite your list, and she would ask, “Did you not get a sweater?” or “Wasn’t there cologne in one of your boxes?”  Then when she would get a mental list in her head as to who was missing what, off she would go, to the darkest corners of closets, under beds and pulling through each dresser drawer looking for “missing” presents.  Things she had purchased months earlier for each of us and stashing away for this special day.

But most of all, my favorite part of Christmas at the Antishin’s was being welcomed as a member of the family.

Some will ask me why I don’t take my girlfriend out to dinner on Valentine’s Day.

I respond that she likes to go out with her Husband on those nights . . .

A friend posted this today, now I can’t stop

Now for my contributions

• Don’t Care Where it Goes, Freight Train
• Desert, Horse with No Name
• Home, Country Roads

Social Distancing, Stay-at-Home Order, Reopen Business, These are all new terms that COVID-19 has forced upon us. The end result of which a lot of employees across the country are forced to Work-at-Home or Telecommute as it were. This is not a new concept, but one that companies were compelled to do in order to disperse their workforce.

I was one of the early adapters, based on a suggestion from my management team. The State of Florida (my employer) at the time established a criteria that if you were 60+ Years of Age OR had Heart Disease OR Diabetes OR Lung Disease then you were an eligible candidate.

I met three (3) of the four (4) criteria.

So with that said, this article is about the positives, or takeaways from my view about having to work from home.

• Weight Loss ~ I’ve lost at least 5 lbs. since starting Work-at-Home due to an improved diet
• Money Savings ~ I have saved over $500 in the first four (4) weeks of Work-at-home. It might have been more had I not had to stock up on a few items.
• Portion Control ~ When I do order out, I have reduced the amount of food eaten each time by half. Therefore I am eating less and getting two meals out of each order out contributing to the two (2) items above.
• Vehicle Maintenance ~ Eliminating at least 125 miles a week for commuting saves fuel, wear & tear and maintenance costs. Fuel costs have been reduced at least $50 and to date have yet to pay for any maintenance.
• Mental Health ~ Zero time spent commuting means zero time being tailgated, zero time being cut off in traffic and zero time having to be concerned with red light runners.
• Windows Open ~ Fresh air, a nice breeze, at least until lunch time when it starts to get too hot.
• Sounds of Nature ~ Sand Hill Cranes passing overhead. A Bob-White Quail chirping in the distance, a Pileated Woodpecker with his various calls.
• Neighborhood Watch ~ I thought that I lived in a quiet neighborhood. But between construction crews, lawn maintenance, repairmen and delivery trucks there is a lot of traffic here during the day. Not to mention the residents going in and out.
• Time ~ Less time commuting (90 minutes per day), and less time at restaurants (120 minutes per day) has given me more time to work on projects I am otherwise pressed to get done like my income tax, websites and organizing projects around the house.
• Coffee Club ~ The coffee here is much better than at work. The downside is that I have to make it myself.