Ho-Ho-Ho!

Ho-Ho-Ho!

Photo by Linda Hughes (my wife).

Hmmmmmnnnn.......

Our ne’er-do-well neighbor, Billy, across the street, is up to no-good again.
Billy is the only child of our previous neighbors.
Billy is in his 70s.
They were here when we moved in, here when our house was being built.
That was 20 years ago.
And since they were across the street, rather than 500+ yards away, we came to know them.
A couple years ago they both died. They were in their 90s by then.
Billy’s wife died a while ago, so he was living alone near Pittsburgh.
Billy came up to live with his parents in their final days, and is now living in their house.
Our neighbor had planted a number of trees over the years, and with him gone some were dying.
First to be cut down was a large purple maple, called Joe, out front.
All that was left was its trunk, about six feet high, and 18 inches in diameter.
Rather than remove it, Billy had it carved into a bear.
But an anorexic bear.
18 inches wasn’t much to work with.
So now an anorexic bear is staring at us from across the street.
And our previous neighbors are reportedly spinning in their graves.
Last Christmas Billy put a Santa hat on the bear.
This year he went whole hog.
My wife looked out, and the Santa hat was on the bear — with a flowing white beard and hair.
She walked our dog up the street, and when she returned red Santa pants and black boots were on the bear.
When she looked next, the bear was fully tricked out as Santa.
Never saw Billy at all.

• My wife of almost 42 years is “Linda.” She retired as a computer programmer.