December is the big birthday month. That’s right, two Cranky Old Men, Farmer Steve and Fonger, both born on the same December day. Happy beer day boys, or in Fonger’s case happy bong day.
Don’t count your candles, just enjoy the glow. JT calls them brothers from another mother. I insulted both of them by asking if they were identical twins.
I believe there was another notable birthday this month as well? Oh yea, two of my grandkids, better not forget those birthdays, again.
Farmer Steve is on a ski trip to Fernie with his sons, the last time he skied was 50 years ago! He exuded confidence when he summed up the trip in three words, “God help me”. I never knew Farmer Steve as the religious type, other than praying for rain. I suggested for his birthday he tap a keg rather than break a leg. No real need to go skiing at his age, it’s all downhill from here anyway.
Farmer Steve on a Fernie begginer’s hill.
A toast to the two of them for another trip around the sun. You’re not as young as you once were but you’re as young as you’ll ever be. Not sure if that sounds quite as encouraging as I meant it to be. Whatever.
Of course, just as October is Oktoberfest month, so too December is Christmas month.* Maybe Birthday month may be a more politically correct moniker? Maybe? Maybe not.
I’ll tell you one thing that’s great about Christmas. That’s right, your surprise that morning when the grandkids open the gifts from you and grandma.
The COM double birthday is also the start of our Christmas beer countdown. And what’s not so great about Christmas are those themed beers that only come out for a few weeks a year, and with good reason. But I figured if Farmer Steve can toss good sense and caution to the wind, at least I can take the risk involved in sampling a Christmas brew.
How about a Gingerbread stout.
Wasn’t it Hilary Clinton who wrote the book “It Takes a Gingerbread Village to Raise a Child”. Maybe Monica Lewinsky should have written the sequel, “What it Takes to Raise a President”.* It appears I have digressed yet again, and in poor taste no less.
But there is another reason for the season, beyond stouts, porters and saisons, and a New Year’s Eve warm-up. So with that in mind everyone here at Cranky Old Men Drinking Beer wish you a safe, festive, happy and politically correct birthday month celebration, or as we like to say around here, Merry Christmas.**
*Editor’s Comment: December is technically New Year’s Eve month as well, although at midnight you are now celebrating in January. These days the COM no longer make it to midnight on New Year’s Eve anyway, so for them it’s another December celebration.
*Reviewer’s Comment: Holiday antics and pedantics from our Editor in Chief. He is both a Scrooge and a Grinch but in both cases without the happy ending.
**Editor’s Comment: Hilary Clinton wrote the 1996 best seller entitled “It Takes a Village, and Other Lessons Children Teach Us” while she was First Lady during Bill Clinton’s presidency. This was during the time that her husband was having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, not the type of village support that Hilary was referring to in her book. The title is based on the proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”. The origins of the saying are unknown but they are thought to come from African culture.
**COMDB Accounting Department: A friendly reminder, donating to a registered (and worthwhile) charity before December 31st provides you with a tax write-off in the 2024 tax year. Merry Christmas.
**COMDB Translation Department: Feliz Navidad, and Joyeux Noël as well.
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