Smalley says Merry Christmas

I’m sitting on a white plastic pail, staring at a tiny red and white bobber, waiting for a 12-inch perch to eat one of the maggots off my Rat Finkie.

Three inches of new ice is plenty to support my weight, but now it’s snowing—sideways—and snow is blowing into the hole, slushing up the bobber, and forcing me to lean over to scoop the hole clean.

My dog … Wait a minute, where’s my dog? Rolling in something dead over in the weeds.

Haven’t had a bite in two hours and now I’m nodding into one of those “stare at the bobber” moments where my mind wanders and I start a silent rant…

“PAUSE”. I said “HIT THE PAUSE” button. None of this is true. I haven’t even put my ice fishing stuff together yet this year.

Actually I just returned from a fact-finding mission to Hawaii where I wanted to see if the sun was still shining somewhere on planet Earth!

Sitting on a pail was just a set-up for this writer to ask, “Why don’t people say ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ anymore?”

The only times I heard “Merry Christmas” in Hawaii was when I said it first while sitting in the hot tub.

Airports and businesses located in airports wimped out with a limp “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays.”

Take a close look at many Flathead Valley businesses.

I’m wondering if public elementary school students even still sing Silent Night, Joy to theWorld, or that Pa-Rump-Pa-Pa song?

I know I’m not the only person who is wondering what happened to “Merry Christmas.”

By the time you read this, I will have been ice fishing and I will wish anyone I meet a Merry Christmas, regardless.

Now, do I hear a “MERRY CHRISTMAS?”

Jerry Smalley’s Fishful Thinking column appears weekly in th Hungry Horse News.