Tossing Salt Presents:
12 (Dougie) Days of Christmas
Day 6: The Gin Grin, Proud Mary & All I Want For Christmas
December 18, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Well, we’re at the halfway point of this series and to tell the truth, I don’t really feel all that Christmasy right now. As most of you are aware, my sister passed away one week ago today and well, it’s finally starting to hit me. I spent several hours at her apartment yesterday, cleaning the place up and trying to get an idea of what we’re going to need to do with her stuff and sitting there, looking around at all the pictures on the walls, the Nascar memorabilia, the frogs everywhere, it hit me… hard. I didn’t get much done yesterday, but we’ve got until the end of the month to figure things out. I’m just feeling alone and lost right now.

As my Mom and sister have both mentioned repeatedly, there are only two of us “kids” left from a group of five., and both Lynn and Steve have been within the past two years. And what’s left? Terri is homebound, Mom is slowly losing it more and more every day, and then there’s me. Mentally detached, miserable as fuck, and just tired of it all.

If I didn’t have my responsibilities to my fur babies, what’s left of my family, and four amazing people who live across town, but are as much family as anyone can be, I’d probably just be ready to give up. So much for the holidays, right? It’s just going through the motions right now until I can find a moment to myself where I can let the guard down for a few minutes, take down the walls, and just let everything out. It probably won’t be anytime soon. Damn, why was I raised to be so damn responsible for everyone else? What about responsibility to myself? sighs Maybe next year.

And anyhow, after that depressing opening, I guess I should go ahead and do Day 6 of the Twelve (Dougie) Days of Christmas. As I said, I’m, not feeling it, but note what I said about responsibility. I signed up for this and am in the middle of a twelve-day blog series. I’m not quitting in the middle. I don’t quit things, even when I probably should. So we’re going to drudge through this and see what happens. So are you ready? Let’s get the Magic Bag and see what we’ve got for today. We’ve got The Gin Grin, Proud Mary, and All I Want For Christmas. Are you ready? Let’s do this.

The Gin Grin

For many years, there was a young guy who would come into my place of employment, every night at roughly around the same time, and get some gin. Sometimes a pint, sometimes a fifth, and if it was the weekend or a holiday, he’d go big for the half-gallon size of Seagram’s Gin. And he was always in a good mood and always smiling. And one day, during a quick conversation, I mentioned to him that he always seems to be in a good mood and he replied, “It’s the Gin! Gin makes you sin!”. And without missing a beat, I replied, “The sin from the Gin gives you a Gin Grin then?”. And well, for the next several months afterward, he would always come in, smiling that grin and calling it his “Gin Grin”. I haven’t seen him at the store since I returned to work though, I probably should try to find out what’s happened to him. I miss seeing that smiling face.

Proud Mary

Many years ago, Creedence Clearwater Revival wrote a song and recorded it. A song called Proud Mary and the song was good. Then Ike Turner heard the song and realized that he and his then-wife Tina Turner could do something with this song and recorded a cover of that song. And it was exceptional as Tina made it her own and carried that song to new heights. And since then, everyone and their duet partner have taken that song and covered it. The first time I remember hearing it was as sung by George Jones and Johnny Paycheck. Who would have ever thought a song about a River Boat could be so good? The big wheel keeps on turning. And Proud Mary keeps on burning. Rolling Rolling Rolling on the River. And there you go.

All I Want For Christmas

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs and no, I’m not talking about the screeching version that Mariah Carey warbles each year as she’s stuffed into her skin-tight dress after being defrosted and then released onto the Christmas masses. Mariah sucks! Independent singer Steve Grand has the best version of this song and the video is excellent as well. Should I add it here or just tell you to look it up? I’ll add it here. Grand has an amazing voice and makes this song his own. He’s also sexy as hell but forget about the homoerotic images and gay stuff. Just listen to the song. You’ll be glad you did.

But thinking back, I’ve used this topic of discussion and shared this video countless times before. So let’s take the whole topic of “All I Want For Christmas” in another direction. Let’s make a Top Ten List. Are you ready?

All I Want For Christmas

10. To see the people that matter most in my life smile and be happy.
11. Socks & Underwear
12. A little snow on the ground.
13. At least four straight hours of uninterrupted writing time and the inspiration for something to write.
14. To have all the clutter removed from our house.
15. A good-looking man to just cuddle up next to on the couch and relax with while we’re sipping hot chocolate and watching WWE.
16. A few friends, a bonfire, and some memories being made.
17. A publishing deal for my writing.
18. $150,000,000.
19. To not be alone anymore.

And there you go. That wasn’t so bad and I actually do feel a little better. I only had to let the dog out (at 5:00 am), give the cats treats, answer a question from my Mom in the other room wanting to know what the thermostat is set on and why I’m up, and go pee, so the interruptions were at a minimum this morning. The streak is still alive and we’ll be back tomorrow on Day 7. My thanks for reading. Comments, thoughts, or any questions are welcome and appreciated. And I guess I’m out of here. I’ll talk to you later. Merry Christmas!

Ubuntu!