Christmas Gophers and Golf

There are somethings about the holidays that just should not make sense, but come together like Christmas, gophers , and golf did for us. It all started as an innocent enough attempt to clear out some of the garbage piling up in my mother's backyard from the last few seasons. It also was time to conjure up the seasnal theme for her front yard which was a yearly ritual for us as a two person family.  Never had Christmas become so silly as this year when we incorporated golf and some gophers into the holidays.

My step father and mom had long since divorced, yet some of his artifacts still were looming amidst the backyard odds and ends. The day we began setting stuff out on the roadway for the local bulk trash pick up later in the week, we discovered three gophers of the mechanical persuasion that sang and danced the song ' I'm Alright' by Kenny Loggins. Along with the three singing vermin, we also found a pair of golf club sets that were a little rusty but still had some life in them.

Three gophers, that my step father bought for their uncanny singing of the theme from my step fathers favorite movie of all time Caddyshack.  I suppose that at least one of them must have been bought in honor of  Caddyshack II , in honor of the sequel. 

My mom and I already had put up the standard decorations around her yard. Twinkling lights in the bushes and trees, hanging ornaments in various places, tinsel draping some of the more visible foliage, and of course snowflakes hanging from every high beam or bough.

Yet the finishing touch was just about to be set into place.

The trio of gophers was the perfect addition my mother decided, and so we hid them in various places abou the yard. In her words, it would be just like the movie, when unsuspecting strangers would wander by there would jump out at them a singing Caddyshack gopher.

It was a funny as it was corny.

It seemed a bit silly to me at first, but my mom's eyes got excited about this like a child in a toy store.

Her inner child took control and so did her sense of fun and giggles for the season. Christmas had finally arrived in her world this year, thanks to those three silly gophers. One hid by the dog house, one under her most decorated tree in the yard, and the third hid among the sage bushes behind a huge pine cone awaiting to pounce.

We even came up with an even more silly idea to make use of the golf clubs.

Using some garden tools and a little ingenuity. We dug holes a few inches deep in four places throughout the front yard and driveway, creating a make shift four hole golf course. Luckily four holes was the perfect number for two very handicapped players like my mother and I.

What we lacked in athletic abilities on the green, we sure did make up for in pure unconditional funny good times with those golf clubs. We had more fun this year, than perhaps any other time spent in the past decorating her yard for the Christmas holidays.

So there you have it, the story is simple enough, and the method was far from well planned. Yet the real Yuletide spirit has nothing to do with fancy decorum or expensive glitz and glitter. The only thing that you need to put the jolly back in you holly these days, is three equal parts of Christmas, gophers, and golf.