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Lots going on to get in the spirit, as the Christmas holiday cometh:
— This is not your mom and dad’s Christmas caroling. On three weeknights in December, groups of people gathered at the Village Inn in North Hudson to board a mobile home and go caroling around town — mostly in the vicinity of nightspots, not Nativities. They started early, about 6:30 p.m., and by the time bartenders started changing their shifts to serve the late-night crowd, the remaining remnant of the wine, women and song event — all three will keep you warm — was a North Hudson stalwart with a long, telltale scarf folded several times around his neck.
— A busload of ugly sweater party participants arrived at Dick’s Bar and Grill from Minneapolis shortly before the holiday, joining locals who just can’t get enough of this kind of dress, and sported it at organized parties at more than three local nightspots in mid-December. As I told one guy, ugly sweater parties are the universal language. He responded: “I’m not sure they are ugly, just annoying.” Like the guy in the gold foil pants? If you are that hard core, the place you wanted to be on the Saturday before Christmas was Woody’s in Bayport, where their ugly sweater contest featured the added amenity of a photo booth with props. This was perhaps the one time of year where you could get away with what I said to Ginger the bartender: “You look really ugly, but it a good way.” Then there’s the input of another ugly sweater veteran. The music was loud and I couldn’t quite hear what she was saying, but it had something to do with something a supermodel would wear — with the addition of dozens of thick threads woven in.
— After days, if not weeks, a signalized stoplight is back on duty at Eleventh and Crestview, after it had been apparently plowed down at night in an earlier ice storm by a driver who lost control. Fixing this one up was almost like the guardrail off an Interstate 94 exit ramp heading north into town, after drivers stop traveling westward. Last winter, that guardrail seemingly was struck at least once because the exit is sharp and steep, and again seemed to be a latenight situation. It also took a while to repair the big dents. And don’t even get me started about the frequent power outages on the hill, usually at night — so no late happy hour due to business closures — but once in the late afternoon, which meant my bank off of Hanley Street was shut down and I couldn’t deposit one of those sporadic small checks freelance writers get. Traffic had been rerouted all over the place, so I ended up being so late it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. So instead, might as well hit the afternoon specials at Green Mill or Buffalo Wild Wings, but wait, I don’t think they were able to be open either. I talked to a friend at BWW about all this the other evening, and she concurred, then added, we could sell our mitigation services as consultants.
— Speaking of B-Dubs, the foyer leading into the place is now equipped with sound effects, a kind of spooky roaring noise that kicks in when you open the outer door. Or is that just from a big heater? In any case, it’s fitting that accompanying this noise is a big piece of art on the wall displaying the trademark flame-imagery that looks like the wings shown on the buffalo logo. Or is this simply meant to symbolize the heat generated by the hottest of their buffalo wings?
— The silly signs at St. Croix Scuba have gotten into the spirit of the season, first by saying, “keep your friends close and your anemones closer,” then truly so with “Who delivers gifts to sharks? Santa Jaws.”

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