I also gave her a copy of 8MM films from our Peters family collection, during the years 1964 to 1974.  It is amazing how technically advanced we are now.  Everyone’s face was whited out by the huge lamp mounted on the movie camera.  I remember being in the Annex to the Jordan Marsh Company when it was still in business.  I worked in the Basement Store and they were selling out their 8MM cameras for $7.00, so I bought one for every adult in our house.  I am the only one who ever used them.  Now I am in high definition in Studio B at the LTC downtown.  What a difference.

      It would not be Christmas if I did not tell when the show is on.  It airs on Wednesday at 7PM and on Monday at 9:30AM.  That is for “Peters’ Principles.”  The name came about because I have some principles and I like to discuss them with our local politicians, our merchants, and our recreational staff at the National Park Service.

     So, back to Christmas.  I got an electric dispenser for my hand cleaner.  It automatically dispenses the cleaner.  I was under strict instructions to spend wisely, which I did.  Well, frugally at least.  We will have to see how wise I was.   With the upcoming Presidential elections, and a surging Donald Trump taking on Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.  Sanders looks like he could take Iowa and New Hampshire.  But those states are alot of fluff, in my opinion, because my  experience in 1992 was that the Super Tuesday states are the ones that count.  One day, my doctor said, “How does it feel being the brother-in-law of the Democratic front-runner?”  It felt pretty good actually but it was fleeting.  Paul called me on Super Tuesday and said on the phone, “Well, I lost Florida and Illinois, but you took Maryland and Massachusetts.  How did that happen?”  I had worked hard in both states.  But, he had worked hard in the other states that day and had lost them.  For a man who went all the way to the United States Senate never losing an election, it was sobering.

     On my television shows, I always try to be polite and thoughtful with those who probably have little chance.  I am very careful not to point that fact out.  This election is coming much more quickly than others which seemed to come at a snail’s pace.  Trump is scary, but when I saw him at the Tyngsboro speech, he had thousands in the “palm of his hand.”  He made few mistakes.  The only thing I remember is something I told a friend in Kentucky, that there were no minorities there.  I did not see one nonEuropean American or African American.  I did not see any on the bus after the speech either.  I did see a crowd I would estimate to be at least consisting of 4,000 individuals.

     So Christmas has given way to New Year’s and this being a Leap Year, like every Presidential year is, we will soon see the elections coming at us.

     For New Year’s I will probably order Asian food and watch the “Three Stooges.”  That is what I normally do, and I don’t see any major changes.

     I have been reading my late brother-in-law’s campaign booklet, “A Call to Economic Arms,”  and it is interesting history.  Much of what is in it is now dated.  It is doubtful that, in this current economy we would ever form UDAG grants for corporations like Wang Laboratories, Inc.   I hated working at Wang and desperately wanted to go back to my previous employer, the Jordan Marsh Company.  Computers were huge machines that held information in batch systems.  Fortran, Cobol, Basic, and other languages had specific applications.  Maybe they still do, i do not have much to do with current systems.

     Well, that was not very much about Christmas.  But, that is why this column is called “Meanderings.”  You never know where my mind will end up.  Often, it ends in the past.  Tonight is one of those nights.