MATILDA

Our Christmas tree decorations are decidedly bottom-heavy-they generally go up as Holly can reach.........and that's ok with me. She rummaged thru the heretofore perfectly stored ornament box and hung what she fancied...I told her stories about the ones she picked and it was neat.

WHen it comes time to disassemble the spruce beastie, and ultimately to repack the ornaments in their proper anal arrangement for next year, I will probably spend time looking over the scores of others not hung and give them a secret promise that next year they will find a favored place. :)-->

A funny side note: Some years back, pre-Holly...I was the on-camera spokeperson for the Boto Company; they are the Hong Kong manufacturers of most all the US artifical trees. The subject of the video (which was included in most tree sales from Sears and K-Mart one year) was how to assemble and plush your tree so it looks as nice as the store displays...lololololol....the video was great, but I gotta tell you that every year our tree is a totally non-Martha approved assemblage of stuff and more stuff...I should watch my own video...lolol.

Another ~ secret: Hallmark's ornaments come out in July...I always look forward to that...the kids used to pick out one that could tell a story about us somehow...I usually got that one or two in the post holidaze sales.

Among my favorites is a Scrooge ornament and the attendant Tiny Tim. They are special because for 12 years we made a substantial amount of our income producing and performing A Christmas Carol. Ok, so the year these ornaments came out, our sons picked those two and superglued them together because they "could only pick one ornament" and after all was said and done "they were a team."

Oh yeah, and they superglued the things while in the store...but that's another story.

:)--> A fella came in from the cold (no pun intended) the other nite to announce there was snow in the forecast...he was sooooo excited...I hesitated to point out that the weather station was talking about Vermont, NOT south Florida...lol

It could happen...lol...pass the iceskates,

Splitfoot...

Morgan was five when he did the Santa math:

"Do you see any chimneys around here that a fat man could jump down?"

"Do you know how many people live in Chicago? and Chicago is bigger than Florida..."

We never had to say much of anything about the veracity of Mr. Claus...this is the same kid that when the Tooth Fairy paid him his first visit he came bolting into the den to announce his good fortune...a buck for one tooth.....(light bulb over the head)..."...hey Mom, how many teeth do I have, anyway?"

The Easter Bunny never stood a chance...lol.

But there was a serious discussion about how many jelly beans a rabbit can hold in its paws ergo...the E.B. probably not being able to cover the same ground as Santa, hence, no real Easter Bunny.

But he, like his younger brother, Reid, and little sislette, Holly (these daze) lived the myth cuz it's nice and can be lucrative...lol.

We never ceased saying "Merry Christmas" or forsook any of the traditional mythage and tradition that accompanies most seasons... and no one ever breathed down our necks about it... altho I am well aware of the prevailing sentiments that started all that cow frenzy herd mentality mindless subscription.

Happy Household...eek...HaHoHol...uh-oh...danger, Will Robinson...

Merry Toofy Christmas, Easter Bunnies...bawk bawk!

dew dew dew dew...dew dew dew dew...

...picture if you will...

Big blow up inflatable snowmen and santas on the lawn, white stuff sprayed on Floritan yards, electric skeletal reindeer art, not forgetting to put on sunscreen before putting up yard lights...

...ah, the sunshine state!

This much I'll say...they decorate houses, palm trees and giant sprucey things here with real gusto...it is mostly an electric light showcase, but daytime yard deco consists of the 2-D white reindeer and sleigh cutouts.

This SW coast of Florida is heavily peopled with folks from places where the dirt is black, notably Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and the like...flocks and flocks of flocking snowbirds (Canadians) and a heavy dose of Germans visit seasonally.

It is a pretty paradise here where people are dying (literally) to be, but it is, well...a place where realtors are worse than any sharks and land developers make agitated alligators look tame...lol...everybody and their brother is (or plans to be) a mortgage broker...a tropical feeding frenzy for the moneymuckers.

...my mother-in-law is here for the holidaze and I am working Christmas Eve and Day.

Hold me. lol

Bah-hahaha-ma Mama Humbug!

I am presently off to work in the Tiki Bar...

blech

I miss my snowy roots.

Clickin' my heels three times...no go. Rats.

..back to you, Chet...

This could be a good thing...

My first wisdom tooth that made alot of noise was swollen too much to be extracted...so my Uncle (who was my dentist) irrigated it, told me to go home and enjoy a cocktail til the swelling went down...

...guess we took it a little too literally cuz nine months later...ta-da!...there was Morgan.

The first page of Morgan's baby book holds the X-ray of the tooth...his root beginnings...lol.

You'll do fine...dentristry has evolved into a near painless art. ("Is it safe yet...?")

Good luck.

ahem...I am inordinately well read and relatively witty...good looking and a young looking @#&$^$%# year old. I swim, shoot a mean game of stick, bowl, ride horses (on carousels)and tend bar in a very nice place that allows educated women with a history to pour. Scrabble is an addiction. I have overcome chocolate.

I am a former CEO of a Theatre production company and have stock in Walmart....okay, my son has stock in Walmart...but I bought it for him and he's going to college now cuz Sam's done good these past years.

I can outrun the police and know the numbers to three good cab companies.

I launder well and my children are paid for.

A screenplay is being held hostage in North Hollywood that may pan out and afford air passage to wherever this fellow is.

Can I bring my husband?

PT me...whatever that means...lol.

X

M

The Titanicreference reminded me of a pathetic, but amusing, moment in my college classroom a few years back...

...all the buzz was about this movie and going to see it...when I was given over to talk about it for a minute (it was a Theatre class), I was loudly interrupted by a teenage co-ed NOT to talk about it, she hadn't seen it, it would ruin the experience...

...I told her the boat sank. She was crestfallen. lololol

On a similar note...While in Chicago a few years back, my family and I did get to see the travelling Titanic Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry...it was very interesting as well as moving.

lol..yes..."any stranger" would never do...

Wow...just when you thought it was safe to go in the water...another birthday arrives...lol.

Thank you for your well wishes...makes me smile.

It also reminds me of all the b-daze and the like that I note but do not acknowledge. Lo shonta, man!

X

St. M

The Bells of Dublin by The Chieftains

Celtic arrangements play here always, all year round...even the Christmas ones...lol.

...and hearsone for fun:

the Christmas LP (released on tape and CD now) by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians...it's theone with the Norman Rockwell picture of two kids asleep in a wingback chair with Santa peering out from behind.......a fun, festive, from the fifties rendition of Christmas favorites.

Cranial Gillettus...a nasty kind of cutting edge. Owie ow ow.

He will be remembered as a gentle, giving, loving and forthright gentleman...here's to The Hope.

"E-6, Galen?"

weren't those Julius Caesar's last words on the steps?

How many cards are in that box? lol...

I likes 'em

now skews me whilst I go pick up the palm fronds for my tiki hut...bleck...Planet Fort Myers beckons

All skate...aaalll skate....

(((Herr Duffmeister)))

a little b-day huggage for the duffster

okay, here's one "family" story I'll share, just in case you don't call/go home...

Mine is a big family, close...definitely gather on holidays especially...becuz it was/is/was special...

1974 Thanksgiving...it was the first time I was away Way away from my "earthly" family. It was my decision. The word on "the field" was that no one was allowed to leave their posts (mine was Springfield, IL).

The funny thing was, it was just me "on the field" in that town and I remember that I could have/would have driven the simple 3 hours home to Chicago despite what the WayBorg prime directive was...but I didn't. I chose to stay and cook my first bird at my simple digs in Illinois' capital city AND invite the other in-state whateverweweres (Area Boosters, that's it!) who couldn't (even if they would have) go home for the holiday.

...but I needed dough (the green kind)so I wrote my Mom o'Mom a note something to the effect of "I love you, will miss you, can you please spot me $50 to host a turkey dinner for myself and a few out-of-state friends."

Mom sent back a lovely note with the money, something to the effect of..."we love you, we'll miss you, we'll still be here when you come home...consider this $$ a down payment for being a wonderful daughter and letting me be your Mommy."

I still have the card...and I still have the Mommy...for today.

I have a lot to be thankful for and memories to savour along with good food and friends this year. I only wish I could drive a simple 3 hours home again.

Think E.T.....phone home.

Think Lassie...go home.

Think Zen...be home.

lol

Tower to TWIts...Tower to TWIts...

Come in TWIts...

...what WG said...think Nike - Just do it!

often think of them...think they both may be in Indiana now...wondering if anyone had contact...

Judas Priest...you people miss the really important issue addressed in this thread...

...tissue issue, that is.

I sneeze this opportunity to offer further clarification to the aforementioned Shellberton comment i.e the literal according to usage...

Kleenex is most often used to comfort and/or clean the probiscular portion of one's face while tissue is most often used to comfort/clean the southernmost slat sections of the torso.

A simple matter of destinktion.

In spite of myself and my experience, or any redefined mutations in my ongoing spiritual odyssey...I find I cannot help but speak about basic God and Jesus Christ 101 when sorting things thru, or when responding to others' questons.

How many "alsos" is rarely a topic...lol...I dechomaied that stuff and lambanoed that stuff to the attic of my mind. :)-->

Thessalonians is a real bracer and comfort, often...and I bank on those biblical passages (perceived to be truths) that I learned/remember.

When I pray it is often for the desire to desire the things of God.

praying in your own language, whether English or made up, is an articulated leap of faith...

barkeep...lo shontas all around

sheesh...where's the Grand Inquisitor when ya need him?