Merry Christmas

To all my online friends -

Wishing you a 

Merry and Blessed

Christmas

and a 

Healthy and Prosperous 

 New Year.

(I'll be back in January. See you then.)

Deja Vu Blogfest - A Lesson From Mama

As promised, it's time for DL Hammons' "The Day of the Do Over." 

DL is giving us a chance to re-post special news, maybe an important event, or perhaps something that just bears a second look.  (Thanks, DL!) 

Here's mine. I trimmed it at bit since there are lots of blogs to visit in this blog hop. This was the part I wanted to share again.

An After-Christmas Gift

As far back as I can remember - and that goes pretty far back - we always had tinsel (or icicles) on our Christmas tree. It was the only decoration that we considered 'disposable'.  The last thing to go on and the first to come off, and be thrown away, before all the other ornaments were packed away for next year.

But a few years back, when it was time to decorate our tree, I discovered most stores had stopped selling tinsel. No one we talked to was quite sure why. Probably a health hazard of some kind, another one of those things I've used or done for most of my life that has now been deemed unsafe. So there would be no tinsel on our tree. There would be a lot more ornaments, though. That was the first Christmas after my dear mum-in-law had passed and we had brought her Christmas ornaments home to add to our own.

Not surprisingly, all of Mama's ornaments were very old and very well cared for. Most were still in their original boxes. But there was also something wrapped in several sheets of tissue paper. I carefully unfolded the paper and discovered...tinsel. About two boxes worth, I guessed, each strand carefully laid out and saved from previous years.

We used Mama's tinsel that year, and saved it for the next. I've since found a store that still sells tinsel and I bought several boxes but they remain unopened  For now I use Mama's, and I take the time to remove each strand after Christmas and return it to the tissue paper wrapping for next year. It reminds me of her, and it also reminds me of how easily we throw things away. We've become a disposable society. It's easier to discard what's old or broken or would take too much effort to save. Things, relationships, people.

Mama knew it's important to save what we have. To care for, repair, and cherish. She left this knowledge for us, wrapped in tissue paper, to be opened and remembered every year. I thought it was a gift worth sharing with you.

 * * * * * *

Here are the links to the other participants in this Blog Hop. Happy hopping and don't forget to say hi when you visit.

What! Christmas is Next Week?!?

Happy Hump Day

Wait a minute. This is supposed to be my last Hump Day post before Christmas. That means...oh my gosh! Christmas is a week away!!!!

I'm not ready. I having more shopping to do, and wrapping, and planning Christmas dinner for the whole family. 

I should have known it was coming. There are signs everywhere. Even in my own house. 

In my living room. 

In my family room. 

 

Over the fireplace. 

But how did it get here so quickly? 

Okay, tell you what. How about if I just share a couple of my favorite bits of Christmas funnies.

The Politically Correct Twelve Days of Christmas
 
On the 12th day of the Eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival, Significant Other in a consenting adult, monogamous relationship gave to me:
 
a.. TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming,
 
b.. ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note)
 
c. TEN melanin deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal ruling class system leaping

d. NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression

e. EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products from enslaved Bovine-Americans
 
f. SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands
 
g. SIX enslaved Fowl-Americans producing stolen non-human animal products,
 
h. FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domestic incarceration. 

NOTE: after members of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw red paint at my computer, the calling birds, hens and  partridge have been reintroduced to their native habitat. To avoid further  Animal-American enslavement, the remaining gift package has been revised.
 
i. FOUR hours of recorded whale songs
 
j. THREE deconstructionist poets
 
k. TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses, and
 
l. ONE Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.

 

 Number eight has always been my favorite.

(Bovine-Americans...hee hee hee).

And here they are...those fabulous Silent Monks.

I love that video every Christmas.

I wouldn't forget your "aw".

I know we see lots of cute pics of sleeping pups, but this little one is definitely somebody's furbaby.

 

It got me.

Not only is this an "on the run" post - it will be one of two this week. 

Come back by on Friday for my post in DL Hammons'...

Okay. Was that enough to get you over the hump? I hope so.

Are you ready for Christmas?

 A Happy and Blessed Hanukkah to my Jewish friends.

Quote for Today:

I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give!
~Carolyn Wells

Grumpy Hump Day

Happy Hump Day - Sort of...

I'm wrestling with Internet issues today. One of my email accounts appears to have been hacked and is sending bogus email in my name. And Google, in its infinite wisdom, has decided I need protection from Spam comments, even though I keep telling them I don't.

If you're kind enough to leave me a comment, you'll probably see that annoying "prove you're not a robot" verification. This is NOT my idea. I've re-set the Word Verification to off until I'm blue in the face and I can't make that thing go away. If anyone has any helpful hints for me, please share.

Since words are giving me so much trouble today, this post is going to be light on text and heavy on pictures. Hopefully ones that make you laugh.  

This one just tickled me.

You've got to give him credit for trying.

Have you ever been in this position?

At least he came back to check.

This looks exactly like my son's dog.

And that sounds like an excuse he'd use too. 

(If he could talk, of course.)

While we're thinking of Christmas, how true is this?

Yeah, you know you do it.

If you're a writer, or know a writer, here's a great Christmas idea.

Well, why not? Everyone reads in there.

Time for your weekly "aw". I was thinking of using another family picture this week but then I came across this one. It was just made for a good "aw".

Don't you agree?

So here we are - over the hump for this week and just two weeks away from Christmas.

If you're responsible for holiday decorating, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, etc., you're probably screaming for time to slow down. 

Here's a tip. 

Find your inner child. The next two weeks will drag on forever. 

I'm off to go wrestle with Blogger and my email.

Have a great week and an ever better weekend. See you next Wednesday.

 Quote for Today:

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase

A Hump Day Quiz for You

Happy Hump Day

Okay, I'll admit it. I was hunting online for some good funnies for you today and got sidetracked watching videos of dogs "singing" along with various tunes. Please don't ask me why.  But since I'm feeling a little brain dead now, I'm going to offer you a chance to exercise your little gray cells.

Here's a hump day quiz!

Don't worry, the answers are are the bottom of this post but give it your best try before peeking.


Q1. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
Q2. What is the main reason for divorce?
Q3. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have?

What? Are you all twisted up already?

 

 Keep going. You can do it. 

Q4. River Ravi flows in which state?
Q5. What can you never eat for breakfast?
Q6. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
Q7. What looks like half an apple?

 Oh, come on. They're not that hard.

 Only three to go.

Q8. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
Q10. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

 Good grief. They're dropping like flies.

 Okay. Okay. You can relax. Here are the answers.

A1. Wet
A2. Marriage
A3. Very large hands
A4. Liquid
A5. Lunch & dinner
A6. You will never find an elephant that has one hand.
A7. The other half
A8. No time at all, the wall is already built.
A9. No problem, he sleeps at night.
A10. Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

How did you do? (Be honest now.)

I'm doing something a little different for your "aw" today. I'm feeling a little nostalgic and a bit sad after our first Thanksgiving without my dad so I've been spending time looking at old photos. This is my dad and my brother playing a little one on one football. This may only work for me but the happiness on my brother's face seemed like a perfect "aw".

Did it work for you?

Are you there? Over the hump and sailing toward a wonderful weekend?

Excellent! My work here is done.

Oh, and don't forget DL Hammons'...

You'll want to get in on this one.

That's it. Have a great week/weekend. See you next Wednesday.

Thought for Today:

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.