Merry Christmas and See You Next Year!!

We've had a VERY Merry Christmas so far. Good friends and good food on Christmas Eve. Happy children and parents and more good food on Christmas day. Now starts the packing rush for our 20 hour car ride from Minnesota to Eastchester, New York. We've got this long-car-ride-thing down to a science. Everybody knows their roles and stations. As the Generalissimo I have trained them all well.

So don't get any cuts from opening those blasted blister packs, don't eat too much fudge, be sure to drink lots of water, go for a walk, be grateful for every last loved one, and have a great Holiday break! I'll see you all when we return in very early January!

Christmas Slap Upside the Head

Every year it's the same damn thing, and it's my own fault.

I have an overactive imagination. I always envisioned lovely homey scenes of my daughters helping me make Christmas cookies, deck the halls, and generally get ready for our Christmas Eve dinner with guests, our traditional Christmas morning waffles and whipped cream and strawberries, and the semi-annual car trek to New York to see their Italian family.

Perhaps I read too much. I always envisioned scenes of Ma Ingalls, cooking and cleaning happily alongside Laura, Mary, Carrie, and Grace. Or those lovely March sisters lovingly assisting their beloved Marmie with all things Christmas.

Instead I get indifference to the cookies, requests to turn down the choral music so they can turn up the iTunes, snotty looks, grunts, and other nonverbal communication. I never read that Jo March and her sisters fought over the computer and who had to dust. And Laura certainly never told Ma Ingalls to just "chill" or "get over it!". Reality hurts.

I shake my head

Somebody is having a Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year!

The 116 banks that so far have received taxpayer dollars to boost them through the economic crisis gave their top tier of executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses and other benefits in 2007, an Associated Press analysis found.

That amount, spread among the 600 highest paid bank executives, would cover the bailout money given to 53 of the banks that have shared the $188 billion that Washington has doled out in rescue packages so far.

And a little bitching about the car industry bailout. Yes, all those jobs are mighty important. But isn't my husband's job equally important? Don't we have to eat? Were is the bailout for the construction industry? Or small business owners? Or restaurant owners? Or airline employees? Or Best Buy employees? Or 3M employees? What about us?

Christmas Greetings from Our House to Yours.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Oh, Pa! It's another blizzard!

We're having some serious winter weather here, but it's Minnesota, what do we expect. Just finished rereading "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder and I'm wondering why blizzards seemed so much worse back then. A lack of GoreTex and central heat probably contributed.

The news has a "no travel advisory" for our area. But couldn't that also be interpreted to mean a travel advisory is NOT in effect? My, my they should mind their use of the English language.

All day it snowed like a Christmas movie. My youngest and I walked around in our beautiful historic downtown. Santa and his elves were on the town square, and he and I sang "While the merry bells keep ringing, happy holidays to YOU" as a duet. Looked just like Bedford Falls. I was tempted to go bang on the large bank windows and yell "Merry Christmas Mr. Potter!"

Right now, amazingly strong winds have moved in. The temps have dropped to 35 below windchill and all that snow is blowing around, drifting, blurring vision. Happy Winter!

Merry Christmas Crappy Gifts

I've been tagged by Bubs over at the Sprawling Ramshackle Compound to share what I think would be a truly crappy gift to open. Here are the rules:

1. pick a crappy gift and post it on your blog.

2. pick 5 Bloggers that you think might want to open their hearts and pick a crappy gift.

3. link back to this post.

4. and if you really want to get into heaven, write "I POSTED A CRAPPY GIFT" in the comments section of Dr. Zibbs' original post HERE where it all started, so we can all see the crappy gifts you picked.

Here's my idea of a crappy gift:
A cat sweater! I don't normally like cats although we have them. And I DON'T want to wear images of them on my person.

The only thing worse would be a sweater FOR the cat. Or a cat sweater with a cat IN it.

Don't ever, ever give me clothing with cats on it. I will put it out in the garage for the cats to sleep on.

I tag Michael, Little Sister, Cheesecake Maven, Melinda June, and Kirelimel.

My Secret Santa gift goes to . . . .

I'm involved in the best-ever Secret Santa exchange, meaning everything is virtual and I don't have to actually buy them a thing! So I went on a virtual shopping spree for:

Bad Tempered Zombie!

This is not a blog I read, but i may start visiting more often. I think I have a twin in Calgary Canada. I love her line that it was survival growing up in Winnipeg where the weather is trying to kill you 7 months of the year. Kind of sounds like Minnesota!

Anyhoo, here's what I'm getting Bad Tempered Zombie for her Secret Santa gift:


First up we have your own homemade snow plow!! Perfect for the those winter mornings when you simply MUST get the kiddies to school, even if school's been cancelled!Next up, we have a lovely set of silk long johns. If you've ever lived up north, well, you never LIVED up north until you have a set.

Bad Tempered Zombie, you'll be the envy of the neighborhood with your own JUMP STARTER! While they wait for their cousin Stan or AAA to juice up their dead cold car battery, you'll be half way to the coffee shop. And speaking of coffee . . . .
You've also won a restaurant-quality espresso machine! With cup warmer on top!
And for those cold winter nights with hot reads, you'll be receiving this contraption for reading in bed, just as soon as I find out who the hell sells it. As well as the bolster pictured below, which a stoned college friend starting calling a "double comfort" for unknown reasons, but the name stuck. So Merry Christmas Bad Tempered Zombie! Hope you like your gifts!