crappy, cranky, christmas cold

Well, dang, worked the morning but had to reschedule afternoon patients because this is me:



I don't feel too bad, but as the morning progressed, my voice really became, shall we say, not operational. Hopefully with rest and perhaps a massive infusion of chicken soup, I can work tomorrow.

O Christmas Tree

Yesterday we went out in search of the quintessentially perfect Christmas tree.



This was not it:



At this time of year, it's important to slow down.
Take time to kiss the llamas...



Decorating...



Mr. Tumnus is in charge of monitoring water level and needle droppage.

song of long ago

A couple of nights ago I went upstairs to wrap Christmas presents but got side-tracked when I moved old photos out of the way to get to the wrapping paper. Several months ago I had discovered the trunk of old photos when my mom moved into her condo, and Carole King's Song of Long Ago had been rattling around in my head in conjunction with that. So I finally put it all together.

Basically it was done as a video Christmas card to my cousins, Keith and Cheryl. Growing up, my brother, Paul, and I used to love getting together with them. I think the slideshow is more poignant since we lost my brother some 13 years ago already, but it was really created to celebrate the wonderful times we had together 'long ago' in the Dakotas. (Mostly we four cousins are featured, but our parents and Grandpa and Grandma are in there too.)

Anywhoo, if you don't know me that well, feel free not to watch!
C&D, I made it with you in mind too, so I think you'll like it. :)

holiday hoedown

It's that special time of year when Presbygal and I don our elf gear and do some holiday dancing. This year we invited a couple of swell guys -- George Clooney and James Taylor. Good times.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Nothing says Christmas like frozen batteries...

This postcard was sent to Miss Maggie Ryan, Route #3, Hillsboro, Oregon by her sister almost exactly 100 years ago (at 5 p.m. on December 6, 1909 to be precise).



Seems the sisters were hit with a cold spell.



Dear Maggie, Well are you all froze in out there? I guess the batteries are frozen anyway. Don't you want some one to fix them? I haven't talked to anyone since I haven't been very well the last few days. I wrote to Ma today. Answer soon. Your sis.

(I'm wondering how one fixes frozen batteries, because I would think they would just explode and/or leak.)

Friday Five Do Nothing Edition

Sallys says: I am reading a wonderful little book for Advent it's title: "Do nothing Christmas is Coming!" So this weeks Friday Five is simple. List Five things you won't be doing to prepare for Christmas. And while you are doing nothing play the bonus, put your feet up and listen to your favourite Advent Carol, and post it or a link to it.

Hmm... It would perhaps have been easier to list what I still have to do to prepare for Christmas! But in any event, to prepare for Christmas I will not be...

1. ...eating fruitcake. This is incredibly easy since I don't like it.



2. ...drinking eggnog. (Ditto, and let me add "Ewwwww.")

3. ...not be putting up all of the Christmas decorations inside the house. (The Coca-Cola bears were never a good idea!)

4. ...not hosting our two-family gift exchange (with the Dust Bunny family) at our house since the Thanksgiving Pie Fest was here.

5. ...not going to go crazy with putting up lots of outdoor lights and decorations. C&D get to do that when they get home!

Here's that bonus Christmas song:




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cartoon from here

I'm baaaaack

After a bit of a blogger break, I am back! (Blogpals, I'll be checking in with your blogs soon!) We had a good Thanksgiving, although the time went by waaay too fast for C&D who had homework to do. Here's Christina with her anthropology project:



(Any guesses?)

And we had our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Pie Fest with the Dust Bunny family. This year we all chose for our attire (or costume) something that represented Thanksgiving; a do-your-own-thing category. As for my family: Mike and I did a role reversal of the Normal Rockwell Thanksgiving painting (which allowed me to wear my grandfather's old suit!), my mom was a piece of pie, and C&D were pumpkins. The Dust Bunny family got into the spirit of things nicely too...