Midnight Train

So our daughter is coming home by train for the holidays. I guess I should be glad she isn't coming by plane since the weather has screwed things up so royally.

But...the train is late and she won't get here until 2:20 AM and we have to pick her up and so far we went to KMart and Walmart and now we are home and have to try to stay awake a bit longer.

We are hoping to get our second winds. Personally I am trying to keep busy. DH is busy with a project that should keep him up until it's time to go.

When did I get so old that I can't stay up late?? When did late get so ...well, late??

Where is that insomnia when you need it???

How in the world does Santa do it?? stay up all night I mean? He has to be older than I am!

Must be magic!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I just followed a car home and I have to tell you about its bumper sticker. Well, it was more like a complete back of the car sticker as it went on and on.

I will just give you the gist of it.

Abortion and homosexuality are things God disapproves of so please don't do them. Turn to Jesus and he will save you. If you don't you will burn in hell fire FOREVER. Choose Jesus. I love you.

The "I love you" is a direct quote.

Now how could that guy love me or anyone else if he thinks we will burn in hell? I am not a lesbian and I never had an abortion but what if I had? I burn in hell but the guy loves me?? I'm sure he meant it in only in the most brotherly way.

Ewwwwwwww. I hate that kind of thinking. It's Christmas, for crying out loud. Have a little real love in your heart. Embrace people and their differences. Pray for health care for every citizen in this country. Spread the word that Jesus used most-LOVE!

It's his birthday after all. Give the Guy a gift.

Santa's Little Helper II

I am all wrapped and baked and ready to go. Santa don't have nothin' on me!! And I don't even have any elves!

I think all the gifts are good and appropriate for the receivers. They are all piled up in my work room upstairs and it does look like Santa opened his pack up there!

I love helping Santa. I used to want him to come to my house and bring the gifts but as an adult I find that getting them yourself is even more satisfying. I start early on watching and thinking of things my family members might like. Sometimes I even start the day after Christmas...really.

I know I'm not the only Santa's helper around. I know quite a few of them personally. We all get a little shiver of happiness when we find a great sale and/or the perfect gift for someone. It's really best when you find both....now that is a rush.

Some things just pop into your sight line and there is the perfect gift that you know whoeveritis will just love.

In our family gifts are not just so we can have lots of belongings and we aren't particularly materialistic. We use gifts to express our love and to say I know you well and here is something to reflect that.

My dad was a great Santa. He loved to buy things and a good thing since he was a purchasing agent at a tool company! Every Christmas it was his job to buy the secretaries at the office a gift. He got lots of gifts too--my mom used to call it loot. Back then, the sales force bought gifts for their clients, their prospective clients and anyone who let them in the door to give a sales pitch! It was some pretty cool stuff too.

Anyway, he parlayed all that into being the best Santa's helper ever! On Christmas morning he couldn't wait for us to get up and get at the tree! He handed out the gifts one at a time so it would last longer. We still do that to this day. Everybody oohs and aahs over the gift and then it is someone else's turn.

I really don't know who feels best..the giver, the receiver or the ooher!

The Saw and the Cake

Yesterday I saw the most unique drag queen I have ever seen--not that I have seen many but I'm just sayin'. She was Miss Richfield 1981 of Minnesota where butter is a spice and gravy is a beverage or so she said.

She was at the Cake Boss and she wanted a cake that she could jump out of during her Holiday show in NYC. They measured her and added some girth because she was going to wear a Christmas tree costume. It turned out so big they couldn't get it in the door so she just jumped in it outside the theater and greeted her audience outside!

But she was not just another drag queen...oh, no, sir. When she got out of the cake she demonstrated her "talent" from her Beauty Pageant days. She sat in a folding chair and dragged out a bow and a saw and played Silent Night!

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry so I just changed the channel!

P.S. The picture is Miss Richfield but that's not me with her!

Must Be Santa

Yesterday, I saw the cutest news story about a group of policemen who sponsored a Christmas party for kids in need. The kids were allowed to choose from tables filled with gifts and clothes.

One officer said she got really choked up because most kids want to pick out something for their moms first.

They employed the best looking Santa I ever have seen. He was dressed beautifully with a cape and a staff and he sang and hohohoed. Both DH and I commented on how well he looked. The kids all swarmed around him and one little girl made a beeline straight to him with her arms stretched out for a hug but..........She had to be sure.....she didn't want to give a hug to just any old man in a red suit!

So, as he bent down to return the hug, she quickly gave his beard a tiny tug and Lo! and Behold! it was really him!

So she gave him a giant squeeze and ran off camera with the biggest smile you ever did see!

OMG

I didn't know what day it was today. I thought it was Tuesday but it is Monday. I know time flies but I guess not as fast as I thought. I have been really busy this morning and got a lot done so maybe my body thought I did a full day's work.

It's easy to lose track of time. My sis and I do it all the time--usually in Kohl's. My husband and I do it too....usually over the Sunday paper. I lose track of time when I am busy with a scrapbook project or if I am reading a good book.

Today, there was no good reason. I just rushed the week. I need to seize the day, live in the moment, be in the now and all that jazz. Now excuse me while I go lie down.

Man, Oh, Man!!

I went shopping this morning with DH who needed new pants. OMG! Shopping with him is such an ...hmmmmm...shall we say......experience.

He takes so long trying on things I worry that someone is going to think I am some pervert who hangs around outside of men's dressing rooms! At Kohl's there is a chair at least but it was in a weird place and people(read men) kept stepping around me and I must have said excuse me about a thousand times because I knew I was in the way.

He isn't the only weird male shopper though. I had quite a length of time to observe others of the species. One guy came out wearing pants about 8 inches too long for him and asked the wife if she thought they were too big. Guess what she said?

Another man went in with a pair of jeans, came out in a reasonable length of time(heads up, DH) and then came back a couple of minutes later with another pair and tried those. Out he came again and repeated the process....FOUR MORE TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why he didn't pick up four pairs of jeans in the first place is beyond me but then what do I know I am just an Olympic level shopper!!

Another guy went in to try on a belt. Loved him. A young man had to come out and show his mom and the pants were fine but the poor kid was so red in the face, I thought he was going to pass out. He didn't and neither did the kid whose mom made him hold up his shirt so "She could see."

I love to shop but next time he needs pants, DH can go by himself!!

Indy and Me

Last night I went with my boys to see Star Wars, the concert. It was the Royal Philharmonic and Anthony Daniels(C3PO) was the narrator. There were laser lights and explosions and fire and a giant screen with movie clips and sound effects. It was spectacular.

There were some people dressed up for the occasion and I don't mean in tuxes and evening gowns. There were Princess Leias and stormtroopers and Darth Vader and tons of Star Wars tee shirts and more light sabers than you could shake a stick at! (Pardon the pun) There were hawkers outside of the Q selling them for five bucks. Nobody bought me one.

There were people selling pop and cotton candy and souvenir booklets. It was pretty amazing in more ways than one.

And I got to sit next to Indiana Jones.

What was he doing there? He must have realized he was Han Solo in another incarnation.

Indy was all you would expect. He had his hat and his tattered jacket and boots. He even got a whip but I'll get to that later.

He was covered in pink sugar and had a sticky ring around his mouth from the Pepsi, cotton candy and Twizzlers he consumed. He kicked the bad guy in front of him right in the keister and leaned on my shoulder more than once. He kicked me a couple of times but it was by accident.

During intermission he braved the crowd and went on an adventure and came back with his whip(Twizzlers if you hadn't guessed by now). He kept wanting to know if the show was over.

He was three years old and absolutely adorable!

May the force be with him...and you!

Hark! The Herald Angels

I make angels and they are beautiful. The trouble is hardly anyone buys them so I end up giving them away. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it would be nice to have someone approach and buy all of my angels!

Today I took one to my job for the office and a lady in the hall asked if I made it and I said yes and she said.......nothing. Really, nothing. Why the heck did she ask me then? Did she just want to hurt my feelings. I'd rather she'd have said it was ugly...well, okay not ugly but nice would have been nice and not over the top as compliments go.

They really are pretty. I swear. My daughter took a picture of one and I will show you.

See? It's pretty pretty if you ask me. Wanna buy one? ;)

DECEMBER THE FIRST

I can't believe that it is the first day of December already. This year has flown by so quickly....I can hardly remember everything that happened.

In January, we celebrated my husband's birthday and got a cake from Archie's bakery which is supposed to be similar to Hough Bakery. HMMMM Jury's still out on that one. Apparently my daughter was having car trouble as there are a bunch of car repair shops written on my calendar. Whatever.

In February, we had a new hood installed over the fridge and we celebrated my son's birthday. My book club had their first meeting too.

In March, I dyed my hair back to brown after being silver for almost a year and a half. Other than that, I must have been pretty boring because nothing is written in the calendar.

April brought Easter and I picked up the ham. Wow!

In May, sis and I had a garage sale and my cousin's daughter got married in Chicago. One of DH's cousins also tied the knot so I know my daughter was home from Vegas.

June was the month I started my volunteer work at the hospital and we went to the movies.(In this house, that is a big deal!!)

July brought the 4th of course and a little trip up to Sandusky to meet up with our friends who live in Toledo. We also went to see the Captains play baseball and it poured down rain while we were there but beer cost only a buck.

In August we celebrated sis' birthday and had a trip to Port Clinton, OH for a few days where our son and his best bud met us. Our friends from Toledo came down too and we went to Mon Ami winery and got a little drunk on tastes of all their wine.

In September, there was a whirlwind of activity as my daughter had her birthday, DH and I went out to Vegas to see her and she and I drove to her new home in Michigan. I never got home until October.

The rest of October went by in a flurry of doctor appointments and Halloween.

November couldn't be topped as it was my 60th birthday and the whole family spent a few days in Vegas to celebrate. I will never forget swimming on my birthday--a first. Thanksgiving was the best one we ever had. Food was fantastic and everyone was there!

Now the whirlwind of December begins. I will be food shopping and baking and planning and wrapping gifts and cleaning house and planning and entertaining.....well, you get the idea.

I may not post much during this hectic time unless something really exciting happens. If I don't have a happy holiday season and remember the year flies by so enjoy it and by all means, take notes!