A Birthday Wish A Bit Late

Okay if I had thought of this sooner I'd have posted it for my own birthday, but I only recently found it. So here you go Phil. And just be thankful that it's not a Budweiser commercial with you favorite song. Happy Birthday and a hundred more.



Sorry this is late. Hope it was a good one.

Christmas Day

I'm not sure who was more excited this Christmas. The hubby and I or the pets. It was a draw I swear!

We keep all their presents in their stockings to keep them from getting into them too early. I learned that lesson the hard way. They absolutely love the Christmas tree. Luckily Odie's too old to try and climb the tree. That would be a nightmare considering how big he is. They're going to be so mad at us when we take the tree down. Kaiser and Odie like to sleep in front of it when we have the lights on. And let me just say our pets made out like bandits this year. Spoiled I tell you. Just spoiled rotten.

First we brought out the birds stocking. We explained each present to them as we pulled them out, since they had to stay in their cage. And also who it was from. They chirped happily about this and scurried about their cage trying to get a better look.

Next we called Kaiser down for his stocking. He was so excited to see all that was for him. He immediately had to have a treat from Gammy and Paw Paw. Then had to play with his stuffed hippo. I couldn't resist singing 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' at that time. I had to give him a busy bone to keep him entertained while Odie opened his gifts. He was just way too interested.

I had to go get Odie from upstairs. He was sleeping and felt very put upon. But once we pulled out all his gifts and opened them up I swear I saw a smile on his face. He even started playing like a little kitten. That put a smile on our faces. The hubby and I decided to open the pets stockings together this year and had lots of fun doing it.

The rest of the day was spent just chilling out. We called our families and then watched The Christmas Story and A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sims. It was really nice.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.

Call Me Sentimental

But what is Christmas without checking in with NORAD to see where jolly old Saint Nick is. Of course I had to get his take off. Things are so much more high tech than when I was growing up.



I do hope all the small children in my life are safely in bed as Santa gets to the US. Merry Christmas all! I hope you were good this year and left out something nice for Santa so he'll leave you lots of goodies.

Christmas Eve

The hubby and I worked a half day at the winery. Not terribly busy, but you do have some strange customers come in on Christmas Eve. We played Christmas music all day. I'm sure my boss would be glad she wasn't there as it drives her batty. Today and tomorrow are the only days that I can actually handle that. Afterwards we had a holiday drink with our buddy Phil. The eggnog was pretty good. Unfortunately the Christmas wine that we'd brought wasn't as good as we remembered it. Not sure what happened there.

While driving home we decided to stop at the local Food Lion to pick up something for dinner and anything else we might have forgotten that we'd need for tomorrow. It really didn't take us that long to find what we needed. The hardest part was getting around all the people. What a mad house it was. It seemed everyone had to do their shopping for Christmas dinner and only three lanes were open. Sadly they only had one bagger working that day. Didn't bother me any since the hubby and I will bag our own groceries, but there were people who were acting very put upon that they either had to bag their own or wait a bit for it to be done by the cashier. Like she doesn't have enough to do. Where's your holiday spirit, says I? Do you honestly think these cashiers want to be here dealing with your sour puss? It's not their fault the manager was a ninny and didn't have more people working Christmas Eve. And hey you're the ding-a-ling who waited this long to do ALL your shopping. I just kept a smile on my face, told the young woman not to worry about the time it took and wished her a Merry Christmas.

After dinner we started watching Christmas movies. I know, I know The Christmas Story comes on about eight and runs for twenty-four hours. But we'll put that on once we finish all our Christmas Carols. Last night we watched the Muppet's Christmas Carol and then I put in Die Hard. Hey it's an excellent Christmas movie.

we watched Claymation Christmas. The songs in that one are fantastic. Then we started the Christmas Carol marathon. The first one starred Patrick Stewart. He plays more of a jerk and has an arrogance about him. He's a good actor.

that we watched the one with George C. Scott. His portrayal of Scrooge is good. He plays a very mean one. Quite good. He's the only one in the movie without an English accent.

We decided to stop at that one because we started to get sarcastic. Definitely time for The Christmas Story. It always puts us in a cheerier mood. We have another one, but we can watch it tomorrow.

Light Weight!

So the hubby and I decided to have a black and tan tonight. The dog looked a little too interested so the hubby let him try a lick off his finger. He really seemed to enjoy it. He was chewing it. So we poured a little in a bowl for him. He'd lick it clean and look at us for more. What a booze hound! He may have had two ounces or three and he was buzzing. He looked all loopy and I had to send him to bed. It had the two of us rolling.

A Belated Birthday Thought

Yesterday was my birthday. We won't mention how old I am. My buddy Greta and I have a thing that we joke about for birthdays. It's not black crows, it's pink flamingos. They're much more fun. And normally we do something obnoxious to each other involving this poor bird. So I found this video to honor our tradition.



Good Lord they are loud! Greta aren't you glad I never actually got you one of these. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Where Have All The Icons Gone?

Growing up in the 80's I remember lots of fun commercials with popular characters. When commercials were cute, not annoying. But you don't see that as much anymore. Sure there are a few still out there. But where did they go? I mean Captain Crunch is still out there and you occasionally see Toucan Sam for Fruit Loops. Where's Geoffrey the giraffe for Toys R Us? I haven't seen Tony the Tiger in forever. I miss hearing him say 'They're Grreat!' What about Sugar Bear for Sugar Crisps? And Sonny who went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. You occasionally see that silly rabbit who wants Trix. And the leprechaun that's trying to keep the kids away from his Lucky Charms, but not all that much. What about the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bakers? And the crook and his dog for Cookie Crisp? What about Frankenberry, Count Chocula and Booberry? Does anyone remember these guys? Or have I truly gone off the deep end? How about Snap, Crackle and Pop? Or Dig Em the frog? You still catch glimpses of the Honey Bee for Honey Nut Cheerios. I'm sure there are tons more, but that's all I can think of. And that's just the cereal icons. What about the Noid? And that's just a few. I could go on forever, but I've got other things to do today.

Merry Christmas Family!

I think the title says it all. My family complains that they don't get pictures of the two of us together. I'm not someone who likes to have my picture taken. I'm normally the one behind the camera. But I made a conscious effort Saturday night to get a friend to take a picture of us two.

Merry Christmas everyone!

A Busy Weekend

I'll admit I don't have that active of a social life so this weekend was a bit of a whirlwind for us.

Friday night the hubby and I attended a Christmas party for the wine group that we're in. Each couple was to bring a bottle of wine and a dish. We brought a red and appetizers. Most people did bring red wine.

It was held at Fletch's historic home and he was gracious enough to let us wander about the beautiful building while we sipped wine and nibbled.
Sadly the hubby had the camera that night and we didn't hang out the entire night. We both had our own groups that we wanted to socialize with. So we didn't get pictures of anyone from that party. Which saddens me since I might not be seeing some of them again for a long time. Oh well hindsight is twenty twenty.

We had a lovely dinner. We're a rather large group and there wasn't exactly enough table room for everyone, but plenty of seating throughout the home. Luckily we got to have a seat at the table. After dinner we had a champagne toast in the wine cellar. I suffered from major home envy. We drank way too much wine and had to sober up before going home. Don't worry, we did. A good time was had by all.
So Saturday night we had my work's Christmas party. It was held after work at the Pavillion at the winery. I didn't work that day, but some of the people who live further away did. Smart of them.

We got to see people I hadn't seen in quite some time. Unfortunately I didn't get to talk with everyone that I would have liked to, but there are only so many hours that the party would last.

After dinner we had a Chinese gift exchange. Which for those of you who don't know what this is, it is when someone opens a gift and you like it you can "steal" it. That person can then "steal" someone else's gift or open a new one. We all chose a number out of a basket and that was the picking order. A present could only be "stolen" twice and then it was frozen. Much hilarity ensues after that. And the range in gifts were as unique as the group.

Getting photos of these people is like telling a hyperactive child to sit still. You'd think they were all in the witness protection program. So the hubby took lots of group shots of people when they weren't paying attention. Yes we had to be sneaky. Very paranoid group I work with. They just don't like cameras for some reason. I thought after all the wine people would have mellowed out. Silly me. Hey at least this time we remembered to get pictures.
At the end of the evening we all felt pretty much like Norah, the winemaker's dog, here. Tired. We'd eaten lots of food and drank lots of wine. Not nearly as much as the night before I promise.

We were able to try some wine from the library. Plus we'd had a champagne toast before the gift exchange. A good time was had by all.

It Can't Be Christmas Until You See

Growing up the season always started with a Budweiser commercial for the holidays. Of course they always had the Clydesdales coming out of Grants Farm's front gates. Not sure if they do it any more or not since I'm not in the St. Louis area, but it's a great nostalgic thing for me. This is just one of the many that I'm sure are out there.

What's Christmas Without...

Alvin and the Chipmunks!

Just make sure you have your volume up.

See I'm Not The Grinch. Really!

Honestly I meant to get these pictures posted sooner, but time really got away from me this month. Seems like I barely got out the cards and presents. Now Christmas is nearly upon us.

We actually put our Christmas tree up November 24th. The day my parents left from their visit for Thanksgiving. Not something I would normally be up for, but with the hubby working on school stuff this was the only time we had available to put up the tree.

Thankfully we have an artificial tree so we don't have to worry about it dying on us. Sadly I had seen real trees on sale before Thanksgiving was even here. But I'm not even going to go there. Pre-lit artificial trees are so much easier and prevent arguments around here.

Another good thing is my husband understands that I can only take so much Christmas before December has even begun. I mean we are already inundated with it at the stores. So he only turns the Christmas lights on from about five until about the time we go to bed. I'm trying hard not to be the Grinch.

So I've posted a picture of our Christmas tree. Luckily we got a shot of it with presents underneath and not bare. This year we put it right in front of the window and put our coffee tables on either side with garland and large ornaments. Nautical theme there with the red and green. Hazard of living with a sailor. Port and starboard lights as it were.

We don't have a mantel so I bought something to hang our stockings from. They have things stuffed in them now. So they are much fuller now.

And of course there's Slushy our snowboarding snowman. I got him in a Chinese gift exchange at work last year. Love him! It's just not Christmas without him. We also have a lovely wreath hanging on our front door, but I don't have a picture of it. Maybe next year.

Still waiting on that snow for a white Christmas. I won't hold my breath nor will I hope for lots. You can keep that cold junk!