Darn Kids!!

I know I've gone off on how Hilary Duff remade Madonna's Material Girl (a month or so ago) but now these durn tweeners have gone too far!! Too far I tell you!

Driving to get our Chinese food tonight I was listening to Disney Radio (what can I say? I like some of the music), when a new (to me anyway) song from Bowling for Soup comes on. Now, Bowling for Soup has a few excellent songs (including the very true "High School Never Ends") so I thought that this would be the same.

THEY REMADE MODERN ENGLISH'S "MELT WITH YOU"!!!!

And, and, it was......bouncy. A bouncy beat. This will not do at all. Not for a song that when Jeff (on whom I had a HUGE crush in high school) suggested it for a prom theme I gave him a look only someone who had endured Catholic school for her entire life could give (Shocking! A shocking song! Did he have no idea the innuendo that song contained when he suggested it?)...and now it's remade into a bouncy, tweeny bopper song....

Sigh. I realize I am fast approaching the 14th anniversary of my 25th birthday, but it somehow offends my sensibilities to have songs I can relate to specific events in my life re-made by kids who were in diapers (if even born yet!) when they were first on the radio.

Do I need a new life or what?

Week between Christmas & New Year's

Really, I don't have a lot. I'm trying not to think about having to undecorate the tree and house (and somehow, the tree we bought this year came with the extra loose needles, so it's been shedding non-stop since we put it up), or think about what I need to get done these next two weekends before the cruise.

I know, waah, waah, crying about everything I have to do before going on a cruise. I told you I didn't have a lot. I have a couple posts brewing about how small the world really is (in terms of how you run into people that you didn't think you'd ever see again), but am lacking the motivation. Then I could do a post about New Year's Eve (compare and contrast New Year's Eve pre and post child - well duh - post child New Year's Eve is over at 10 pm because midnight? Are you kidding?), and maybe make some resolutions (like drink more water and lay off the caffeine free diet coke, exercise, look on the bright side....).

Anyone doing anything interesting this week?

Merry Christmas to all

Wishing you and yours a joyous, happy holiday season!

Where's the Panic Button??

So it's now less than a week before Christmas. Work has been crazy (thank you Florida hurricane/catastrophe assessments!)....and we still need to buy some presents for certain people. I'm talking about the in-laws, and my dad.

Now, Mrs. Big Dubya had a good suggestion a couple posts ago on her blog (and really, I want to know how she's getting all this blogging done with a newborn....) about making a donation to Heifer International. This would be a great idea, except I'm not sure how they would interpret that gift. My dad might be ok with it, he's big into charity (and religion, but that's another post) but the in-laws? The in-laws I have are the older, Italian version of in-laws. Very nice, but I wouldn't feel right making a donation in their names after they think we're struggling to survive (don't ask - they think because D is staying home we're practically on the verge of bankruptcy and keep handing us money. Not huge amounts, but they're retired.)

And this weekend is shaping up to be crazy again. Not only is Sunday night Christmas Eve (Italian in-laws equals big Christmas Eve celebration), but Saturday is swimming lessons, running around for some groceries for our Christmas Day dinner and what I'm supposed to bring Christmas Eve.

The good thing is, once we get past Christmas/New Year's - we have the Disney Cruise to look forward to! I think I will just collapse into a deck chair with a book and take naps.

How are you all doing with your holiday plans??

O Tannebaum

This post inspired by Elle. Below is our Christmas tree - not too bad for having spent last Saturday through Monday in the garage to acclimate (read - we had time to buy it, just not put it up!)



Then we have our ornaments. We're not the kind of people who have all the same ornaments on our tree (does anyone else remember those horrible fabric balls from the late 70's/early 80's? No? Just my parents? Ok then). We have drunk deeply of the Disney kool aide, as evidenced by the ornament of the Disney Cruise ship (note that it seems to be sailing right over Cinderella):



And we have the complete set of Holy Cross ornaments - the library, the seriously old dorms, and the chapel. Usually D arranges them in geographic order on the tree. Really.



Then we have some old ornaments from D's childhood. The Santa on the clam shell is not my favorite, but I believe it's the last one he has left, so I guess it's ok it's on the tree:



We also have the usual assortment of ornaments that well meaning relatives (ie. my in-laws) have given us as well. "First Christmas Together" was a big ornament year. As was "Baby's First Christmas".



So anyone have any unusual or funny ornament stories they want to share?

Summer thoughts

I know, I know. It's only mid-December, I shouldn't be thinking about summer vacation yet. But the weather's been so mild (seriously, in the 50's? in mid-December? In New England? Unheard of! But awesome!)

Except I have been thinking about summer vacation. I am a slacker. I am all about vacation. And this year, with D not working, we could theoretically take two weeks off this summer...although I'm not sure we should. Maybe we should take one week at the beach and do some day trips. So I have been looking at various websites to see how much a small cottage would cost to rent for next summer.

We've usually vacationed with my brothers and their families, except we've already decided that won't happen this coming summer (for various reasons). Now I've gone through this process before, for a five bedroom "cottage". Somehow, it's actually more expensive to rent a smaller house (2 bedroom) than a larger house (5 bedroom). It's amazing. I think I'm in sticker shock.

But it's fun to plan!

Winterberry

D and I got married 8 years ago this past August. Why is this important? Because the casual china we received for our wedding is starting to dwindle to the point where we need to run the dishwasher to have dishes to eat off of every couple days. We started out with place settings for eight, and are now down to five (I think).

Normally, this isn't a big deal. C uses her princess plates (plastic) and D and I use the china. Except that ever since my mom passed away in 2004, I get to host Christmas dinner. There's 9 of us all together, and my oldest niece is past the point where she's ok with eating off plastic plates.

Over Thanksgiving, I asked my dad if I could use the china my mom had (she had special Christmas china. Pfaltzgraff, which she always wanted to upgrade to Lenox). He said sure, take it, he wasn't going to be using it ever. We stopped over there yesterday to get it (so we can run it through the dishwasher seeing as it hasn't been used since 2003).

Where's the problem, you're asking? Well, the problem came from trying to find where my mom had put the china when she packed it away after that last Christmas. I thought for sure it was down the cellar - I was wrong. I did find my dad's mother's china, but no Christmas china. Ok, there's a closet full of Christmas villages and decorations upstairs in my brothers' old bedroom. Pull everything out of that closet - no china. Maybe the other closet - open the door, shriek at all the junk piled up and close that door quickly. (When my dad goes we are so going to need a huge dumpster. Maybe two.)

I was upstairs in the garage trying to get the lighted reindeer (more decorations that my dad said we could have) out to put in the car, and I was swearing. Where would she have put the china?? I'm looking around at all the junk up there, and I spy three green boxes. Her Christmas china!! Why in the garage? I have no idea.

PS. We've got the new "Year without a Santa Claus" on - with John Goodman. Who thought that was a good idea??

Lost is dead to me

Today I read that ABC is moving Lost to 10 pm on Wednesdays when it returns in Feb. That just solidifies my intention to not watch. I haven't been able to watch 10pm shows for quite some time. I need the sleep!

When did I start turning into a cranky old lady? Next I'll be knitting covers for the tissue boxes!!

Christmas Spirit

OLD CITY BAR
In an old city bar
That is never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have been

In the safety of night
With its old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come in

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The music was low
And the night
Christmas Eve

And here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It's easier to believe

Then the door opened wide
And a child came inside
That no one in the bar
Had seen there before

And he asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Standing outside our door

Then the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze

Through the window and ice
To a corner streetlight

Where standing alone
By a broken pay phone
Was a girl the child said
Could no longer get home

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The bartender turned
And said , not that I care
But how would you know this?
The child said I've noticed
If one could be home
They'd be all ready there

Then the bartender came out from behind the bar
And in all of his life he was never that far
And he did something else that he thought no one saw
When he took all the cash from the register draw

Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak
Then he called for a cab and he said J.F.K.
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away
And we saw in his hand
That the cash was all gone
From the light that she had
wished upon

If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last

By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger

And to know who needs help
You need only just ask

Then he looked for the child
But the child wasn't there
Just the wind and the snow
Waltzing dreams through the air

So he walked back inside
Somehow different I think
For the rest of the night
No one paid for a drink

And the cynics will say
That some neighborhood kid
Wandered in on some bums
In the world where they hid

But they weren't there
So they couldn't see
By an old neon star
On that, night, Christmas Eve

When the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
And in case you should wonder
In case you should care

Why we're on our own
Never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there

Then all at once inside that night
He saw it all so clear
The answer that he sought so long
Had always been so near

It's every gift that someone gives
Expecting nothing back
It's every kindness that we do
Each simple little act

copyright TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I can't believe it's already December 5...and I just can't seem to get into any Christmas spirit. I'm half heartedly shopping (which, if you know me, is extremely unusual. I LOVE to shop). I'm not sure if it's the weather (which has gotten colder but we had a warmer than normal November - complete with tornado warnings Friday night. GO global warming!), or that the holiday has snuck up on me or what.

Or maybe it's that another year has come and gone, and it's Christmas again, how is that possible?

Or maybe I just need to stock the car with Christmas cds and get in the spirit. I need to live in the moment instead of waiting until after the presentation, the birthday, etc etc...

How do you get in the holiday spirit??