Merry Christmas everybody! Holidays have the knack of being stellar or completely awful. Christmas especially, when families are supposed to get together and everyone is supposed to give and receive in a spirit of love and tenderness, but, instead, all that expectation amounts only to sour gift exchanges and fraternal hatchet-unburying. Suddenly the most wonderful time of the year is all but.
So, for any of you who might feel that your families are insane and you need some good vibrations, I wanted to invite you to be a part of mine this year. We don't do things very fancy around here. No neck ties, no Bill Cosby sweaters. We eat fish and flat bread to remind us of what might have been eaten by a poor family two thousand and some years ago. Then, we exchange a gift or two with those of us who can't be with us on Christmas morning. After my Dad gets on the piano and plays whatever and every once in a while you'll hear someone sing along with a familiar melody.
The next morning we eat cold cereal and orange cinnamon rolls with hot chocolate meanwhile we open presents one by one to see what everyone gets. Then people kind of disappear for a while. I guess it's to try out whatever new gadget or whatever they found under the tree. The day goes on from there to music making and turkey dinners.
That's the ideal Christmas, anyway--and this year is looking good. In my family there's a bunch of us and getting everyone together all at once is a rare occasion. We weren't supposed to all be together this time around, but I picked up my little bro from the airport and surprised everyone by opening up the door and having him walk through with a giant bow stuck to him.
It was really rewarding to see the bewildered looks on their faces change to recognition and hear the silence and sudden cheers of joy and excitement at his arrival. I think my mom nearly passed out.
After all the kids were put to sleep and things finally quieted down, me and a couple of my bros decided for some crazy reason that it'd be great to go out for a jog despite the fact it had dumped about 2 feet of snow a couple hours earlier. It actually was pretty fun. I felt like Rocky—well at least for the first few steps. All up until I was wheezing and panting from the altitude change. And, of course, that didn't affect them so much and soon they were like a 100 yards in front of me. And, of course, I didn't see them cut through someone's lawn to get home. So, I'm jogging alone for a while before I realize I have no idea where I am or anyone else. Finally, they came out looking for me thinking I must have been caught in a snow drift. Typical.
Anyway, it's been a good year and I'm not dreading the next. That's a good sign. Thanks so much for sticking around.
Thanks Judy and Jon for the Christmas message. Jon's Christmas sounds awesome and I would love to try those orange cinnamon rolls! Jon and his little bro arriving with a ribbon was so cute - I wonder if that was inspired by a similar scene in Christmas Vacation, you know where Cousin Eddie kidnaps Clark's boss and brings him to the house with a big ribbon on.
Speaking of insane families and cousins makes me remember a Christmas years ago, just after having seen that movie, my cousin (who was staying with us for the holidays that year) became obsessed with Cousin Eddie's infamous line "Hey, the *******'s full!" (you know, when he's dumping his unmentionables in the sewer next to the Griswold's house).
Would you believe he would stick his head out of the car window when we went for drives with my sister and our folks and yelled that same line to people in cars, people walking down the street, even people in shops! It was so embarrassing but so funny!
Also reminds me of the time one Easter when my cousin and I made a playdough sculpture of Marie Antoinette on the guillotine. We had just seen the old movie starring Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette on TV...and well, kids will be kids...
Sorry to derail the thread Jon and Judy, but Jon's message brought back memories of Christmases past, and I just can't help myself.
Jon, thanks so much for sharing. You and your family sure seem to have a great time together. I am waiting for mine to wake up. It's nearly 10am on Christmas morning and NO ONE is awake but me an the dog (and cat). We are having a Florida white Christmas (that means it's raining ).
I hope your day is filled with lots of music and joy!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Favorite quote from 2007: Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
Haha Jon got lost. Merry Christmas all!!! Ehhh... its kinda white here. There are just speckles of snow here and there from snowfall a few days ago. Well, its better than nothin. Mikey and Gidget oh my gosh I couldnt imagine living where it never snows!
/\__/\ (>' '< ) (,,)(,,) Bob for world domination!
Thanks for sharing your Christmas story with us Jon. I come from a large family as well and have to say that the best times are when we are all together, and we still manage to make that happen a few times a year. It's not the same without my parents, but their memory and traditions are carried on by us.
Hopefully Santa brought you a GPS.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
OMG that was so funny... I hope that your 'gift' was what everyone wanted... Of course if they are like my family, it was... I about fell out of my chair imagining what it would have looked like... And funny that you got lost.. But I don't think I'd want to go running around on Christmas morning...
I hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas, and it really is awesome when everyone can come home for Christmas... That is something we haven't had here since my sister got married and moved to Utah... But you'll have that...
Thanks for posting that Judy. And thanks to Jon for giving us a peek of his Christmas. The story of bringing in the younger brother as a present is especially sweet.
As in the Lewis family, my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have involved much singing and playing of various instruments with extended family. The rest of my own family and of this particular branch of extended family are all excellent singers. I'm not a gifted singer, but I sang along and even tried to play the tamborine for one song. I'll just say, playing tamborine is not as easy as it looks! LOL I do have a sense of rhythm since I play piano, but I was expected to play a rather syncopated rhythm while my daughter chimed the hand chime. With people singing and playing other instruments, it was tougher than I expected it to be to get the beat right and to come in and out of the song at the right times.
So Merry Christmas one and all!
**************************** California Christmas this year.
The only musical instrument I can play is the CD player. Oh, and air guitar, lol.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Originally posted by sheepgirl: Mikey and Gidget oh my gosh I couldnt imagine living where it never snows!
Sheepish, I lived in the snowy north east for many many years....I don't miss the snow one tiny little eensy bit! I'll take drizzle we got and then the sunshine and cool temps any day of the week over the slushy, messy, salty, icy dangerous snow.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Favorite quote from 2007: Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
Originally posted by sheepgirl: Mikey and Gidget oh my gosh I couldnt imagine living where it never snows!
Sheepish, I lived in the snowy north east for many many years....I don't miss the snow one tiny little eensy bit! I'll take drizzle we got and then the sunshine and cool temps any day of the week over the slushy, messy, salty, icy dangerous snow.
I don't like the slushy,... that's what we have now.. But I love the frosty, snowy icy stuff
I hadn't planned to say anything about my whereabouts until later, but tonight, on New Year's Eve, I ran across Hensen studios while trying to get from the main part of Hollywood to the La Brea tarpits. I had my hubby stop the car. He parked illegally in a video store, then walked with me to the front of the studio. He then kneeled down on the sidewalk and tried to take my photo with Kermit the Frog, who stood on top of the building. Kermit didn't mind a bit, and in fact seemed very happy to see me, haha. Since I'm always a curious soul, I went to the nice guard at the gate and asked him a few questions about the place, including if it was actually haunted. He said he had never seen any ghostly activity, but other employees had. I guess the ghosts don't like security guards. I asked what was in the building, and he said, "Mostly offices, and a recording studio." (That's a loose quote.) And then I casually remarked, "Jon Peter Lewis recorded here, didn't he?" He said, "Yes, he did." I replied, "He's really good." And I wished the guard a good night and happy New Year and then left.
No, I haven't seen Jon anywhere in my prancing around L.A., but I must say, this place is really nice. I understand why people want to live here. But I was rather disappointed to have only seen a handful of freaky people. Most everyone is abundantly normal seeming! Who knew??????????
Happy New Year everyone! Happy New Year Kermit the Frog! Happy New Year Jon! Happy New Year to all Jon's fans!
**************************** California Christmas this year.
How fun to spend New Year's Eve in Hollywood Arts! I remember visiting the La Brea tar pits many years ago. I love Hollywood, but just to visit. I wouldn't want to live there. If you want to see more weirdoes and freaks go down to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or better yet, Venice Beach. Actually, there are far more freaky people in San Francisco.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Originally posted by sheepgirl: Mikey and Gidget oh my gosh I couldnt imagine living where it never snows!
Sheepish, I lived in the snowy north east for many many years....I don't miss the snow one tiny little eensy bit! I'll take drizzle we got and then the sunshine and cool temps any day of the week over the slushy, messy, salty, icy dangerous snow.
I don't like the slushy,... that's what we have now.. But I love the frosty, snowy icy stuff
I'm with Jolie on this one.
/\__/\ (>' '< ) (,,)(,,) Bob for world domination!
We finished out December with 18 days of measureable snowfalls. A new record. I am ready for Spring. No.. Summer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
but so funny! 
