Merry Christmas Mumpers!
I went to Midnight Mass, then slept in till 0800. The dogs are enjoying the treats my parents sent me, and I got cheese straws and a Packers mug. I’m going to upgrade my apartment conditions from “English Soccer Riot” to “Nuclear blast site” today.
Merry Christmas!
TVMan and I are here with my family today. I’ve got a small lunch catering job today and I got Santa hats for TVMan and I to wear when we deliver. Maybe we’ll snag a picture or two.
Otherwise, not a lot going on here. Just waiting for the timer to go off to let me know that I should be putting the chicken in the oven… And, it just did.
Bye!
It’s Christmas at Ground Zero. The Button has been Pressed. One last slog over at mom’s. I am only hoping and praying there won’t be freezing rain tonight for the drive home…I threw peanuts and sunflower seeds out on the deck for My Little Bird Friends - four squirrels the size of cats, four blue jays, and a whole flock of cardinals. I wish I could just sit at home and watch them all day.
MERRY CHRISTMAS MY MUMPERS!!
I’m up, the stockings have been stuffed and the coffee is brewing. The problem is, I’m the only one up. I shall soon roust the rest of the household, but for now, a little peace is nice.
Had a breakfast of sausage on buttered toast; somewhere a bell rang out, an angel got her wings, and my cardiologist got indigestion. 
Listening to Ren and Stimpy’s “Crock Full O Christmas” before heading up the convent to visit some family (the wife’s family being VERY Catholic) and then joining some friends for Christmas dinner. Rough plans are in the works to cruise past the casino and see what kind of crowd they get for Christmas day. Our church had Midnight Worship at 9pm yesterday so I’m all holy and ready for some serious drinking and sinning for the extended weekend.
Ruble that’s what church is for, to get all absolved and pure so you can go out and do some more sinnin’ for next time! 
HO! HO!HO!
Sneakin’ in a post from mom’s. Hope Crimmus is goin’ well for everybody who celebrates.
Now Ima go down to sis’s for a little Christmas “Cheer”.
Later Y’all!
Wee! I’m posting from my Mac, tethered to my iPhone, while on the train heading up to Smiths Falls. Network availability is spotty when travelling like this so it tends to cut in and out, but on the whole it seems to be working quite well, and certainly makes this 3.5 hour trip a little more bearable. Glad the train has plugs for charging portable devices though or I’d probably burn through my respective batteries before we even arrive.
The Nephew is cute, but the Nephews’ parental units deserve a smack over the head per capita. I’ve called, knowing they would be having Christmas lunch at Mom’s. They’ve put the Kidlet on, having trained him to tell me he misses me :rolleyes: and then wanted the Kidlette to send me a kiss (she’s barely starting to kiss in person).
Sometimes I wonder whether they think they have kids or poodles.
I miss the Kiddies but I’m glad I’m also missing the three-ring-circus. Had a nice conversation with Littlebro, who’s been in Lanzarote for a week. He’s got pictures of the beach, I’ve got pictures of snow.
Mork, you’re a ciborg, you know that, right?
¡Feliz Navidad a todos!
And a happy shopping to He Who Is Going Shopping In London.
Oh, well. We’re teaching Nat to do Hamlet’s “To be or not to be”, monologue. Maybe we think we’ve got a talking poodle? You start off with “To be or not to be” and he nods emphatically and says, “A question!”.
It’s a work in progress.
Turkey’s in, tidying is commencing, and my mother assures me that the turkey will be done cooking by the time we want to eat. I’ve never done this before.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Merry Christmas, everyone!!!
LiLi, I hope you’re videotaping Nat’s efforts.
We went to midnight mass, then slept in and have spent the day hanging out, talking to family, and putting things together for dinner. I’m making a pork roast, spiced apple and peach compote, peas and carrots, potatoes, and probably some crescent rolls.
I have some vanilla ice cream that will probably be dessert.
Back later.
GT
Merry Christmas!
What did Santa bring all y’all?
I just got my main Christmas present – my power went out last night at 10:15 and just came back on a few minutes ago. It’s 11F out now and I was SCARED about tonight! I have shitloads of bedding so it’s not like I would have actually frozen to death or anything, but it’s COLD! in here right now! Last night it got very chilly in here as it was. Gaaaah! I did get an unexpected day off from work out of it, but this hit a fairly sizable chunk of the state. Scary! And I was able to get some free coffee from work; my office is in a hotel, we’ve got tons of guests, there had to be some sort of emergency coffee available.
Fortunately I have a nice neighbor who has a fireplace so I went and hung out there for a couple of hours when my hands started going numb in here and when we got power back I came home. I’ve still got my coat on but it’s warming up, I can tell. My water was out too since I’m on a well, but I have water, which means I can flush my toilet!
Next year I swear I am leaving town on Christmas. Last year we got two feet of snow overnight. This year we got a power outage. I don’t want to know what next year has in store.
And as far as other presents go, I have something in the mail from my mom and I already got a check from Grandma. Also the AAA they kindly paid for after my problems with starting my car during that cold spell. But honest to God, having my power back is the best damn thing of all.
A shop vac, lots of socks and a Blu-Ray player that talks to Netflix so I can get movies on demand in addition to the usual red envelopes.
Home, stuffed, and exhausted. It was a nice day at bro’s house - everyone was there except one BIL who had to work. Our goofy exchange went pretty well, but daughter was kinda ticked since she ended up with the gift she brought. Mom sent us home with a plateful of cookies and some bags of candies and 2 containers of black bottom cuppy cakes. Because, you know, it’s all about the food.
Youngest sis - the one who makes the shoes, swampy - made gifts for everyone. They were plastic rum bottles full of blinking lights with an ornament around the neck and a tiny figurine of Jesus hot-glued on the lid. I’ll try to get a pic posted tomorrow. It’s truly unique…
Did I mention the food? Crab dip, sushi, buffalo chicken dip, beef tenderloin, smashed N.O.T., green beans, sausage-n-peppers, salad, corn pudding, cheese-n-crackers, mimosas, cheesecake, trifle, cookies, fresh fruit, shrimp, and probably more that I’ve forgotten. Yeah, that’s why I was stuffed.
It started raining as we drove back home, and the temps are in the mid-40s, so the snow is getting melt help. My car is sitting in the driveway - with luck, much of the salt is being rinsed off.
Daughter called about an hour ago - they’re in NC, shooting to get to Lumberton to spend the night. I’m glad they’re not planning to drive all the way to Orlando tonight. We bought them a night in a hotel.
I’m thinking I need to get to bed. I am *sooooooo *tahred. ho ho <yawn> ho
A Packers mug, a copy of Some Day You’ll Thank Me For This, a Garfield colorinb book, and a bunch of doggie treats.
I cleaned the bathroom, did some laundry, and tool a 4 hour nap. Dinner time.
gotti, my blu-Ray player does that. It rocks.
Well, it felt like an unusually short family gathering this year, due of course to the fact that we didn’t get here until about 4:00pm. (When they lived locally we’d usually be over there in plenty of time for lunch.) Also owing to the late arrival, we had dessert consisting of an assortment of cakes and pies before we say down to dinner. (Around here it’s always lunch -> dessert -> dinner -> more dessert, so we missed the lunch bit.) Didn’t mind though. There was a very nice home made carrot cake with cream cheese icing that I was only too happy to scarf down.
As for gifts, the usual assortment of a few gift cards. I got a cologle gift set: Spirit by Antonio Banderas (which I cannot say aloud in anything but Antonio’s voice.) it’s a bit spicy, and a bit musky. Not bad, though it won’t replace any of my primary scents. Plus a deluxe Gilette Fusion Power set, which means we now have 3 of the things in the house. But it never hurts. Oh, and some Tim Horton’s swag, as usual, since the wife’s aunt owns a franchise. But that’s good because they had damn good buttery fudge this year instead of those mediocre chocolate bars they had last year, and since they’ve been sold out of the stuff at the ones near me for weeks, I’m glad we were able to get a bit more.
But now we’re all winding down for a long winter’s nap shortly. I’ve got the Mac perched a little uncomfortably on my lap. Though the main reason I’m a little uncomfortable is because one of the dogs has commandeered about half my bed.
Nava - I’m not a cyborg, but I completely understand why you might thing so. I get that all the time. But there’s only so many “Sara Connor” jokes you can hear before it gets stale, y’know?
Sitting at home, with a bambilance in my driveway. Christmas night duty.
db - “a coloring book”? 
:dubious::eek:
My sinning plans got all thrown for a loop. Not too long after I logged out, my MIL called. She thought she had fallen but she was sure she had had problems getting up. And she didn’t sound quite all there. Could we come over and check on her? We’re just a few miles away so the answer was basically try and stop us.
By the time we got there she was better but not her average self yet. She’s late 80s and stubborn but I’m more stubborn ----- so she let us pack her off to the ER. Long and short is nothing was bad bad. Heart enzymes a bit off, liver a bit off, but no clear reason. They are holding her at least overnight just basically to monitor. We were at the ER though basically from a bit after noon to like 9PM finding this out. The ER had a really really serious case that took most of their time and put stable stuff where stable stuff needs to be. I’m more than OK with that ------ but I really wanted to slap around a few other folks in the waiting room who weren’t. Here’s a kid fighting for his life and this - life form for lack of a better word - half drunk is bitching because they weren’t being fast enough stitching up his brother from a small cut.
Her Ladyship is asleep now and I am having a small Old Crow and beer and unwinding.
Have some friends who get extra glitter on their shrine as far as I’m concerned. We were supposed to have dinner with them and visit the casino a bit. We called them when our plans changed. When we finally got out of the hospital we called just to let them know the status. Since their house is between the hospital and us and we hadn’t eaten, they insisted we stop ---- our dinners were set and just needed heated. It was incredibly welcome. And made a Christmas memory I’ll probably have a long time.
those are very good friends, ruble.