Category Archives: Holiday

If a tree falls

Posted on January 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Your branches green delight us!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, What’s next for you we should discuss.

You grace our homes with twinkle lights,  Then hug the curb — that’s just not right.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
Plus, my dog pees on you.

A lot.

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Posted in Comedy, Commentary, Environment, Green, Holiday, Humor, Life, Music

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Pie in the sky

Posted on January 6, 2012 | 1 Comment

Let them eat cake. — Marie Antoinette
Let them eat pie. — The Sticky Egg

I have never been a fan of cake.

For my birthday, I prefer pie.  Fruit pie.  (Lemon pie, to be picky and specific.) Sometimes I get one; often I don’t.

But then again, I don’t have a pie fairy like Willis Welch.

For the past 35 years, Willis has received a pecan pie at his Columbus, Ohio door every Christmas.  From whom he can not say, even after all this time.

This year’s pastry was accompanied by a note announcing the pie fairy’s retirement saying,  “I am a little too fat to fly anymore.”

While I’m sad this particular pie maker is grounded, I am inspired by his tradition.  We need more pie fairies in the world!  At birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, sick beds — you name it!  Life needs more pie in it.

Will you be my pie fairy?

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Posted in Cooking, Food, Foods, Holiday, Humor, Life

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The white stuff

Posted on December 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

HAPPY NATIONAL BAKING SODA DAY!

You heard me.

And don’t act like you aren’t celebrating, either.

I mean, how could you not?  Baking soda has a plethora of uses around the kitchen and home.

Did you know that baking soda…

  • Helps baked goods rise
  • Relieves stomach indigestion
  • Removes odors in the refrigerator and kitty litter
  • Can tenderize meat
  • Can minimize flatulance from eating beans
  • Polishes silverware
  • Removes burned food from pots and pans

How would we get along with it?  Why aren’t we celebrating National Baking Soda Week??

Sorry.  Got overly excited.  Going to drink some baking soda mixed in water to calm myself.

Enjoy the day.

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Posted in Comedy, Commentary, Cooking, Food, Foods, Holiday, Humor, Life

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Ugly wins

Posted on December 28, 2011 | 3 Comments

This post is ugly and time sensitive.

So VOTE NOW!

My sister-in-law Debbie is competing in an ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest’ sponsored by First Kentucky Bank.  Take a look at her entry below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What could beat that?

So click on the photo.  It will take you to the Facebook page where you can ‘LIKE’ the photo and vote her sweater the ugliest in the land.

BUT VOTE NOW!  The contest closes today at 1:30pm ET / 12:30pm CT.

Ugly rules.  (And family even more so.)

Note: Debbie WON! Thanks for your support.

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Posted in Christmas, Family, Fashion, Holiday, Humor, Life

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Hearth and home

Posted on December 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Christmas may have come and gone, but the yule log is still burning bright.

On TV, that is.

I have been visiting my sister and brother-in-law for the holidays, and they haven’t had cable television in years. They watch movies and TV shows via Internet streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.com.

So when they aren’t online or are listening to music, chances are pretty good a fire is burning on their TV. This has become a tradition of sorts at Christmas, but I didn’t know where it originated until today.

Chalk up another one for New York City.

WPIX-TV Channel 11 was the first TV station to broadcast the burning yule log way back in 1966. President and CEO Fred M. Thrower thought residents of New York who didn’t have fireplaces would appreciate the added holiday cheer. And it allowed station employees to stay home and celebrate Christmas with their families during the four-hour time slot.

It’s like I’m always saying…

New Yorkers are the nicest people.

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Posted in Christmas, Commentary, History, Holiday, Humor, Life, Travel

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It feels like Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2011 | 1 Comment

It’s in the singing of a street corner choir
It’s going home and getting warm by the fire
It’s true
Wherever you find love
It feels like Christmas

A cup of kindness that we share with another
A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother
In all the places you find love
It feels like Christmas

 

 

It is…the season of the heart
A special time of caring
The ways of love made clear
It is…the season of the spirit
The message if we hear it
Is make it last all year

It’s in the giving of a gift to another
A pair of mittens that were made by your mother
It’s all the ways that we show love
That feel like Christmas

A part of childhood we’ll always remember
It is the summer of the soul in December
Yes, when you do your best for love
It feels like Christmas

It’s true, wherever you find love
It feels like Christmas.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

–”It Feels Like Christmas” from The Muppet Christmas Carol
by Paul Williams

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Posted in Christmas, Holiday, Humor, Life, Love, Music

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That’s the spirit

Posted on December 24, 2011 | Leave a comment

Did you know you can track Santa’s progress tonight via NORAD?

Yep, as in the North American Aerospace Defense Command.  And all because of a misprinted phone number.

Back in 1955, a newspaper ad for a Sears store in Colorado Springs advertised a direct line to Santa Claus.  Callers instead reached CONRAD  — NORAD’s predecessor — and hotline operator Colonel Harry Shoup obligingly used the radar to track Santa for the kids on the line.

That’s customer service, folks.

And a tradition was born.  Since 1958, NORAD volunteers have personally responded to phone calls and emails about Santa from children all around the world. Today NORAD provides up-to-the-minute info on Santa’s location via Google Earth and Google Maps, and Twitter and Facebook posts about each sighting, including the cookies and beverages consumed by the big man at each stop.

Talk about turning a wrong into a right.

Way to go, Harry.

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Posted in Business, Christmas, Commentary, Holiday, Humor, Internet, Life

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White Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

I attended a way fun holiday party last night with an unusual twist:

The hosts used only napkins, cups and plates that could be placed directly into the compost –  very smart, very green.

Unfortunately, paper products of that ilk aren’t green…or any color, for that matter.  Composting means they can’t contain dyes.  So the party ware was of the decidedly winter white variety.

It was worth it.

But if you prefer color in your paper products, get a load of these! Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins and tissues by Renova in the brightest of the brights!

I love these vibrant, saturated tones.  The toilet paper pictured here is made of 100% virgin pulp, is very soft and absorbent, and is tested under “dermatological and gynaecological control.”

Ya gotta admit, it looks pretty cool.  And it’s also available in black, green, orange, and purple.

White Christmas?  Not necessarily.  (Can’t wait to see Nana’s face…)

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Posted in Commentary, Cooking, Crafts, Design, Food, Holiday, Home, Humor, Life, Shopping

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Video this

Posted on December 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Have you watched America’s Funniest Home Videos lately?

Show’s still got game.

I caught part of the Christmas special tonight.  It’s probably the first time I’ve watched the program in 10 years and — darn it — the clips of kids and cats and dogs and grandmas caught in compromising circumstances while celebrating their holidays made me laugh aloud.

Embarrassing, but true.

AFV also kept the holiday show in the family by hosting the special at Disneyland’s Winter Wonderland.  So all the lights and Disney characters and Santa himself added a certain something-something.

Plus, if you are a Tom Bergeron fan like me and find the days between seasons of Dancing with the Stars particularly dark and dreary without his quick wit and showmanship, you can get your weekly dose between clips of painful pratfalls and precocious kiddies.

Tonight was a good reminder for me, too.

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Posted in Humor, Holiday, Television, TV, Entertainment, Family, Celebrities, Commentary

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