HAPPY NEW YEAR

'CAUSE YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SING, BUT NEVER TOOK THE TIME TO LEARN THE WORDS TO THE SONG

I AM PROVIDING YOU WITH A SONG SHEET

  JUST WHEN YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY THINK THE SONG IS OVER...

ANOTHER VERSE 

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pintcup !

and surely I’ll buy mine !

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about theslopes,

and picked the daisies fine ;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in thestream,

from morning sun till dine^† ;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trustyfriend !

And give us a hand o’ thine !

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

MAY YOUR NEW YEAR BE FILLED WITH HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS!
I WILL SETTLE FOR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
AND WILL CONTINUE TO BUY AN OCCASIONAL LOTTERY TICKET

TO TWENTY-TWELVE....

Today: Four Birds A Calling

While most folks think the Twelve Days of Christmas are the days leading up to Christmas, they are mistaken.  The twelve days start on Christmas Day and ends on the eve of Epiphany, January 5.  Plus the history of the song is rather interesting.

I rather enjoyed this little spin on the twelve days...maybe more so because my time off work has afforded me the pleasure of late night TV watching.  



I was kind of thinking maybe they should have had Danny Bonaduce as the Partridge in the pear tree.  I think the dude could have a used a bit of work these days.  Nothing against Shirley Partridge, I mean Jones.

Night Time Conversation With The King

King Ralph: I'm gonna need clean laundry tomorrow

Me: like underwear

KR: yes

Me: you might have to wear your Superman underwear you got for Christmas

KR: I don't know where I am suppose to wear those

Me: you just wear them...anywhere

KR: can you imagine if something happened to me and I was found in those underwear

KR: being found in super hero underwear is something for reality TV

inserting laugh track

I am seriously considering not doing laundry just to see if King Ralph goes for the super hero panties as his pair of "desperates."  We all have'm, that pair of underwear you are forced to succumb to when the lazy part of you skips on the laundry.

Only time will tell...if he longs to be Superman.

Remembering Christmas 2011

I have taken this day to do nothing else than rest.  I am perfectly molded into the cushion of the couch, while King Ralph is perfectly molded into the leather recliner--we have no plans to be motivated.  Laziness has its place today and it feels oh-so-good!

The last several days have been great.  King Ralph's nephew arrived at our house on the 23rd from New Jersey.  He is an Air Force officer (pilot) stationed at McGuire AFB --it has been ten years since he has celebrated the holidays with the family.  The girls miss their cousins terribly.  It warmed my heart to see the three girls making Charley laugh and the four of them all laughing together.  On Christmas Eve we celebrated the birth of Christ at church...our wise men have been moving around the house all month and finally made there way to the manger scene.

 Then we came home were King Ralph's sister and her family joined us for a feast of appetizers, spiked nog and a night of games.  King Ralph in usual Scattergories fashion tried to pass off an "s" word (Sucrets) as a "c" word.  Fail!  We laughed and loved, escalating our Christmas spirit.  Then we all headed to bed to slumber waiting for Santa Claus to do his magic.  And he did.  Under the tree he placed three gifts for each of the girls. At our house we practice: Jesus got three gifts upon his birth so that is what the girls get--three gifts.  Good enough for Jesus. Good enough for the girls. Stockings were stuffed to the brim as well.  Then the girls tip-toed to the living room and placed gifts for each other, King Ralph and I under the tree.  

We spent Christmas Day celebrating at King Ralph's cousin's house. Where after ten years of Christmas cousin pictures with Charley's name written on a piece of paper--the real thing was added. First cousins together like they should be.

      where they got silly

 and sillier

Minus one great grand-kid we snapped pictures to celebrate their togetherness

Then for all the 21 and over crowd we toasted the late and great Gee-Gee with root beer float shots.  Okay so her idea of a root beer float (which she served up to the great-grand kids every time they visited her house) was vanilla ice cream and Vess root beer, while ours was vanilla vodka and root beer...we raised our glasses, just like we did at her memorial dinner, "to Gee-Gee" and slung the shot back.

What is Christmas without playing games?  Cards it was!

Penny a chip.

 My name is D and I am a chip hog.

At ten o'clock King Ralph and the girls drug my Maple Butter Kiss

Ingredients

• Ice
• 1 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. DeKuyper Buttershots liqueur or butterscotch schnapps
• 1/4 oz. real maple syrup
• 1 oz. half-and-half
• Fresh-ground nutmeg

Directions

Pour liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass and top with fresh-ground nutmeg.

and Chocolate Vanilla martini tail to the car....

No doubt we had a very merry day! I hope you did too.

A Very Merry 2011 Charley Is Home Christmas

It has been ten years since my Air Force captain nephew has been able to spend Christmas with us. We are busy being merry, eating, drinking, laughing, loving and celebrating everything Christmas with New Jersey's most eligible bachelor. Pardon the brief intermission, I'll be back soon after finish celebrating the birth of Christ and hanging with family. As dysfunctional as we may, might be...we laugh and love much!

So I leave you with a song in honor of my nephew's homecoming:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Where are you Christmas, Why Can't I Find You

There were certain things that I banked on to really bolster my Christmas spirit: children asking me for weeks on end if I believed in Santa (which, for the record, I do!), working on the adopt-a-family program ( seeing the gratitude and humbleness in the faces of the receivers filled the heart with the meaning of advent), holiday art work lining hallways (there is just something about a reindeer built of construction paper cut outs with antlers made of tiny paint hand prints of a Kindergarten child), holiday classroom parties and the reindeer relay.  This year my spirit register is a little low to say the least.  I don't know if it would be fair to blame it on middle school attitudes that visit the chairs next to my desk--it just might be one of those years, a phase.

I had to look around work in which I managed to find a few things, although different from before, that were there offering up the spirit that comes with my "new world."...

It seems my boss got a Christmas outfit promotion since last year. I think he might have liked the Santa suit as much as he liked the elf.  He wore the Santa pants all day long.  I uncovered this costume in the office closest during the transition.  Like me it too got to stay in the building.  A little, a lot, of Febreeze later and it was wear ready.

(I believe this photo should be titled "you aren't Santa, you're a fake, you smell like beef and cheese")

This is where I got a small injection of Christmas spirit.  It came on the last day before holiday break.  The kids of the performing art classes show casing there holiday concert pieces--orchestra, choir, show choir and band.  

Today I have to reach down inside in me to pull my spirit up and get down to business. Heck, I still have a few gifts to get and some grocery shopping to do.  Oh and one more batch of cookies to crank out.

Then I can rest, on this eve of Christmas Eve.

Middle Sister

On this day nineteen years ago you filled our hearts with love and made us smile.

You have kept on making us smile all through the years and our hearts are continually filled with love. 

Happy Birthday "Middle Sister!" 

Christmas Shopping With the Spousal Unit

After we made a purchase at Nordstrom in the shoe department I stood there and gazed around. This is the conversation that I had with King Ralph...

Me: I swear when I die I want heaven to be the Nordstrom's shoe department

KR: This is hell.

ME:  The shoes are delicious! It is heavenly here.

KR: Really?

Me: Yes, I'm serious.

KR: Well if I woke up and the shoe department was heaven then I would be in hell.

This my friends is why I usually go to the mall without my better half, and why he goes to Lowe's and Home Depot without me.

Why Do I Have to Title This?

You know the worst time to blog is when you have been sipping at the white wine bottle...which may be exactly why I shouldn't be blogging...cause gosh darn I just don't blog as I use too, for many reasons, maybe because the things that are worth the laughs I can't really share publicly and the things I can....

Tonight was a night that I came home from work and just needed to see what was hiding downstairs in the neglected wine fridge.  Ooooo some fabulous Two Vines Vineyard 10 white wine was chilling and calling out my name.  "Joooooo-dee" it was calling. And I answered. No arm twisting needed!

As I sipped away, and as I sip away now I get a text on my phone from an unknown number

Mystery Text-or: Hows yur day going

Me: who is this

MT: Who is this?

Me: You text me to ask how my day was going

MT: Is this Tom

Me: Tom who? This is Jodi

MT: Im sorry I hve the wrong number

Me: No problem...and by the way I had a shitty day.

MT: Im so sorry my day isnt going so great either

MT: How long hve u had this numbr

Me: 10 yrs

Then the fun ended. Or my opportunity to unload on a complete stranger.

This my friends is maybe the reason I haven't been blogging much.