Countdown to Christmas: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Linus Monologue from A Charlie Brown Christmas

Charlie Brown Christmas Dance

Only two days left until Christmas (or three if you want to count today)!  I was thinking of Christmases way back while I was driving home last night. I was thinking about how I began celebrating with family on Christmas Eve.  I was dating my future husband and had been invited to his parent's house on the eve.  I learned that both parents arrived in the United States on ships from their respective countries, Poland and Sweden, in the early 1900's.  The tradition of their cultures was to celebrate on Christmas Eve, and they kept their customs.  I was so excited, I never did this before, I tasted all kinds of food, including sill on hard crackers and kielbasa. I wanted to give a nice gift, so I pulled out my knitting books and found a beautiful throw pillow made of 4 squares, that when sewn together made a flower petal.  I was in nursing school back then, so I was frantically creating as I studied for final exams.  When Christmas Eve came, I still needed to finish this thing!! My heart pounded as I was sewing peices together, then sewing the knitted square onto a cloth square. Then came the stuffing, I had bought a large bag of fluffy stuffing, and I discovered that I should have bought two bags, I didn't have enough.  Now, I was in a panic!  "What am I going to do now?"  There was no option to go to a store, I was being picked up in a half an hour!  So, I looked in my dorm closet for an idea and I spotted my folded set of clean sheets for my bed on the top shelf and thought, "AHA!"  Those sheets were shoved inside the pillow, the fluff put all around it and it was sewn up so fast and wrapped and I thought, "Ready, no one will know!"  The gift was proudly given (of course, thinking about the secret inside all the while), it was graciously received and nicely displayed on the couch after wards.  Months later at Easter, a young neice visiting and was lying down on the couch with her head on the pillow, then she loudly remarked, "This pillow feels like a brick!"  I was so mortified, my secret was out!  Then it became a topic of discussion, "no it doesn't, you're imaging it", "Oh, yes it does!"  Long story short, I confessed what I did and since it was an issue, I re-stuffed the pillow with nice soft stuffing.  This pillow was affectionately named "The Brick" after that! There are more stories, too, as I rush to the finish line of completing a gift just in time to give it!  It is definitely more fun for me to make a gift, it feels extra special.  Anyone out there rushing to finish up a project now?

Countdown to Christmas: Bing Crosby and David Bowie, Little Drummer Boy

Little Drummer Boy, Bing Crosby and David Bowie

This is one of my all time favorites!  It's a classic. Hope you enjoy this duet as much as I do!   4 more days! 

Getting Ready for Christmas, South Park Song

South Park, O Holy Night, Christmas Tree and Pie

I remember when South Park was first on TV, my son was talking about it and I thought he was talking about a place, then I finally watched this show at his encouragement and was laughing and feeling aghast all at the same time.  I thought the characters were all cute, they moved and talked fast, so you had to pay close attention.  One character was always blown up every episode, but came back to life.  A few years later at one job I had, my boss said, "Did anyone hear of South Park?", to which most said no and I said yes.  She explained how her daughter asked her watch it the night before and she thought it was terrible as she chuckled and went on to explain the story.  The next week, again, she told us about the next show, laughing, but shaking her head how bad it was.  I knew, she was hooked!  South Park did some Christmas shows, there was the Christmas Poo and songs. Some of the songs are irreverent, so I will not choose them, you will just have to go find them yourself.  This song is really cute and I hope you enjoy it as we move closer to Christmas, 4 more days!!

Straight No Chaser 12 Days of Christmas

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

I have had a wonderful visit with my sister-in-law, nephew and friends in Chicago, we honored my brother's birthday well today, things could not be better.  A Chicago hot dog was not in the plans this time, but I did eat out at an Italian restaurant across the street from my nephew, then we met friends at a delicious brunch today at Granite City, then we ate leisurely at my sister-in-law's house with friends dropping by all afternoon.  I prepare to go home tomorrow. Yes, I did sketch at the airport in Boston at 6 am, I even surprised myself since I hardly slept that night!  I will try to sketch tomorrow, too, and I will share my sketches after Christmas when there is more time.
Since it is Christmas, and I am working this week, and trying to get things ready at home, I plan to provide in my blog music videos that I enjoy and I hope you do, too.  I was fortunate to see Straight No Chaser last Spring live and thoroughly enjoy them.  They are all very talented and entertaining.  I hope that I can attend another concert of theirs again someday.

Preparing To Leave for Chicago

Am up at 2:30am, will be picked up by the airport limo in about 15 min, I will be brief.  I have my essentials close at hand so I can create in one way or another.  I have my small sketch pad, I keep pencils in a toothbrush holder, I have a pencil sharpener in a small plastic box.  I am presently working on a knitted hat, so, whatever I am in the mood to do, my fingers will work to create!  Must stop blogging and watch for my ride.  Will let you all know about how wonderful my Chicago hot dog is at Portillo's!

More Fantasy Ice Fishing

     After I wrote the last blog about my husband preparing for ice fishing, I realized this fantasizing started months ago!  His birthday is in August and he told his kids that all he wanted was boots for ice fishing.  He kept talking about the day he would travel to a new sporting goods store miles away to get his boots, and finally one day he was there.  He came home with these amazing boots.  They are so beautiful, so solid, so insulated, he really found the Cadillac of boots. (He asked me if I wanted a pair of these boots, too!)  As he was preparing his tilts, he took a break to show my his boots again, but this time he had to explain how an ice fisherman wears his boots.  Not only did he get boots, but the proper socks to wear.  He explained the barrier layer that is thin and keeps the wetness from sweat from touching your skin, then there was thick wool socks that absorb any sweat and keep the foot warm.  Then he put all socks on, then the boots and walked around to see how it felt, saying how he needed to break them in.  What does that involve, everybody?  More putting on the boots and more fantasy ice fishing!  (Eventually I will talk about how all of this relates to my art, yes, there is a correlation!)

Fantasy Ice Fishing

     We are having an unusual December in Central Massachusetts. We've had a dusting of snow a couple of times, alot of rain and winds, and even some mild days.  Decembers from my memory have always included snow, ice, cold, missing school, shoveling.  I realized it will finally happen, that the world will become white and it will really feel like winter, but until then, I just look out the window and see the grass on the ground and the cloudy sky.  The lake has just a skim of ice on it.
     My husband's passion for this time of year is ice fishing.  He already started about a month ago.  First, he had the electric auger serviced and is all ready to get through any depth of ice.  Next, he bought some new "tilts", even though there are many in the cellar.  Then, he went to the local pizza place to get a pickle bucket to carry whatever he carries, probably the tilts.  This past weekend he was busy preparing the tilts with whatever one prepares tilts with.  I asked him why he needs so many tilts when he had so many, and I was told the others were no good and he also wants to bring more people along with him, even people who have never ice fished before.  I asked him who that would be and he said, "I don't know".
     So, this is how my day played out last weekend.  He talked about the tilts as he got each one ready.  Then he would say, "Look at this", so I would stop what I was doing, and he would say, while holding the tilt in his hand, "Here I am out ice fishing, just sitting around bored, then all of a sudden the flag goes up!!" then he would release the flag, it would pop up and he would be all excited.  A few minutes later, again, he says to me, "Look at this", and he played out the whole scenario again. He even demonstrated how he "jigs" the line through the hole in the ice, to which I said, "so you do the Irish jig out there".  After awhile I asked him how many tilts he was preparing and if he is going to do this every time he gets one ready, that's when I found out about the newcomers to ice fishing that he is taking with him, whom we don't know exactly who they are at this point, and, yes, he was going to do a demo with each tilt.  I had to remind him he was not bored doing what he loved and also, he takes a grill and food to cook on the ice, which was keeping him busy.
     The next day, he realized he forgot to put his "buttons" on the tilts, so he had to take his tilts apart and put these buttons on, but, this was another opportunity for more fantasy ice fishing.