t minus 10 minutes.....

It's Christmas morning, 6:50 a.m. The bride is drying her hair, and Meg and Sara are doing their countdown upstairs. Though they're 15 nd 10, Christmas morning brings out the 3-year-old in both of them. And although I'm 41, I can still relate.

Excitement. Anticipation. And all those other emotions all rolled into one. Think that's how Joseph and Mary felt over 2000 years ago?

Christmas morning. Nothing like it.....

four of the best words ever.....

1 - out
2 - of
3 - the
4 - office

Yep, after today I won't be back in the office until Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006. That's like next year!
This was the Christmas card that our family sent out for 2005:

We decided to add Coach Fulmer to our list this year. Along with the card, Sara wrote him a letter. When I got in from work yesterday, the bride had me open a large cardboard envelope that we had gotten in the mail. Inside was an autographed photo of ol' Phil himself. The bride said that Sara was so excited that she was out in the driveway jumping up and down! We may have to get a frame for this one.

To all three (OK, that's stretching it a bit, probably more like two) of you who read this on a regular basis, and for anyone else who may have happened upon this site, Merry Christmas! I hope it's your best ever.....

yeah, i'm 41, but.....

I had a Circuit City gift card in my billfold that needed to be used. I got it when we played "Dirty Santa" Saturday night at Julie's house. The funny thing is that I actually took the gift card to the party, and I brought it back home with me that night.

So after getting a haircut last night, I went to Circuit City and bought this:

Yes, I know it comes on television ever year, but we missed it this year. Now we won't ever have to miss it again. The plan is to watch it together tonight.....

just one question.....

It could be that I missed the memo on this one, but since when did Dan Fogelberg's song "Same Old Lang Syne" become a Christmas song? The only thing I can figure is that it mentions "Christmas Eve" in the second line of the song, but after that it has nothing to do with Christmas. It's not that it's a bad song - it's just not a Christmas song.

I'm partial to the old, traditional Christmas songs. Give me Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" over NewSong's "Christmas Shoes" any day; Perry Como's "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" over any Christmas song Michael Bolton has ever done (his voice makes me cringe); and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" over Celine Dion's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)." There's just something soothing to that music that seems to fit the season much better.

Like all families in the 70's, we had an 8-track player. And we had a grand total of one Christmas 8-track tape (The Living Voices' Little Drummer Boy). Sure, we had a few Christmas albums (Perry Como was my favorite), but the tape could loop and you'd never have to turn it over like an album. You would just hear the same songs over and over. (That was pretty high-tech back then!) But even though we heard the same songs over and over, thinking about the songs on that one 8-track tape brings back so many good memories.

CD's may have improved the sound quality and convenience of music, but they'll never be able to improve the memories of past Christmases.....

old friends are the best friends.....

We went to Otter Creek Saturday night to see their Christmas concert and came away from it feeling wonderful. Partly from the music, but mostly from the friends we were able to see. Getting to visit with the Lusks (both sets of Lusks!), the Thomases, the Englands and so many others was great. Even though we were just there for a little under five years, we made friends there that we'll (and I never use this word because it sounds hokey, but here goes anyway) cherish for the rest of our lives.

I guess Michael W. Smith knew what he was talking about when he wrote the song "Friends" all those years ago.....

for the turtle who has everything.....

WATERTOWN, N.Y. - Hermie the Turtle's little defective beak made meal time a struggle. Unable to close his mouth completely, the tiny 20-gram reptile's very existence was at stake.

But today, this map turtle has a new lease on life thanks to the work of two doctors who outfitted young Hermie with braces. Now, some are calling the orthodontic work a Christmas miracle.

"I've worked on animals before but nothing this small," said Dr. Peter M. Virga, a Watertown dentist who along with veterinarian Jeffrey G. Baier performed the unique procedure.

After receiving Hermie in May, zookeepers at the New York State Zoo in Watertown's Thompson Park noticed the turtle was having difficulty eating. Medical exams then showed Hermie's lower jaw growing downward.

"He may have adapted to eat like this, or he may have not made it," Baier said.

Turtles, who are toothless, use their beaks to break food down before grinding it with the plates in their mouths.

After Baier injected Hermie with two anesthetics Wednesday morning, Virga inserted four pins into the turtle's jaws, according to the Watertown Daily Times which published an account of Hermie's ordeal Thursday.

During a meeting with reporters, the doctors placed the immobile turtle, believed to be between 2 and 3 years old, on a table. As Baier held Hermie's head, Virga placed two rubber orthodontic elastics — the same kind used by children with braces — on the pins across the turtle's mouth.

While Hermie recuperates, zookeepers will remove the rubber bands once a day to allow the turtle to eat. In keeping with the spirit of Christmas, the doctors chose red and green rubber bands for Hermie's beak.

"It's very exciting and I was glad to help," said Virga, who's performed root canal surgery on dogs.
Baier's wife, Angela, the zoo's executive director, said she was thrilled such a small zoo could take part in such a rare procedure.

"Miracles happen this time of the year," she said. "Hopefully his beak will be fixed."

The good doctor and I obviously have different definitions for the word miracle.....

mature beyond her years.....

I was like most kids about this time every year when I was younger. I knew what I wanted for Christmas, and I'd cover all my bases by telling both my parents and Santa. But I took it a step further by not only itemizing my list, but by also including the prices then figuring the tax. I didn't know if Santa had tax-exemption status or not but I wasn't taking any chances. (The word you're searching for is thorough, not anal-retentive. You're welcome.)

In Sunday's message, our pastor told about a young girl in our church. She decided that she didn't want any presents this year. In fact, she's asking everyone who would normally give her a present to just give her money. I know, you're probably thinking "What a brat!", but there's more. She's asking for money because Wednesday night she's renting a limousine, and along with her father they're picking up 12 homeless men from the downtown Nashville mission. From there, they're going to Famous Dave's for ribs and barbecue. Then for two hours they're going to be driven around in the limo and look at some of the Nashville-area Christmas lights. Once they're finished, the limo will bring the men back to our church when they will spend the night out of the cold and in our warm church building.

We all sat there, around 1,500 people, with our jaws down around our navels. The pastor said he was actually a little jealous that he didn't come up with the idean himself.

They say that one person can't make a difference. To 12 homeless men in Nashville, one young lady from Franklin will make a big difference this Christmas.....

the holidays can be difficult for some.....

The bride and I went out to eat Friday night then ran a couple of errands on the way home. When we got home, we wrapped Christmas presents for about 2 hours. As I was sitting in the floor of our bonus room, surrounded by stuff wrapped and to be wrapped, I started thinking about how blessed we are as a family. We've got so much to be thankful for because we have each other.

This thought stayed with me all weekend. It's not that I don't think about this quite often, but for some reason it just kept coming back - like the thought was trying to tell me more. When I got to the office this morning and logged onto my computer, I decided to check my Juno e-mail account. As I clicked on the Internet Explorer icon, my screen was filled with Yahoo's front page. At that moment, I saw a picture of someone that made me realize what my thoughts were trying to tell me - there are less fortunate people in this world who don't have anyone to spend Christmas with. Who am I talking about? Jessica Simpson.

Think about it. She and Nick just filed for divorce, so she'll probably be all alone this year for Christmas. Plus, her movie "The Dukes of Hazzard" didn't exactly take the world by storm this summer, so she's probably pretty depressed about that. That's when it hit me - I should invite Jessica Simpson to spend the holidays with us! I think it might be one of my best ideas yet. She could spend time with us and not be depressed about her marriage breaking up or her movie tanking at the box office. She could travel to East Tennessee with us! I'll bet Chris and Landon would even welcome her with open arms when we go to see the Moffitts, because they're very compassionate people!

This could be big.....

good thing it wasn't over krispy kreme.....

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - A police officer has been charged with using a Taser on his partner during an argument over whether they should stop for a soft drink.

Ronald Dupuis, 32, was charged Wednesday with assault and could face up to three months in jail if convicted. The six-year veteran was fired after the Nov. 3 incident.

Dupuis and partner Prema Graham began arguing after Dupuis demanded she stop their car at a store so he could buy a soft drink, according to a police report. The two then struggled over the steering wheel, and Dupuis hit her leg with his department-issued Taser, the report said. She was not seriously hurt.

Hamtramck police union lawyer Eugene Bolanowski said he expected Dupuis to hire a private lawyer.
Hamtramck is a city of 23,000 surrounded by Detroit.

no snow...yet.....

Once again, the Nashville weather forecasters tried their best to scare the public into believing the world was coming to an end because their might be some snow flurries in the area. It's hard to have snow when the temperature's in the low-40's. Could get ugly later, as it's been raining all day and it's supposed to get down to 18 tonight. Might be a bit tricky driving into work tomorrow.

Spent the day Christmas shopping with the bride, most of day at Opry Mills. Apparently it's OK for schools to take field trips at malls now. There had to be over 500 kids there today. Combine that with the busloads of retirees, and you've got yourself a pretty full mall. Nothing like attempting to swim upstream through a river of flabby-armed people with name badges that read "Claude", "Millie" and "Gert."

I'll probably be one of those flabby armed people 30 years from now.....

thoughts from last night.....

We were watching Charlie Brown's Christmas last night and a commercial came on for Welch's grape juice. Here's the way the conversation went:

Meg: Oh, I love that little girl!
Me: (sarcastically; I know, it's a stretch) You don't even know her!
Meg: Ha, ha, Dad.
Sara: I'll bet that little girl never gets zits.
Meg: Yeah, she's got smooth skin.

Now here's the difference between the way girls think and the way boys think. Girls see a little girl on TV talking about juice and start talking about her skin. A boy sees the same commercial and thinks, "Hmm, I'd like to have some juice."
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Since when did Garth Brooks and Santa become such good buddies? And do you think that Garth cries himself to sleep every night knowing he sold his soul to Wal Mart?
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Tom Petty won an AMA last night, their Century Award. I've always liked his music. He's never been what most would call a handsome man, but last night he did look a bit like someone's elderly aunt who forgot to take their daily dose of estrogen.
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I now have a UT Christmas tree in my office, compliments of Meg. Here's a shot of it:

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So with the help of the tree and being able to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas with Sara last night, Christmas is here, baby.....

less than 3 weeks away, but.....

Maybe it's just me, but it sure doesn't feel like Christmastime. Yes, the past few days have been cold enough to freeze off certain body parts, but I just haven't gotten that Christmas feeling yet. Part of the reason is that I missed my favorite Christmas show last week - Rudolph.

When I was little, Rudolph sort of "marked" the start of the Christmas season. I remember having to be home on that night just so that I wouldn't miss it when it came on. (I feel like an old man - "In my day, you couldn't use your fancy Tivo or high-falutin' video recording machines! We had to watch it when it came on or we missed it! And we liked it that way!") I also remember missing it a time or two when I was younger, and I had that same sick feeling last week. Sure, I'm 41, but when I was channel-surfing last Wednesday night and saw that Rudolph was almost over, it was sort of depressing. (I also missed the Charlie Brown Christmas show last week. But it's coming on again tomorrow night, and I made sure to set the DVR set to record it. So I've got that going for me.)

Yep, I'm needing a dose of Christmas spirit right about now. I'm starting to feel like Charlie Brown, just before Linus came out and gave his great speech on the true meaning of Christmas.....

state mottos.....

GEORGIA
A SONG IS WRITTEN ABOUT US
WE GOT THE BEST PEACHES

MONTANA
HOME OF THE UNABOMBER, RIGHT WING CRAZIES AND VERY LITTLE ELSE.

OREGON
SPOTTED OWL
IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.

NORTH DAKOTA
WE REALLY ARE ONE OF THE FIFTY STATES. REALLY, WE'RE NOT KIDDING.

COLORADO
IF YOU DON'T SKI, DON'T BOTHER US.

CONNECTICUT
LIKE MASSACHUSETTS, ONLY THE KENNEDYS DON'T OWN IT.

MICHIGAN
WE'RE SHAPED LIKE A GLOVE, THAT MUST MEAN SOMETHING! TELL US IT MEANS SOMETHING!

WASHINGTON
WE'RE BIGGER ,WE'RE BETTER! NOT REALLY, IT RAINS TOO MUCH HERE!

WISCONSIN
WE'RE REALLY CHEESEY!

MINNESOTA
10,000 LAKES, 10,000,000,000 MOSQUITOES

WEST VIRGINIA
ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY...REALLY!

RHODE ISLAND
WE'RE NOT REALLY AN ISLAND.

IDAHO
MORE THAN JUST POTATOES. WELL,OKAY, WE'RE NOT.

HAWAII
COME, LEAVE YOUR MONEY, GO BACK HOME.

KENTUCKY
5 MILLION PEOPLE AND ONLY 15 LAST NAMES.

MISSISSIPPI
COME VISIT AND FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOUR OWN STATE.

OHIO
AT LEAST WERE NOT MICHIGAN.

WASHINGTON D.C.
WE'VE GOT ISSUES

CALIFORNIA
SI HABLA ESPANOL ?

ARKANSAS
LITERACY AIN'T EVERYTHING.

NORTH CAROLINA
TABACCO IS A VEGETABLE!

ALASKA
11,509 ESKIMOS CAN'T BE WRONG.

ALABAMA
YEP, WE GOT LECTRICITY!

MAINE
WE'RE REALLY COLD, BUT WE GOT GREAT CRABCAKES.

PENNSYLVANIA
WE GOT A BIG BELL WITH A CRACK. YEA, WE'RE # 1.

mid-week pick-me-up suggestion.....

Ever feel down about yourself? Feel like your life is terrible? I've got the perfect solution for you -watch Fox's Trading Spouses on Wednesday night! Within the first 30 minutes, you'll be on top of the world!

I'm not really sure why I'm "drawn" to this show, and even if "drawn" is the right word to use here. It's almost like a car wreck that you can't turn away from on the interstate - before you know it, you're staring.

I guess the most puzzling thing to me is why people would want to be on this show. I mean why publicize how bad you've got it? And why risk being made fun of for weeks after the show airs? For example, the crazy woman named Margarite from Louisiana - someone made a bobble head doll of her and loaded some of her outrageous sound-bites into the bobble head so that every time you bopped her head one of her stupid sayings from the show would come out. Silly? Yeah, so silly that this guy sold the bobble head for $870 on e-Bay.

No matter what your current situation in life is, there's an excellent chance you'll be feeling mighty good about yourself and your life after just one episode.....

o' what fun it is to pose.....

We finally got the picture for our Christmas card last night. We usually just take one that was made during our annual beach vacation, but since we didn't go this year we had to come up with something else.

I knew the direction we wanted to go with it, but actually getting it done is something else. I spent a few minutes rearranging the bonus room and adding a couple of things, then we got the girls upstairs to start the "photo shoot." Have you ever been told to look sad for a picture? Doesn't work. Especially when the "photographer" is the dad, the mom is the "assistant", and the kids are laughing. And sometimes the "sad" or "serious" pose looks more like "constipated." Yeah, that's what we want for the ol' Christmas card.

So after a couple dozen or so shots, I think we got what we were looking for. Not exactly, but pretty close. Besides, with models like we used, we can't go wrong.....