Because of vacation, shopping was a last minute thing this year. I finished up the last few bits Thursday evening after midnight, stumbling through the local WalMart to track down that last wish list thing: The Peanut wants a musical instrument, we have been trying to find her a child-sized guitar with no luck.
So there I am, stumbling around WalMart at midnight looking for one…and realizing that Christmas is insane. So am I. And that they didn’t have a child-sized guitar.
Generally, I love the holidays. But this year, I’m just sort of ambivalent.
I have a friend who goes into what she calls her "winter hibernation" — she stops answering the phone, tries to schedule a vacation in some remote place and generally just avoids contact with people who are caught up in the holiday frenzy. After my shopping insanity, I’m wondering if she doesn’t have a better idea. Every year I try to reduce my shopping to something more manageable, and try my best to shop for items that people need and that give back in some way — hand-made crafts, soaps, hand-dipped candles, etc. But, unfortunately, time was at a premium this year and we aren’t exactly living in a shopping mecca. Which is how I wound up shopping at midnight at WalMart. Never again.
We’ve done some charity giving this year — put together several stockings for local kids through the Salvation Army (they do great work here), given to groups both local and beyond, and hoping we can afford a donation through Heifer International, once we go over our budget and see if we have any more give left. But this year, it just seems like there is so much more need at the end of my budget — and that’s tough, isn’t it?
I’m just feeling like we ought to be doing more, but not quite figuring out how best to do that yet. And instead of being happy about all the good we’ve managed to do, I’m having a glass half-empty mope about everyone we can’t help this year. Not bah humbug, but more of a we need to do better.
So, in the spirit of trying to get into the season, I’m sharing a fabu version of White Christmas from Otis Redding. This can be a rough time of year for a lot of folks, so I thought an open-ended what you want from Santa, or what you’ve done to help someone out, or why is your family so freaking insane and forcing you to count the minutes until you can get away from them again, or whatever it is that’s on your mind sort of thread would be a good one for everyone.
I’m opening the floor for folks who have a bit of a kvetch — or better yet, some bit of cheery news. Pull up a chair…
(H/T to TRex for finding this YouTube. Love this version.)
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good morning!
I’m late and ambivalent too. Maybe it’s because the “leaders” in Congress have disappointed us so much this past year that all my hope has dried up…
SnarKassandra posted this link on Facebook, but I wanted non-Facebook people to be aware of it too:
Free Rice
Who knew that donating rice to hungry people could be so easy?
My finances have been downright messed up this year, so i haven’t even had a little to give to charity. That’s probably the one thing that gets me the most.
If things go right with my plan, i’ll have more than a little to give back next year. Which i really want to do.
Merry Christmas, Christy! We’re gonna have a tropical X’mas here in Singapore at the Guest Hostel I’m staying at. I’m in charge of making the mulled wine and spiced cider. Don’t know if we’ll have curried turkey or kung-pao ham or some other oddity for the main course, though. BTW Singapore really does celebrate Christmas, but it’s more of a community think…there will apparently be tens of thousands out on Orchard Road on X’mas eve singing carols and watching the Christmas displays. And wow! Do they shop here!
Good Morning Christy, it’s cold comfort that I’m not the only one struggling with the Christmas Spirit this year. I’m trying, but I still haven’t even gotten out the Christmas music, not even my favorite version of the Nutcracker with kiddie commentary by Peter Ustinov.
Thanks for the Otis!
Merry Christmas to Christy and all the ReddHedds
Sick of it all.
maybe you could find a nice used mandolin at a local instrument shop, that’d be amusing :)
Here’s Donita’s Soulstice playlist from The Spin I’m In, maybe that’ll help
Christy,
Good morning. I’m feeling happier and more grateful than I have in more years than I can count—strictly on a personal scale. The move was a good one for me. And yet I feel the dread of the impending financial meltdown that surely will happen, whether sooner or later. It will affect everything and everyone except perhaps the super rich. And most folks will say that they had no clue, never expected it, what a surprise, how could it have happened?
A family in my congregation lost most of their house a couple of nights ago to an electrical fire. They are fortunate. They have good insurance, a great community pouring forth support and no one was hurt. In six months or so their lives will resume—not as if nothing had happened because these things stay with you forever—and will move on. I can’t help thinking of those in New Orleans and the MS gulf who, 2 and a half years later are still struggling against everything without insurance, without the federal aid that was promised, without the support systems that should have kicked in almost immediately after the hurricane.
And I worry mostly for our nation. The rule of law has become so “quaint” and when it is disregarded at the very top how can people down the chain take it seriously?
I feel we are heading into dark times when communities will have to pull together which will be very hard because people have gotten so used to taking care of themselves only. As long as “I’ve got mine” who cares about anyone or anything else.
So the Christmas Eve homily is about the importance of telling our stories and about community. That is it will be, once I write it.
Good morning Christy and everyone else.
A little Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler in honor of your shopping excursion
After Midnight
ah cool, i like the small player window.
Cheery news seems to be in pretty short supply these days.
Happy solstice.
OfT – (hey, it’s what I do)
Just signed the petition to Comedy Central with the following message:
I very much look forward to watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert sitting and staring at the camera for a half-hour each.
Not only is this a morally reprehensible action, it’s a stupid business move. Do you think that your two hosts are going to be happy about this?
Me either, and it’s gonna show.
“Comedy Central – Now With 90% Less Comedy!!” (just a suggestion for promo’s)
Off to see if I can send a nice cheery Christmas message to Harry “Roll-Over” Reid.
Mixed feelings here too. Just can’t get into the swing of things. No little kids in my family to help get me in the spirit, either. Barely decorated the house (which I used to spend days doing) and didn’t bake a thing. Sometimes I am angry at those people who really don’t know what’s going on in this country. Right now, I envy them.
hi, Christy…yah, I’m pretty much the same, at least in a single-person kind of way. I usually, at very least, look forward to making my xmascards, but honestly, I wasn’t going to be able to afford even that this year. and even if I had, the inspiration to just wasn’t there.
re: a guitar for Peanut…I don’t really know what one would cost, but if you’re not averse to buying something used, you might look for a Baby Taylor…they’re about 2/3 the size of a regular guitar, are really well-made, and even new, fairly cheap. maybe someone would have one in your local Pennysaver or Craigslist…?
god, I hope we all feel better, soon…
Good morning Christy!
I’m looking at the glass half full here. Solstice is behind us, every day will be getting brighter. So many of the things we try to do at Christmas are to cheer us up, and if it’s working the other way, why do them?
I do not like to receive or give gifts. On the receiving end, I rarely get anything I want, so it seems like such a shame for the giver to spend the time & the money to get me something I don’t want, and on the giving side, I never have any idea what the recipient might want. It seems like such a foolish waste. So I don’t do it. This year I’m spending the hoidays alone (son finally move 1500 miles away–hip hip hooray), so I won’t get sucked into it.
Now that there is some nice Otis Redding.
I have reached a new and happy Christmas plateau. Because of a recent move and our son being in London, our event won’t happen until 01/09 when the kids can actually get here. So I don’t have to be in the stores – or online – right now.
It’s made me realize that, quite frankly, Christmas giving is really silly. At least Christmas giving other than love and a smile.
My brother will be with my husband and me. I bought each hiking boots (just moved to Arizona where the hiking is wonderful…but brother called yesterday and told me he fell on black ice and has a chipped ankle bone! So much for hiking this year)and we’ll have a great dinner and hang around the house.
I’m looking forward to it. Christmas is too overdone – and for all of the wrong reasons.
Happy Holidays to everyone at FDL!!!
Christy,
YGM- talking head line up.
Uh, oh. Just to make my Christmas less cheerful, MSNBC is reporting that Brittney Spears’ little sister is breaking up with the father of her baby. The horror.
Never head of Baby Taylor guitars before — couldn’t resist looking at my Craiglist. For more info, see: http://austin.craigslist.org/msg/477440379.html
Sounds like your contemplating fighting back against Christmas – at least as we know it, Christy. Ot just giving up? I’ve just accepted that this is just the way it is. But you know, I’m just not keeping up. I not going to do the hibernation thing, but I’m not butsing my ass to do everyting that’s now expected. Secret Santa’s and grab bags – hardly anybody does that anymore and if it’s suggested I piss and moan. Anybody else noticed a dramatic decrease in the nember of cards they get? Or is it just us because we’ve sent out very few ourselves – one year not getting around to sending any – and we’ve been kicked off people’s lists? I’m just doing ours today. They’ll get to their destinations late. Tough. Merry Christmas.
I used to like going to Manhattan a few days before Christmas, having done no shopping prior to that, and going up Fifth Avenue and hitting all the stores and schlepping back to NJ with shopping bags ripping, trying deparately to get everything home. Imagine. Now? I don’t go to a store. Not a one. Do everything on line. (Couldn’t you find a guitar or other musical instrument online, CHR? If you do now, you’ll pay alot for shipping to get it here on time. But the look on Peanut’s face will be worth it, right? Wrong.)
This year I sponsored a child from the school my client supports. She wanted 2 things, a doll and a teddy bear. The doll was expensive, it was an interactive one that talks etc, and I had to get the ethnic version, which was available online but not in stores. And the non ethnic version was cheaper in the Walmart stores then it was online. Considering the price, the additional shipping charges, and the fact it it was cheaper in the stores it kinda defines the challenge of what people face around this time of year.
The important thing is, a child will open up her gifts on Christmas day, get what she asked and I hope generates some faith in the world.
a child size guitar is a ukelele.
I plan to do end of year giving this week. Maybe not as much as I thought as I just bought a piece of woodland. And deciding where – national, local; political, environment…
Good luck with that Rev
Thanks for the White Christmas from Otis this morning, Christy. We got an overnight dusting of white to freshen the landscape around here. Your musing is really resonating with me this morning, but then it ‘most always does, along with Jane’s and everyone’s, which brings me back again and again.
Later this morning I’m heading over to drop off blankets at a local homeless shelter. A little something extra this year, because I’m seeing so keenly the need that runs as a subtext more than before. Grateful for home and family and wee getaway cabin sanctuary in the tall timber, I ache for the homeless. Saw two fellows at the local post office yesterday morning, homeless, the shelter for those chemically dependent not yet completed, black faces in a sea of white, trying to organize their mail, general delivery. Where are their families, I wonder. And the families here fractured by their courageous gift to all of us of service to our country.
The Salvation Army does great work around here, and the YWCA, and Churches United, and the New Life Center, and yet, the need is greater. My prayer is that those who need be remembered by everyone who sits down for their holiday feasts. And that we are inspired to make them part of our family communities.
Have I told you lately that you inspire me, you, and Jane and Pach and all the FDL family? You’ve started a whole flotilla of voices. From young Cassie to seasoned women like moi. We owe you a debt of gratitude which we hope to pay off by writing with integrity and quiet sure voices that carry higher than the loudest din of propaganda catapulters.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, Christy, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of the FDL family as a commenter and as a helper backstage from time to time.
~ Prairie
moved from last thread, seems more a propos here, to invite you all to stop by for fresh food for thought today about the iconic Christmas mother and everyday mothers
A cousin (closest thing to sibling) got me started on the concept a number of years ago of buying the “perfect” gifts as they just crop up while shopping all year long. Doesn’t help anyone between now and next Tuesday but I highly recommend this practice for future reference.
It means you NEVER have to get out in traffic or go in stores when all h*ll breaks loose after Thanksgiving to try to find presents that are too expensive, not appropriate, etc. It has the additional advantage of spreading out the money needed throughout the year and you can wrap at leisure. Plastic boxes can be labeled with people’s names and stashed with presents useful for birthdays or visiting gifts as well.
It’s just amazing how much my attitude toward the holidays has improved. The only last-minute thing I need to do is make lots and lots of peanut brittle for people like the vet, hairdresser, et al.
Oh, solai – buck up, I’m sure there will be a second TV special made especially for 16 year old girls who’s babies-daddy have jilted them.
But think of it this way…at least she’s not having an abortion. Horrors!!!
Actually I’m looking forward to my first Xmas eve service in the new church. The music will be wonderful and it is a happy bunch of people. Don’t know about the ever present “tourists” who only show up that night.
Is it “Roll-Over”? I’ve been sending the letters, postcards and e-mails to Harry “Bend Over” Reid. Does that mean none were delivered?
One thing that’s making me hopeful is the outrage over the teenager that died due to Cigna Insurance greed. Could this be a tipping point? John Edwards is quoted as saying
No more playing ‘nice’. We need Universal Health Care NOW.
wonderful – the newbie posts twice some how…
k, finally I delurk … warmest season’s greetings to Redd, Mr. Redd, Peanut, and all. Jane! This is the happiest Christmas of my life. Six months ago I found the love of my life and she hates all these consumerist rituals as much as I do, woo-hoo!
Last week I spent $100 apiece to take my oldest songwriting friend, also formerly homeless guy friend I support to a gala celebrating 30 years of Pacifica radio in DC … they got to breathe the same air as Harry Belafonte and Dick Gregory and Amy Goodman
I sent my young Belgian friend an iPod nano, in thanks to all the French and Dutch pop she’s sent me, with translations, she’s so farkin cool
I saw my 20 y.o. french buddy on the cam last night … damn she’s something … I never had kids, but now I have these couple of funny kids across the pond
Life is good … happy everything to you Lake treasured people … and especially you Christy
Yesterday, I was driving to work on the NJ Turnpike and this frail looking elderly woman was on the shoulder of the road trying to wave someone down. I stopped, after all a human being is asking for help.
She had a flat, she didn’t have a cell phone, and didn’t even know if she had a spare. I changed her tire for her, and told her to donate the money she wanted to give me. It was then I found out she was diabetic and so is her daughter and she donates a lot to organizations involved with diabetics.
When I got to work, some people were aghast at the fact that someone didn’t have a cell phone and would be on the road traveling without one, some were surprised that I stopped, and just a few said they would try to help.
We had shopped like that for a few years but, for some reason, have gotten away from it. Maybe we’re just giving less and don’t feel the absolute need to do it. But it’d still be easier. It’s even better of uyou have wrapping paper on hand and wrap ‘em as you buy ‘em. Much easier. looks like I’ll be up til 2-3 a.m. wrapping on Xmas Eve (Xmas day, actually) again. Your way is soooo much better.
Is it “Roll-Over”? I’ve been sending the letters, postcards and e-mails to Harry “Bend Over” Reid. Does that mean none were delivered?
“Bend-Over” is perfectly acceptable for every-day correspondence and general bitching (was that redundant?).
Just going with “Roll-Over” this one time. Hey – it’s Christmas – ya know?
Oh MM you are definitely making that girl’s Christmas, you’re an angel.
good for you!
YGM.
we just had a woman abducted and murdered first of this month when she broke down outside of town. The guy used her ATM 3 times, 3 days, right after. The dismembered boy was found this week. It’s got lots of people upset and fearful.
This year we decided it was best not to get anything expensive for each other. So instead we’ve found inexpensive cool gifts for each other. Since I know my sweetie reads this blog, I won’t go into details, but it was really nice finding simple stuff to give.
We’re still getting a couple expensive things for the household– a new dresser for me, and a new dvd recorder (not that there will be anything on tv worth recording for awhile, but even so), but mostly we’re just being mellow.
I, on the other hand, am primarily celebrating art and my newfound passion for night photography.
Good news, comin’ right up!
1) Stanford’s got a new silicon nanowire battery that a) holds ten times the charge of current batteries (imagine electric cars with 2500-mile ranges, hybrid cars with batteries the size of current conventional car batteries, or laptops you can use unplugged for twenty-four hours) AND b) lasts longer.
2) Nanosolar has sold and shipped its first production unit $1/watt printed thin-film solar panels. Why is this a big deal? Because coal energy costs $1 per watt. Solar is now as cheap as coal — and will get cheaper once Nanosolar can expand its manufacturing plant (its first 18 months of production are already sold out).
Combine these two bits of good news and that’s some really good news!
good to see ya Sharkbabe – happy things are going so well for you..
Hey – don’t be a stranger, ok?
I wish I was back in NJ (for this time of year, anyway). sniff.
A good thing you did, Mm.
i manage to survive without a cell phone most of the time. I just keep reminding myself that there was a time before cell phones and we survived. (But i don’t remind myself about rotary phones. Barbara Mikulski can keep those). But they do come in handy when you’ve got a flat on the Turnpike.
holidays were always the Pennsylvania Turnpike … god I’ve paid my dues, now I’m free
This could sound kinda weird but it actually may even help you give AND spend less…if you already have the “perfect” present you may be less likely to buy MORE stuff to make up for the feeling that you’ve not gotten something they might like.
thx jayt and back at ya … I’m just a shy girl and scared of change … still a bit traumatized at this shiny new FDL lol
Oh Christy,
Not WalMart!!!! That alone would ruin my Christmas. You need to take a long hot bath after that experience.
Great news, indeed! We are going to see a titanic struggle between big oil / coal interests and the new technology energies…will take strong, sustained and vigilant voices among the netroots to make sure that Washington doesn’t slip back into barbarian energies when the future holds so much promise.
Thanks for this positive note, PW!
And until Nanosolar’s ubiquitous, you can find some solar energy this morning courtesy our own wonderful egregious…the Lake’s leisurely today…you’ve got time to take a moment to slip on over to her place for a moment, too.
I have 3 adult children. The youngest, though 25, must still believe in freeking Santa Clause. He wants a laptop. The middle child thought that that sounded pretty good, he’d like one too. Told them ‘no’. I’m not overspending for Christmas. They’re pouting.
LOL
Larry Stewart, Kansas City’s “Secret Santa” for over 20 years, died last year but his friend is making sure his secret goes on.
Secret Santa’s been visiting the thrift stores, bus station, and all kinds of other places folks in need hang out, chatting with folks and then slipping them $20s and $100s and whatever.
God bless him, and every one he meets.
Welcome to the lake, TorreyaHiker!
Hope to hear from you often.
i think now-a-days it’s particularly complicated with children involved. half of me wants everything to be happy and filled with abundance and free from concern. and the other half can feel uncomfortable with that because of all the real need we see in the world.
but in the end… i think that makes for the best of the christmas/solsist spirit – a reminder of the promise and hope that is embodied in all our peanuts and how much we want for them…. and a reminder of all the people in the world where those hopes have been betrayed.
imo, both are real and it’s important to remember that one does not negate the other. they are both necessary, and where one is missing – a part of the spirit of the season is missing too.
ymmv
I read a press release last night from Nanosolar. forgit what site, but it was the most mangled piece of writing. They’ll need a lot of help to compete with oil and coal – in the market, in the press and in getting government help.
I gotta go do the breakfast thing. Wife is taking the daughters to the mall later. No boys allowed, so I’ll be home with the sons. They’re too young to know that these bowl games on now really suck, so maybe will watch one together.
The girls are too old to believe in Santa and this year both boys are on the cusp – they know better but really don’t wanna give up believing. There’s some magic missing, but I chalk ity up as a transition year and things should be easier in the future now that we won’t have to “play Santa” anymore. All in all, a pretty vanilla Christmas in the Beerfart Liberal Household. That tree has seen much better days. We have so many decorations and they’re getting old and just don’t feel like putting them all up.
Don’t know when -or if – I’ll be getting back here before Christmas. Christy, I found this place during the Libby trial-waiting for the verdict, actually and have been comming back since. Because of you and all the other people who post – I don’t wanna start naming names because I don’t wanna slight anyone I might forget (and I will forget someone.) And because of the commentors.
You’re all great. Merry Christmas FDL & to all and God bless.
The San Diego Zoo’s 4-month-old panda Zhen Zhen makes her debut today.
Problem is we would lose track of what we’d bought. We’d do a little Christmas shopping. Then when we took out the presents we’d be been collecting during the year, invariably one or two people would have “too much” so we’d run out to balance things out –and spend more money we didn’t have.
thanks eg.. and I’m off — time to pack up and head out to the woods. The trails are calling.
Elliot_38-Actually she made mine.
Beerfart_44_NJ will always be here. Looking forward to the day I can say I miss it.
TorreyaHiker_40-That’s tragic. All the more reason why people should help others when they see them stranded.
Definitely.
wow, Curious…you’ve found the most expensive Baby Taylor I’ve ever seen! in fairness, it appears to be something of a limited edition deluxe affair…
I eBay’d it, and most used ones are still a mite more expensive than I’d thought they would be–IIRC, the guitar’s like $300 new, and it apparently doesn’t depreciate too much (Taylors are VERY good guitars). I was thinking that perhaps one might be able to find one for $100 or so, but the average at eBay appears to be in the $200 range, so probably too expensive.
Good morning, Christy. Husband and son are coming here today (yay!) for a few days before heading back to New Orleans. I made several gifts since we’re not purchasing gifts this year, but I plan to cook and make life as comfortable for them as I can while they’re here (and Christmas day is my husband’s birthday). They’re both determined to get our house fixed, do the work they have, and help others with home repair. I want to be there to help them, but I would be more of a hindrance than help, since I’d have to find someplace else to live (house leans, but they’ve been sort of camping out there) and I can’t live in one of those trailers (chemically sensitive). Also, younger son is still in school here, and it wouldn’t be fair to him to uproot him right now. I miss my family being together, I miss my job, and I want this struggle to get a little less hard, but we have property there and can’t sell it and we can’t just walk away from it, either. Someone made us an offer on the house that would leave us owing a lot of money on the mortgage. We can’t possibly accept. It’s a lovely 100+ year old house in a section of town that had never flooded, until the levees broke. The storm itself only did minor damage: one broken window and two roof slates. The foundation on one side was undermined by the flood waters and now it leans…not a good thing in a two-story house. It’s difficult for me to get in the “Christmas spirit”. I feel like America is becoming Pottersville (5 points for the reference).
on the gift giving thing… during the year, i frequently think of things that i’d like to give people (usually small things). but usually they are appropriate for the moment and not the kind of thing that can wait months until a birthday or christmas…
then comes the time when i’m supposed to buy gifts and usually i have no freaking clue. i’m hopeless.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again…
You’ll always miss it. I was surprised how much people here make fun of the way I talk. Goobers. Ooops. Not the Christmas Spirit, now, was it? Take that back.
Easy fix – ya just make a little list of names, presents bought with cost and stick it in your wallet for ref. when shopping. And hey, those plastic boxes live forever……I’m giving presents bought years ago. *g*
(((lindy!)))
Merry Christmas, Lindy.
Christy, Fisher Price makes a guitar. Too big?
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-P…..038;sr=8-1
Christy,
You might find more success for your daughter’s musical present by looking for a ukulele. The smallest size (they go up from soprano, concert, tenor and baritone) is ideal for a little person, PLUS there are only four strings to learn for little hands, not six. A student-quality ukulele made of wood laminate will cost about $40. (Do not get a plastic one!)
We have seven ukuleles in our house. I play the soprano size, and my husband plays very well on both his high-quality concert and tenor ukes. It’s a happy sound. A music store might have them in stock.
It’s too late to order from them for Christmas, but here’s a great source with very nice people: http://www.ukuleleworld2.com/home.php
How fun and I just donated 3000+ grains of rice!
Solstice was perfect last night… lots of snow and a nearly full moon. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas and Eid Mubarak to all and a most happy and wonderful solstice and New Year for all y’all.
I want to acknowledge two artists who have passed all too recently and far too soon.
Amin Ismail Gulgee and family
http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/14842
and for Perry Kucinich & family
http://www.dennis4president.co…..1019%1007/
I also would like to apologize to those who suffer from our brutality.
People are suffering and dying and I am ashamed of “our leaders” who have done nothing to end this violence.
Blessings to Senator Dodd, Congressman Kucinich, Senator Kennedy,
and Senator Feingold (who actually addressed poor, poor Afghanistan in his floor speech)
Some musical company for the melancholy, I love the match of the vocal and the piano here:
Bittersweet rendition of “I Wish I Had a River to Skate On” sung by TRex with video by newtonusr.
When I was in Vancouver, BC people told me I sounded like Tony Soprano, which is funny. I’m in South Jersey, where the accents are influenced by Philly, not NYC.
I guess you’re right about always missing it. It isvery progressive socially, and for the most part a good place to live.
OfT again (yeah, I know)
From C&L:
It’s reported that Rachel Maddow is taping a pilot for a new show for MSNBC and we can only hope that she succeeds and replaces Tucker Carlson. Write to MSNBC and tell them what you think of Tucker and Rachel Maddow…
http://www.crooksandliars.com/…..s-too-big/
I plan to address the Morning Joe /aka “For Fascists Only” show too. Hey – I give a little extra this time of year.
We’ve discovered there’s nothing like cancer to move you out one ring in the concentric circle of Christmas madness. As David moves through the rounds of radiation and chemo, we are definitely at a remove from the falala frenzy.
That said, I remain acutely aware that all is not well in the land of the free and home of the brave. Crikey! Check out those candidates. And watch Bloomberg/Hegel sniffing out a run. I’m not optimistic about capturing the White House. So that means we have to ramp up our energy and seize Congressional majority enough to mitigate against whatever happens to the house on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Was invited to tune in on a telephone town hall conference dealie with Al Franken the other night. They let me ask my question. Given that so many freshman House and Senate candidates promised much and are delivering little, I said, what is your plan for being visible and vocal and keeping faith with the people who elect you?
His answer was somewhat vague. I think I surprised him, because it was party faithful on the call. But you know what? That’s the question we need to be asking (among all the others). What’re you gonna do to keep from being sucked into the cesspool of waffling and indecision and failure to, oh, let’s say protect and defend the Constitution. Trite, you say? I think not.
Good morning everyone and Merry Christmas! We are off today to KY to see the in-laws for a week. Should be very laid back and peaceful.
Here’s the most frightening Christmas mash-up you will ever see…
Ozzy & Jessica
Our local Salvation Army is wonderful also. (I still don’t understand why Target no longer allows them to ring the bell for donations outside their stores.) I gave a donation to the Salvation Army + local food shelf & homeless youth project. I wonder so often if the middle class conservatives still planning to vote repub I know in my area ask themselves why we have such a large & growing number of homeless & hungry families we didn’t see years ago. Homeless here used to consist mainly of a small number of over 50 alcoholic males. It is probably clinton’s fault.
Bill Moyer’s Crisis in Capitalism last night was excellent. Dr. Benjamin Barber laid out so clearly how the US is practicing bad capitalism. It was fascinating to hear him talk about american consumerism. He certainly echoed all the thoughts bouncing around my head but he put it all together beautifully. I can’t wait to buy his book “Consumed”. It sounds like it would be a good one for Book Salon.
Oh yeah. happens to me. Guess I’m clueless, too. You have to make people give you Xmas lists – or they get nothing.
oooh. Know what I hate about Xmas? My wife, before she opens a present v will feel the box, shake it and go through a whole ritual and guess what it is. And she’s really good at it. And it just takes some of the suprise out of it and that means taking some satisfaction I get from giving. But if it makes her happy…….
Oh, and one more tahnk you before i leave. to the wife for all that baking — even though it’s off limits for a few more days.
Rachel said on her show the other night that these are false rumors. There is nothing going on with her and a teevee deal with MSNBC.
And Lindy, wishing you as much help as can come your way. These are the kinds of things people just can’t do alone. Blessings to you and yours.
I thought Rachel debunked that story. Is this new? Fingers crossed.
And, jayt, couldn’t agree more about Morning joe. Besides the bias, that show just really sucks, doesn’t it? The chit-chat is awful and the liberals (except for Schuster) are cowed by joe. Really, just awful. I don’t know how Mika can stand it. If she says anything, he really smacks her down.
Last week(?), he introduced Schuster and said he thinks of Schuster’s segment as the “Hate America” segment. I’d rather see Rachel replace Joe. Just because of the time slot. Would love to wake up to her on tv.
It’s so strange. NJ is such a small state. And you’re right. You guys talk different(ly). My wife is from Central Jersey and says I have a north Jersey accent that makes me sound stupid. And even in North Jersey, the people in far north Jersey don’t speak the same as I do having grown up in Hudson County squished in between Jersey City and Newark. All of that in such a small state. But it’s lost on others. And I still say there’s no such thing as NJ accent.
BTW,my 13 yo daughter is for some resaon infatuated with Vancouver and is threatening to ove there when she’s out of high school.
that was scary just clicking the button!
Merry Christmas to all the Twisteds!!
(((Barbara and David)))
Speaking of accents, when I was in college, everyone was aghast that I would pronounce the 3 mary’s the same (Mary, marry and merry). I’m from central NY. I was like the freak at a party as they tried to ‘help’ me learn the different pronunciatons.
Last night I took this photo:
http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/?pic=2718
It’s a 14-minute exposure.
My arms were sore when I was done :)
last year i exchanged gifts with my nephews and extended family on new years day. i had the kids for overnight on new’s year eve (so their parents could go out). we went shopping on the afternoon of new year’s eve day. the kids got to pick out their gifts (we had planned this in advance so they had a chance to think about what they wanted) and i think that was half the fun. then we went home and played with the new toys (being very careful about taking them out of the boxes without ripping anything. we celebrated new year’s eve with on london time with ginger ale and noise makers and confetti and a friend their age from across the street. and after the kids finally went to bed, i stayed up and put their toys back in the original boxes and wrapped them with christmas paper and ribbons.
then on new year’s day, the kids got to open their gifts again – this time with family watching.
i hope the kids had fun…. i know i had a blast.
Rachel said on her show the other night that these are false rumors. There is nothing going on with her and a teevee deal with MSNBC.
Aaarrrrgh. Not. Good. News.
Last week(?), he introduced Schuster and said he thinks of Schuster’s segment as the “Hate America” segment. I’d rather see Rachel replace Joe. Just because of the time slot. Would love to wake up to her on tv.
He said that? Asshole. Agree that Rachel would be great in that slot.
Although it would be poetic justice if they gave it to Shuster…
I can’t imagine why
To you and everyone else at the Lake! Beerfart, I’m from CT and even though I haven’t lived there for almost 20 yrs, people still say I’m from New York. Fuggedabawtit!
Ah you are so right. When I got to college at Stockton in Pomona, NJ that’s the first time I heard “what exit are you from?”. Vancouver’s a great place, great people and very beautiful.
Thanks Elliot and Beefart. And Merry Christmas to you.
Hey, thanks! Even though I’m not really a part of this community, it’s where I come sometimes when hope is in short supply.
Thank you.
No longer watch Morning Sludge…his bully-thug routine has long since worn thin. Like the rest of BushCo has worn thin. But, but, but…the Republicans might not like us, say the Cong. Dem leaders…hey, haven’t you noticed? America is leaving the Republican party in droves. The bandwagon’s rollin’ and you ain’t on it.
RFD-TV for me these days.
Of course you’re a part of this community!!
My daughter has a teacher’s assistant who she just adores. Think Edith Bunker (or at least I do). Well Mrs.P has been going on and on about how she’s going to have her granddaughter overnight this weekend. She saved up to buy the game ‘Operation’ (that alone, breaks my heart). Anyway, my daughter says that Mrs.P is definitely the type who would rather give than receive so for one of her gifts, my daughter bought her an easy-bake oven. Huge success. Mrs P was soooo excited. There are truly good people in this world. I’ve never met this woman, yet I know that I would love her.
Omigawd, guys, go see! (Tripod, Julie, tripod!)
Hugs to Barbara and David and Lindy and your family.
And Vancouver’s well worth going to!
You know, I just saw a child-sized guitar at KMart. Not sure how nice it is …but it looked pretty good for a first instrument.
The story of the child dying due to Cigna’s greed makes my blood boil. I hope it forces people to wake up and start thinking about the election and who among the Dems is ready to fight. Because it IS class warfare—and we are losing.
In my personal situation, I am a bankruptcy attorney and my firm just finished its best year ever. It leaves me with a strange feeling to be doing well financially while seeing my clients being harmed by forces beyong their control. At least we have been able to get them some relief.
I think Krugman nailed it (as usual) in his column yesterday.
On a somewhat positive note, we have been able to make some donations to local charities that we hope will best serve the needs of our community and if Edwards continues his surge we will have some decent $$ to send his way during ‘08 so he can kick some ass.
Peace and good will to all.
the best christmas i ever had, i decided almost at the last minute to go on vacation. i’d od’ed on people and was in a hermit kind of mood. called the travel agent and asked for warm weather with beaches and/or mountains, she said… caribbean is booked, mexico is booked, how about hawaii? so i went to molokai and spent the week on the beach and hiking without another person in sight. it was great… but that’s when i had the $ to do stuff like that.
Barbara, sending good wishes and positive thoughts to you and your David.
Lindy_I wish the very best for you and your family. Please don’t lose faith, it’s when you face the tremendous challenges that you need it the most.
no wonder your arms are tired Julie!
Lindy,
Your personal story about the national shame that is the Rethug rebuilding of New Orleans moves me alot. Thank you for sharing your story. Hugs from The Clausen’s in Iowa. ((((Lindy)))
huh? please! listen to egr.
(((barbara and david)))
Maybe it’s already been suggested, but what about a banjo or ukelele?
Or a flute, recorder type. The kind for children. Or think percussion. Bongo drums. Maracas. Small xylophone. In Africa they have a wooden box with holes and lines in it and some wooden sticks that you can use to “play” this combination of percussion and wonderful tones. Not sure where you can find such a thing, but we once gave all of these kind of things, bit by bit, to our son.
You won’t get it for Christmas, Christy, but check out MusiciansFriend.com and ElderlyMusic.com. They have small-sized guitars.
It’s better to practice random act of kindness all year than for a few days.
jo6pac
Another place to try for a guitar: pawn shops. I know it sounds weird, but they usually have a pretty good selection of used instruments.
At 25 he can buy his own freaking laptop.
Morning all; O/T, but it made me laugh;
“Tony Blair joins Catholic faith”
..”And earlier this year, the former prime minister told the BBC that he had avoided talking about his religious views while in office for fear of being labelled “a nutter”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157409.stm#cooliris
It’s SHOCKING! that the Prime Minister was a closet Roman Catholic!
Here too – just knowing the days are going to start getting longer is hugely hopeful – it’s dark before 5pm here.
I’m going to beg your indulge and post a “dream” I had last night. The moderators are welcome to delete this if it’s too long or off topic. But sometimes when you have a dream, you need to share it:
Going skiing in Utah on Jan 5. Being a single mom, I got worn out doing the whole Christmas schtick when my son was 7, so we started skiing in Utah the Christmas-New Years week, and did it every year until he was a sophomore in college. Over those years, the lodge got more & more crowded with families, until it became a madhouse. Now I look to stay there times when schools are NOT on vacation.
His wife is RC (why else would she have another kid) and it’s been rumored for years that he would convert as soon as possible after leaving PM.
Your post hit home (as always)Christy. Reminded me of this that I put below, written a few years ago in a random poetry fit I have on occasion ~ Best Wishes to all here; new site is amazing. I registered under “Flywriter” this time; morphed from “Horsewoman” which I still am – but kneedeep in writing a book about inspiring aviators (getting some very interesting perspectives from WWII vets too by the way; war is always horrid, but at least back then ~ well, you know. Preaching to the choir), and so my heart and mind are in the clouds these days instead of horseback. I still come here often for my dose of savvy info and insight.
OH….and gift tip for ya’ll here? Little gem book titled “Pat the Politician 2″ ~ hysterical riff on “Pat the Bunny” that guaranteed will have you rolling on the floor as it did me when a friend gave it to me yesterday.
The True Meaning…
So ’tis the season to get all stressed,
And try to put on our Christmas best.
We’ll shop and spend to our hearts’ delight,
With nary a care for the ultimate sight,
Of the credit card bill that will come this New Year,
And bring to our budgets a cold, icy fear.
We know our friend Hazel will look simply smart,
With a faux sequined cat pin stuck close to her heart.
And dear Uncle Robby could not be forgot,
So the singing bass plaque is what had to be bought.
Forget Grandma Rose and her fine Irish whiskey?
Are you crazy? You know to do that is quite risky!
The kids then of course, need the latest in games.
And we’re not talking Monopoly or Scrabble; too tame.
No, it’s fifty bucks each for those graphics galore,
And tough it out parents, so what if it’s gore?
It’s the in thing you know, so you can’t be a dip;
Not to get “that” for Christmas makes your kids so unhip!
Do you ever start thinking that something’s gone wrong?
That the spirit of Christmas got lost in the throngs,
Of consumers all trying to buy what was best,
That we listen to ads, not the hearts in our chests?
Would the newborn babe Jesus have wanted a toy,
Or instead, people gifting each other with joy?
What of gifts of compassion, and self and good cheer?
Maybe moments of simply lending someone your ear.
A giving of time for a person in need,
Or a kind loving hug ~ these are all gifts indeed.
The true meaning of Christmas doesn’t come with a cost;
It is priceless and precious ~ don’t let it be lost.
© 2004 S. Terrell
It’s SHOCKING! that the Prime Minister was a closet Roman Catholic!
Maybe he didn’t want to get a little note from the Pope asking him to drop by for a little chat about the Iraq thing.
On Thursday and Friday I played in the Wall Street area subway stations. I have also talked with other subway musicians who describe this Holiday season as “bleak.” In 20 years I’ve never seen folks so ‘not in the mood’ this close to Christmas.
I predict that a far larger percentage than normal will simply return their gifts for cash refunds this year.
If folks out there need a little holiday cheering up, try this.
Jim Clausen, thank you.
On a bright note, my husband talked to Brad Pitt yesterday. He said the man is really impressively engaged in the New Orleans project. This is a good thing. The Ninth Ward is still a disaster, and there are so many people wanting to come home.
The Feds are trying to bulldoze a bunch of affordable housing in New Orleans. I can’t find the article now, but I think it’s on Times-Picayune.com.
TheraP that’s a very cool dream.
I like to dream big, and write lists of things that seem impossible. Sometimes just taking tiny steps towards those ‘impossible’ goals makes them begin to come closer. We see this repeatedly at the hospital.
Dream on, my friend!
I get that he wouldn’t do it while peace negotiations were going on in Northern Ireland; I think the difference in attitude over towards religion in general over there (fuelled in large part by “the Troubles”) and here, where anyone who doesn’t fall over themselves to advertise their spirituality hasn’t a hope of being elected, is interesting.
Heading out to do a few errands so, to all the pups who may be absent from the Lake ’til after Christmas….
Lots of warm thoughts, best wishes and many thanks for making my life more enjoyable, more politically savvy, and filled with hope for a better world for all in the new year.
{{{{ Smooches and }}}} Safe travels!
Waccamaw
There’s different pronunciations?!
Call me uncultured, then.
oh do it please and post pictures.
I haven’t done one creative thing since 9-11, and I’m suffering for it.
Langston Hughes wrote a wonderful poem about dreams that fits your comment:
This is our last Christmas in the house my children grew up in. We have to move and the choice is between a house w/ space for real bookshelves, guest bedrooms and more than one bath or a smaller house we can’t afford in our small but increasingly weekenderized village where our next door neighbor is the postmistress and we can walk to the post-office and library. At least we will have a home (concession to the spirit of the season.)
Rev. Deb please don’t knock the “tourists.” My favorite Christmas activity is singing with our small community Lessons and Carols group hosted by different churches. Carols are great and for the lessons I tune into the “voice crying in the wilderness” and “the word made light” but “the woman made me eat the apple”not so much. Part of my lapsed Lutheranism was everyone listening to such unquestioned and unexplained verses. Does that still happen?
Well, I’m feeling rather under the weather (along with my 6yo), but I have finished my gift knitting, which is a great relief. I’ve baked 6 kinds of cookies (one new and highly recommended), 5 Cranberry breads, made lots of extra homemade food for my husband who’s not traveling with us and am feeling pretty good about my preparations. The super nice part is tomorrow evening I get on the plane and can’t do any more, plus my mom will take the pressure off me with the kids, yay! And I happen to know I’m getting what I asked Santa for…so look for us on YouTube more in the coming year!
I think I’m mostly in recovery from last Christmas, too. Right before I left last year, I was served with lawsuit papers regarding a credit card from back when I was married to my first husband, divorced in ‘92. Sheesh! It totally freaked me out and had me watching who walked or drove by the house for a long time. No process servers this year, I feel so much better!
Peace on earth.
oo thank you for the subway serenade AstralTechnician! *g*
I had a lot of fun accumulating grains of rice for this project. I go back again and again.
I noticed most of the comments about giving concern paying money for things. Just before Christmas two years ago my workplace was informed of a 12-year old boy with AIDS who was not expected to survive until summer (survived summer but not fall – I cried like he was my own). He liked wizards and dragons so I wrapped up all my hardcover Harry Potters and some dragon books. I’m told he enjoyed them beyond reason. It made me feel much better than if I’d gone out and bought something just to be doing something. There are so many things we can DO for others less fortunate than ourselves. And it doesn’t have to be just at Christmas time (which I do not celebrate). Help feed the homeless. Volunteer at a local senior or youth center, a nursing home or hospital, the local animal shelter. There are myriad things one can do to help our fellow humans and animals. These two and four legged creatures are there all year round, not just during the holiday season. It makes my heart swell and feel so much better than going out and spending money for something that will end up in someone’s closet or garage or broken in a week’s time. Money can buy lots of stuff but in the long run you can’t eat it, it won’t keep you warm and it won’t keep you dry. Politics aside, we are all in this boat together. We are all made of the same stuff, just arranged differently.
Peace Love Light
I wish I knew how to make a mobile. I can try…. but I’ve never done such a thing. And actually I wrote this up as a blog post, which included the following paragraph:
Truly, whenever I have an idea and put it “out there,” it’s “open source.” For sharing.
If you are an artist and can do this. Or a computer programer who can it, please do it for all of us.
This is obviously so much on my mind that I am literally trying to solve it during the night, in my dreams.
I was thinking yesterday about all the people who have turned their anger and frustration into writing and humor and funny videos on you-tube. And thus, I think, my dream.
We are singing Messiah in our beautiful new Symphony Hall, three days this week, sold out. This small service to the community always helps me get into the spirit of the season. The Christmas story, the story of the life of Christ in general, is foundational to our lives, and listening to it, singing it, with 130 of my friends is an emotional experience. This year we are doing it with a small orchestra, 37 pieces, and our new hall lets us sing it right, not blaring it out, but with nuance and a big dynamic range, with plenty of soft passages. This means we can really tell the story, to the audience and to ourselves.
Waccamaw, smooches backatcha!
oXOOXo!
Christy, we had a fairly upsetting event at our house a week ago Friday that’s zapped whatever motivation I had for Christmas celebrating. As a result, I feel like I’m walking through water to do anything.
We’ll get through this. I just keep telling myself that these problems are temporary and I need to get over it.
I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with The Peanut, and that we all have a New Year full of the things that make us happy.
If there was one thing that should cheer all of us, we’re into the last year of George W. Bush’s Presidency.
-S
that last track is fantastic!
Yesterday, I considered myself very fortunate. I left for town, which is about 25 minutes from my house in the country, at 2 o’clock and was finished and home by 5 o’clock. I needed to even out the presents for my 3 granddaughters, 15, 9, and 5. Talk about a problem, what do you buy for 15 year olds!
The Gods were with me every where I went. In the midst of heavy traffic, I got close parking spaces. People let me out in traffic, and I let others in when needed. In Walmart, I found a goddess who pointed me to everything I was looking for. And they had it! At target, some fairy guided me right to the place to find a Crayola Cutter, Lundt white chocolate, and Starbucks peppermint coffee. Office Depot had the schreader I wanted for my husband and it was on sale.
I’m telling you it was magic! I came home saying, finally I’m done and I’m not going back to shop. Realized this morning that I was out of tea bags, and half & half, but the hubby is picking that up today.
I’m home, and my children and grandchildren will all be together which is all I want or need for Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all at the lake!
I’m shivering, because just as I started reading this poem, my shuffle came up with “White Bird” [It’s a Beautiful Day]
Just an FYI, Christy, but around here, it is common to find child-sized guitars (and the occasional child-sized drum kit or horn) at local pawn shops. Have you checked there yet?
So sorry you had to utilize Wal*Mart.
Christmas is a corporate retail “holiday”.
As an atheist I will n ot participate or buy a thing from Nov thru Jan 2 with the exception of tix to performances.
My wife is sucked into giving gifts at her workplace and if she doesn’t she is tagged a selfish grinch. How revolting.
If you want to give gifts to people, give them performance tix, theater, ballet, opera, or lessons to dance or learn to fence or sing… DON’T buy THINGS if possible and DON’T but from slave drivers like WALMART or big box stores. Give charity or sponsoships as gifts in the name of those who you want to gift… support DemocracyNow!, Pacifica, ACLU, Lawyers Guild, Center for Constitutional Rights etc. DON’T BUY THINGS.
Making a mobile is really easy:
http://www.microsoft.com/canad…..borns.aspx
OK, OK, this is a link to a WorldNet Daily piece, which was linked on CarpetBagger ;http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14009.html
but it’s actually quite good. I don’t think the writer intended it that way.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/n…..E_ID=59111
There are a number of art programs you can use to sketch/design, if you prefer it to paper and pencil. A free one you can download from the internet is “artweaver.” You can just Google it and go to the site. You can depict design, but I don’t know how it would test for weight/balance.
I do a lot of artwork and sculpture, but have never made a mobile. Still, if you google, there are a number “how to” sites. The following is for a book, http://www.mobilesculpture.com…..nmobiles/.
Anyway, the fun (and frustration) is in the doing. Best wishes.
Wasn’t that fun!
make sure you go back and thank Donita!
Bless you, Julie! I will follow your link and see what I can do. I’ve got some time and maybe I can do this!
I hope it works with a Mac!
perchance do you have anything online we might view?
Have you ever posted your pictures at fredmiranda.com?
{{Strategerie}} I hope whatever befell you and yours resolves quickly. All best wishes and hopes for better times.
Thank you so much, Crosstimbers. I hope others will try this too, if you have any interest. I hope artists with skills can try it. We need things to keep us going through this nightmare, things to share with each other.
I’m going to bookmark the links. And check with people I know who are software experts. Someone, somewhere should be able to do this.
I can picture mine in my imagination so well. It is strong yet light and flexible….and beautiful – a joy to watch it work perfectly.
No. I barely have time to keep up with the blogs I read already :)
How about if you get a harmonica for the Peanut. Or, if you want to stay in the stringed instrument category, how about a mandolin. They sound beautiful, and they’re sized appropriate for Peanut sized people as well as bigger people.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thirteen years later and it still makes me cry.
Everyone except for parents and kids “get” a Heifer International contribution. One of my brothers sends me holly from their yard every year to bring back my childhood memories of Vancouver B.C. and Seattle. My husband and I go to the Nutcracker that our dear little friends, getting bigger and better every year, perform in. Those are the things that count for me.
Just leaving for choir practice and we’ll be singing lots of great anthems and carols on Christmas Eve. The singing lifts my heart.
It has been a depressing year, and so many in need, but we here at FDL can not be accused of turning a blind eye. May ‘08 bring justice, peace (no torture) and more ice for the polar bears and less for us.
Here’s a Christmas story for you: Esten gave up some of his collection of trucks and cars for the other kids who are still in the hospital. Doesn’t that just break your heart?
It’s a site for photographers, they put up their pictures in categories, and others comment on them. You would certainly be competitive.
The only thing I have anywhere on line is at http://www.woodcraft.com. In the search box, enter “brag book” and search. Under “carvings”, find Texas Ranger. Sorry for all of the instructions, but I’m not sure the following precise link works:
http://www.woodcraft.com/bragbook.aspx?ItemID=14
Hello FDL.
It has taken me a long time to accustom myself to the new format.
I haven’t quite got the hang of this,though.
I hope we all have a meaningful holiday season.
And that the malaise that seems to have taken over my
household lifts soon. I can almost not tolerate the playing of holiday music stations at work or at home. And only last week Friday,I took out my collection of xmas music – and then put it right back where I found it.
Fortunately, a friend of mine who had moved to Brussels this spring, came back home yesterday (for xmas). It has been the one bright spot this season.
And as Elliot @ #5 said, “It’s cold comfort to know” that I am not the only one.
I think I’ll go donate rice and sign whatever there is at Comedy Central.
The capitulation of the “stars” of late night teevee is also contributing to the feeling that nothing makes a difference now.
When I met my wife she was a single mother with my stepson living on very little money. Some angel would slip $50 in our mailbox anonymously at Christmas. We no longer receive the $50, but I am off to continue the tradition for someone else. It gives us great joy along with a donation to Heifer International.
THANKS!
Sorry, I had mean that in reply to Elliott at 144 and got caught up in the link.
Well, perhaps we’re in the midst of magic, somehow… harmony, euphony, goodness. I hope so! Sometimes life provides us with these magic moments, like someone above described the shopping experiences of yesterday. Perhaps we can tap into this sometimes and when we share that, others tap in too.
I’m feeling shivery, myself, just seeing the vibes back and forth here.
Morning all. Had a bit of a sleep-in this morning. Well, honestly, a really huge one. Just woke up about 15 minutes ago — haven’t slept this late in forever. Have been having a bit of a flare with my joint issues and I guess I needed the sleep. Now, where’s that second cuppa coffee?
Isn’t that Otis Redding version fab?
hey, i got a two string mandolin here that sounds pretty great! Not too much you can do with just two strings but still sounds good. considering that i have no musical talent it’s a great toy :D
Here is my Christmas gift to you pups:
The word *yet*
“I can’t do that” becomes “I can’t do that…yet”
“We don’t have the answers” turns into “We don’t have the answers…yet”
Whatever your tradition, you can tap into the message of hope for the future. Believe in something better, and take the first tiny steps in that direction. Amazing things can happen.
Yet… is so helpful. Thank you.
I haven’t done my xmas food shopping or wrapping – yet. i’m off to begin. Maybe if the fog lifts here in Chicago, I’ll find that spirit I’m missing.
and I do mean I am missing it.
In my work, that’s exactly how I’ll often finish a sentence for someone. Just say their sentence back to them… adding “yet.”
Thanks for that wonderful advice. We need to do it more often. For ourselves and for others.
So… I can’t make a mobile… yet! Thank you.
On Bill Moyers Journal he addressed this exact issue with Benjamin Barber, author of Consumed:
“Tell us what’s going on? What’s wrong with American consumers?” Which is kind of what you and I have been talking about. But the trouble is we’re looking the wrong way. It’s not what’s wrong with American consumers, it’s what’s wrong with American capitalism, American advertisers, American marketers? We’re not asking for it. It’s what I call push capitalism. It’s supply side. They’ve got to sell all this stuff, and they have to figure out how to get us to want it. So they take adults and they infantilize them. They dumb them down. They get us to want things.
And then they start targeting children. Because it’s not enough just to sell to the adults. You’ve got to sell to that wonderful demographic, first it’s 12 to 18 year olds. Then it’s the ‘tweens. The 10- to the 12 year olds. But then it’s the toddlers.
BILL MOYERS: You used a word that went right past me. Infantilize? What do you mean?
BENJAMIN BARBER: What I mean is that grownups, part of being grown up is getting a hold of yourself and saying, “I don’t need this. I’ve got to be a gatekeeper for my kid. I want to live in a pluralistic world where, yes, I shop, but I also pray and play and do art and make love and make artwork and do lots of different things. And shopping’s one part of that.” As an adult, we know that. But if you live in a capitalist– society that needs to sell us all the time, they’ve got to turn that prudent, thoughtful adult back into a child who says, “Gimme, gimme, gimme. I want, I want, I want.” Just like the kid in the candy store. And is grasping and reaching.”
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/jour…..file3.html
Good morning everybody. This is going to be a driveby. Just in from doing grocery shopping for our Festivus Eve open house and now onto house cleaning. Mrs. Bilbo is out doing her last minutes Festivus Shopping.
Christy, you probably already found this, but just in case it might help:
Children’s guitars at Firstguitar.com
Speaking of a Merry Christmas, take a look at the Dick Cheney Christmas Carol starring Cheney, Reagan, Ken lay and other suprise guests:
http://www.vicepresidents.com/node/472
It’s hilarious.
I am at the top of state here in NH. It is like an old fashioned winter from the days of my youth. Big snowbanks and snow covered trees and mist and fog.
I am staying at one of the older resort hotels(with dreadful internet service) but a fantastic view.
The funniest thing was the local fellow from last night who snow-mobiled down the hill to the show.
It was noticed his belt-buckle looked like a pistol and when a colleague complimented him on it , he showed it was a real Derringer. He then proceeded to point out the other three guns hiddena dn dispersed over his body.
I’m glad he like the show.
Well, I got some batteries, so maybe I’ll have some good pictures to send on to Jane and Christy.
Cheers,
-G
Never before has a President and Vice President deserved to be impeached more than these.
Yet our Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is working behind the scenes with House Democrats, not to build a consensus for impeachment, but to do just the opposite: to keep others from succeeding in their effort to hold this president accountable by means of impeachment.
With the FISA bill still looming in the Senate, and a new war funding bill passed with no structure in place to Bring our Troops Home, we have to show the leaders of the House and Senate that this is still our country.
Please read the petition to replace Pelosi with a Democratic Representative who will bring impeachment proceedings to the floor. A Question of Privilege under House Rules IX can declare the Speaker seat vacant.
It can be done, it must be done. We have waited long enough.
http://www.petitiononline.com/…..ition.html
The best gift idea for all your family and friends…
Email/Gmail/Hotmail accounts (at least two ~ public and private).
Then teach them to blog, find alternate sources of information, use Teh GooGle, etc…
Then send them links to The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Read them to your kids Xmas morning. (Too much?) ;~>
That’s what I call a gift!
Got up late and hope to beat epu-ville,
The best gift I received this year was finding FDL and all it’s pups.
You all are like family to me, and just wanted to thank you all for helping me to keep a little sanity in these crazy times.
To Christy and all at FDL, and all pups and lurkers everywhere, Peace.
bluejeansntshirt
Despite vigorous public opposition, on December 18, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2, along party lines, to allow publishers to own both newspapers and broadcast stations in the 20 largest cities in the country. The vote, pushed through by Republican Chairman Kevin Martin, relaxed ownership rules put in place in 1975
The day before the vote, 25 senators, from both sides of the aisle, including Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) and Ted Stevens (R-AK), submitted a letter to Martin demanding that he postpone the vote. The letter reads:
“If you proceed to take final action on this rule on Dec. 18 without having given reasonable opportunity for comment on the actual rules and study the related issues, we will immediately move legislation that will revoke and nullify the proposed rule.”
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/jour…..file2.html
christy,
don’t know it ikea is an option, but they generally stock ghild size guitars
i so hate wal*mart – not for any of the politically correct reasons – just because shopping there is miserable
and not worth any savings i can realize
Thanks everyone for all the advice on children’s guitars. We’ve decided — as of twenty minutes ago — to hold off on a purchase of one until her birthday in a few months. She’s already getting plenty of presents and I’m just not going to make myself insane to find another one.
Especially when the extra few months will give me time to find a good one that she’ll be able to use for a few years and even take lessons with as she gets older. She loves music — partly because we play a lot of it, from rock to instrumental to classical and everything in between, and partly because she loves Little Einsteins and the Quincy character who plays lots of instruments.
Since we already have a piano, I’m wondering if we shouldn’t start with some piano lessons? That’s how I started with instruments when I was a youngster (albeit a 2nd grader when I started, old enough to practice and understand that I needed to do so). You learn to read music and get a feel for it in both clefs, and that translates well to other instruments as you move around — at least, it did for me. Any thoughts from the musically inclined in the audience? At four, I’m just not sure how ready she is for something formal — but she loves it, and I want to encourage that, too. (Being a parent is hard, isn’t it? *g*)
Christy,
My grown son plays the guitar well and bought a nice, expensive little guitar for my grandson (his nephew), who at the time was three years old. He was, and remains too young for it. He’s six now, and if he ever develops and interest, the nice gift guitar will be too small. For what it’s worth.
mack — Even at midnight, it was a horrid experience. And people were stumbling through the store like shopping zombies at that hour while employees had the aisles clogged with boxes for restocking. I generally avoid ours unless I need something that I can usually only find there. Living where I do in WV, my shopping options are a bit limited unless I have time to order ahead online. And, in this case, I was time-crunched, hence the foray out after The Peanut had gone to bed.
But they didn’t have what I wanted anyway, and now I’m glad they didn’t because looking for a better guitar she can use for a few years seems like a much better idea. We have a couple of nice music stores here, and I’m just going to ask there and see what they have available used or new. But after the holidays — I am positively shopped out at this point.
I would imagine that for a four year old, learning music would be relatively easy, like learning a language is at that age.
Not that we have kids, but I know several couples who are raising their kids bilingual. It’s amazing to see our friend’s daughter go from English to Japanese & back seamlessly, like it’s all one language.
You can never tell where christmas will come from. Sometimes it doesn’t whisper in at all. Sometimes its big and red and warm. This year my christmas is coming from getting permission from the city to keep our local beavers and celebrating with this film documenting their letter to santa. Yesterday saw footage of them doing the love thing, and that means more kits in spring. So I’m a happy aunty…
Peppermint schnapps all around!
Re piano lessons, I wouldnt start them until second grade or maybe first grade if they BEG. Otherwise the daily practice becomes a chore and they learn that music is work. Au contraire, at this age, music can be fun, trying things and making great sounds.
Ok to have some informal instruction on the piano, from a parent who reads the book one chapter ahead of the kid, or from an aunt or friend who shows the little one where her fingers go and how to play a favorite tune. I allowed the desecration of my piano by scotch taping little numbers around middle C to show where fingers go. And I’m really in the minority by allowing kids, including visitors, to bang on the piano keys with their hands. It makes a great noise and gets them all excited about playing! You can play a duet with her, thunder and lightning.
Kevin Martin is in big trouble, looking at the names on that list. It’s a mix of the staunchest Conservatives and some of the more liberal Senators (Feingold). I get the impression that they could have gotten a lot more signatures given the diversity of signatories (Lott, Stevens, Clinton, Kerry, Snowe, Biden, Feinstein, Boxer, Smith, etc.)
Hope they can get him to either retract the order or they can block it in January.
Uh, this film? A beaver Christmas Carol
Christy, re piano lessons. My late husband taught piano. He did not like the methods that start as young as The Peanut. Sometimes he would start a younger child, usually the sibling of an older student, who begged for lessons, but he kept it short and informal. There are programs, often using percussion instruments, for the young ones – Orff method? – perhaps you can find something like that. Cheers and Merry Christmas to the Reddhead family!
Lindy — hugs, hon, to you and yours and everyone you know and love in NOLA. Y’all deserve far, far better than what you are dealing with…still.
For a lot of kids, there’s a kind of “aha” moment when they realize that the letters on the page equate to the words they already know how to say. You probably had a time when the Peanut saw her name spelled out (like on a Christmas package, perhaps?) and said “P-E-A-N-U-T — that’s me!”
The same works for a piano and learning the keys and the notes on the page. There are some great, simple books of Christmas carols and such, or kids’ songs in general, that have the melody line and the words. Pick some songs she knows, then show her how the notes go up and down on the page, then how the notes on the page equate to the keys on the keyboard. Make it a game, and you might be surprised how fast a kid can pick it up.
Good morning Christy and pups.
I think Egregious is spot on for the piano lessons. Crosstimbers wisdom should also be valued.
I appreciate this holiday season, been an extremely hard year for the family. Last christmas morning, my 85 years old dad died in my hands, I ressucitated him(Giving a first-aid course to a friend is a wonderful gift), he was then diagnosed with a liver-kidney spreading mother of a cancer. By mid July he died. Took care of all the paperwork, to notice that as much as they were all respectful and pleasant, they all screwed up on names and simple inscriptions. That took many months. Last October, childhood friends comitted suicide within two weeks of each other.
Grieving at this time of year, when family gathers, is quite the experience. Shopping, thinking, being, walking are all different, normalcy becomes foreign. It’s a lot to deal with.
I take refuge in the goodness of friends, I give thanks for any giggles that make it through the fog, I find beauty in the huge snowbanks in front of my house. I’m infinitely grateful for FDL, the education is priceless, the humour is exquisite, this place is like a rock of integrity that sticks out of the fog.
Thank You so much.
OMG…I’m reduced to tears and tears….
That is outstanding!
I really miss TRex damnit!!!
I know. I listened to his song like 5 times in a row. So beautiful.
LS — It’s not like you can’t visit TRex’s blog or anything, ya know? That’s where I got the link for the vid…
Thanks, Christy. We. Will. Survive. (even if just to spite the neocons).
Back late, but if you’re readin here, TheraP, thank you for this beautiful image. And let us know when it’s ready to share!
I know that, but that wasn’t the point really…
She give a George Castanza gift to the Human Fund.
Christy — have you considered suzukiesque violin lessons? She’s not too young and there is a group lesson component so there’s the fun of playing with an “ensemble” once a week. Warning: Mom & Dad are a big part of the learning process and I must confess that after years of obligatory piano lessons in my youth I learned more about music from attending my daughters’ violin lessons than I ever learned before.
Happy Holidays!
JLML (formerly JML)
I agree with this, Christy. One of the things they learn with Suzuki is how to listen – way more important at this stage than reading music. Then when they are introduced to written music, is is a system of symbols for something they already know how to do. Otherwise it is like learning to read words before you can speak or understand language.
Oh, and I think there are Suzuki classes for instruments other than violin.
Christy,
My friend’s 5-year old takes piano lessons at the CAC, and the lessons are going very well, last I heard.
Christy, it may be too late, but, Hearthsong, the toy website, has a child’s guitar, bag, instructions, etc, for sale.
http://www.hearthsong.com/searchform.asp
This has both accoustic and electric. Happy Yule. Ceu
Dear Christy, enjoy the magic of Peanut’s love for Santa. They grow up fast and these magical years are wonderful, precious.
Also, for a guitar? Back to Basics toys has wonderful old fashioned quality crafted toys like you remember from your childhood. They’re on the internet – and they have pretty good quality half size guitars for about 30 bucks.
I got my son one when he was about 6, and he loved it. Has been taking lessons now for years and goes on great jags for months at time where the guitar is always in his hand.
Just read through the thread. For all of you struggling, grieving, worried, or trying to help out friends and strangers: [[[[[BIG HUG]]]]]
I’m late to this but the theme for us is Merle’s “If We Make It Through December.” Our landlord got caught in the mortgage crisis, is upside down on our place and we have a week to move.
We got another place but it pretty much is a killjoy for the season.
Best to all of you.
ThatGuy (we know WhichGuy)
This may have already been mentioned, but Christy…go to a pawn shop to find a nice starter guitar for Peanut. You’d be surprised what you’ll find there. ;-)