Can you believe it’s only five days ’til Christmas?

I grew up in Colorado and Ohio. I live in the Phoenix, Arizona area now. Christmas just doesn’t feel “right” here sometimes.

There’s no snow. And, no snowshovels!

Most of the trees are fake. But well decorated! There’s even a tumbleweed “tree” in Chandler – they rustle up a bunch of tumbleweeds (Russian Thistle) and tie them together in the form of a Christmas Tree, and string lights on it and everything.

I used to ice skate, or play ice hockey, or go sledding the entire month of December, as soon as school was out. If I want to do that now, it’s a good two hour drive to the nearest white stuff. I’d rather spend my time on the back porch barbecuing the steaks, thanks.

In Ohio, the ground and nearly all the water freezes in mid-November and stays that way until March of so. In Arizona, mid-November means it’s time to plant your new trees. I’m still working on mine.

Santa wears fur lined clothing in the snow country. Once he hits this area, he swaps out his boots for flip-flops and sheds his coat. The old boy would have heat stroke if he tried to keep all that fur-lined stuff on.

There’s never a problem with the malls being closed because of a snow storm here – heck, if it did snow, we’d all e out looking at it before it melted. It’s snowed twice in downtown Phoenix that I know of. Once, on Christmas Eve, in 1999, and before that it was about the middle of January in 1987 or so. My memory is getting old, so forgive me if I’m off a bit.

But one thing about Christmas, no matter where you celebrate it – it’s still the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for sending your Son to us, to take all our sins upon Himself, to die for those sins so that we don’t have to, so that we may join You at the last trumpet’s call.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Still working on a special “Christmas in Arizona” post for my friend, Loon. What rhymes with sunshine?

Looks like another gray day here in the Valley of the Sun. Weather has been weird, much cooler than normal and pretty wet for this time of year. I’m not complaining, since we had a bit of a dry year, but the cold is aching in my bones. Must be all that Global Warming AlGore keeps talking about. Doug has lots of info on that.

Some people should just stay in bed to begin with. Pop a happy pill, Guy. At least you woke up on the green side of the grass.

If you are stumped for a gift for that special someone, try this over at Our Sovereign Joy. Books are always a good choice. I think OSJ got our weather, too.

If you are in a giving mood, Nancy Pelosi always likes flowers. Don’t believe me? Just ask Jenn.

That appears to be the latest updates, as of this morning. I’m sorry if I missed your latest witty entries; I will try to do better next time.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Well, the filling-in for the delivery went OK – except for the lack of sleep part, but I kinda knew that would happen.

Today was a charity auction at TMBWitW’s work; she is the go-to person for the auction, the whole department is supposed to help out and be involved, but once again (for, like, the ninth year in a row) (did i mention she’s been doing this for nine years? coincidence? i think not!) she pretty much did everything. Last night we were up until very wee hours of the morning getting the last minute details worked out. Naturally, MEG decided that since we were up, she needed to be involved. MEG finally crashed at about 11:30. TMBWitW was almost in tears when she was finishing up the wreath she was working on. It was a “Twelve Days of Christmas” wreath, with plasticine ornaments that depicted the twelve gifts. As she was attaching the drummer, the attachment in the top of his head came out. The drummer hit the floor, and broke a leg at the knee and his head was snapped off his neck. It was ruled an accidental death, and TMBWitW sighed, looked at me and said, “That’s it. I’m going to bed. No wreath this year.”

Well, I’m not one to watch a tradition go lightly by the wayside. I knew I had glue that would fix the drummer, but the challenge was in finding it. She went to bed, but I searched. I finally found the model glue (i could have sworn i had crazy glue around somewhere, but i just could not locate it.) and reattached the drummer’s leg, head, and hook.

The alarm was set for 5:00 this morning. MEG beat it by six minutes, when she rolled over and scared herself over the loss of her sleeping aid. I stumbled into her room, found the wayward item, and restored peace to her corner of the world. TMBWitW rolled over, asked me what time it was, and made herself get up when I told her. I mentioned that if she looked on the counter, she would find some encouraging news. She found the drummer, attached him to the wreath, and let me sleep another half hour before I had to get up and feed the animals and get the trash to the curb. I beat the trash truck by about two minutes.

We had to wake MEG up at 6:00, and then hustle buns to get to TMBWitW’s office by 7. I stopped off to grab breakfast on the go, and met her at the parking garage. We had so much stuff to transport that it took both vehicles. All went well, the auction was a success, and MEG was very well behaved all day, for being overstimulated and lacking sleep.

Now, it’s off to church. Tomorrow, I may get to sleep in a bit – but I am not counting on it.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So much to write about, and so little time…

MEG has been feeling under the weather – slight congestion, so when she sleeps it’s in fits and starts, and she usually wakes up coughing.

I’ve got my flight to Florida scheduled, and a rental car for hauling the files back with me reserved. I arrive in Tampa on January 14th, at 6pm. The plan is to spend the 15th with my aunt and uncle, then drive back to Phoenix. It’s still not too late to let me know where to stop for a “People and Places” entry for my travel notes…

There was a lady and her son, who were camping over the Thanksgiving weekend, who were involved in a single vehicle crash on their way home. The vehicle landed down a slope, away from the road. The Mom was trapped inside, the son managed to get out but then was too scared/injured to go anywhere for help. An illegal invader happened by, and first tried to help the Mom (she passed away from her injuries) and stayed with the boy until help arrived. The media is trying to play up the fact that this Good Samaritan is proof that not all illegals are criminals, ignoring the fact that all illegals are federal criminals the moment they set foot on US soil without permission… Yes, he was compassionate, and yes, he did the right thing by helping others selflessly, but he is still in the country without permission. Sure, streamline his application, but have him step back to his own country while it is being processed. Once he is here LEGALLY, then celebrate his heroics and his acts of selflessness. Until then, while he remains here, he is a criminal who helped a human in need.

Did you catch the debate last night? I didn’t. I had a young lady to take care of and a chance to talk to my wife once MEG fell asleep. I wasn’t going to miss that for a bunch of clueless politicians trying to score brownie points.

Hope you are having a good week. Please visit the blogs in my blogroll and the blogrolls down below.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

May you have a blessed day.

And, if the wish that you have a blessed day offends you, grow up. The world does not revolve around you.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!