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!

TMBWitW is on vacation this week, which means that I can get some projects finished up since I won’t have MEG attached.

Or does it?

This is the week before Christmas, and TMBWitW also has projects and plans. So, we work out compromises.

For example, yesterday I had planned to pick up my new table saw (new to me, the guy selling it is moving to the mountains and he doesn’t have a shop … yet) and then go over to our friend’s house and get the above-ground pool that she is giving us. Our friend has sold her house and is moving, and she doesn’t have room for the pool at the new place, and since she got it for free she offered it to us, since she knows that Logan’s therapy (pool time – he loves to swim and it doesn’t hurt his legs) is a bit pricey, she offered us the pool. Only thing is I would need to dismantle it and move it.

First thing in the morning, I headed over to the church property to get the trailer, and then called the guy I was buying the saw from. He gave me directions, and it was only then that I realized it was about an hour away. Well, the price was really good, so I didn’t quibble about the drive. Once I got the saw home, I unloaded it into the garage “for now” and headed over to our friends house. The dismantling wasn’t so bad – with the exception of a few rusted or stripped screws, the parts are easy to reassemble. So, six hours later I was unloading the pool parts into the garage also.

Now all I have to do is move both purchases into the backyard. First, though, I have to clear a space for the pool. And then build a ramp for Logan to get up to the rim and into the pool. And build a shelter for the saw. Oh, yeah – and finish planting the trees.

Why am I sitting here telling you this? I gotta get going …

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

Stole this from Greybeard. Suggest you do the same.

Private note to those who have served – with, before, or since – me: Thank you.

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

On this Friday, while you are wearing your Red Shirts to show your support of the troops, take a minute to examine where else you support the troops. Once they return from the hotzone, do you forget about them? Or, like most Americans, do you give to the Veteran’s Organizations that call and solicit donations from you?

How deeply have you investigated the charity that you support? I, myself, am guilty of handing my hard earned money to the wrong organization. I found that out when I read TexasFred’s pieces on Veteran Charities. Read more here and here. Then, call your charities and ask them the hard, hard questions: Where do the dollars go? How much of each dollar goes to support overhead, expenses, and salaries? How much did the organization pay to it’s highest officers last year? While you are at Fred’s. tell him I said howdy…

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!