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Actually, I despise winter…unless it’s in Hawaii, rather than the Poconos.
My girlfriend and I were out doing not-quite-so-last-minute Christmas shopping today. We went to “The Big City” of
"I'm Just Not Myself!"
Scranton, because we had plans on hitting Panera Bread, our favoritest place to go.
There was a two hour delay today so our “head start before the kids get off the bus this afternoon” plans were set back a bit, but, hey, we were heading out anyway (and we WERE going to hit Panera Bread!)
School started at 10:00. My friend’s son was back to school after a two week absence due to other issues but this morning he was bright eyed and bushy tailed and raring to go. Somewhere between the last time I saw him at 9:15 and the nurse calling us at 11:15, he “lost himself.”
“Please come and get him,” said the nurse on the phone. “His teacher sent him down to me because he’s just not himself.”
No fever, no barfing, nothing like that. No, poor little guy just seems out of sorts and “just isn’t himself.”
Wow. When I worked at the daycare center we were not allowed to call the parents unless the child had been throwing up or had a fever of at least 101.
We did some talking and realized that Sonny Boy knew that Mommy was shopping with me, and he was missing out on all the fun…and he had gym class today too, which wasn’t very appealing.
So his strategy almost worked – his evil plan worked on his teacher, and amazingly, the school nurse, but not on Mommy & Me. Interestingly enough, he was just fine when he got off the bus and was playing with his friends.
“But mom, I was awful sick when the nurse called you.”
Yeah, right. Hon, ya gotta get up pretty early in the morning to pull a fast one on ol’ Mom and Wizzy.
Boy, if only WE had been lucky enough to have such a gullible nurse. I could have gotten out of a LOT of school, simply by not “acting myself.”
And let me tell you, the chicken tortilla soup in a sourdough bread bowl was amazing….
SAD BOY pic courtesy of jodiwilldare, Creative Commons
This was originally posted on my PikeWaynePABlog.com blog. I generally do not “recycle” my posts from there to here…but I decided to make a “crossover post” this time.
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“Happy Holidays” has been a seasonal greeting since way before I was born. My parents had a recording of Bing Crosby
Happy Holidays from Hawley
singing “Happy holidays…..happy holidays….” This was an acceptable greeting long before anything was politically correct, and in fact, lots of stuff was politically incorrect. There is no reason why “Happy Holidays” should be offensive.
Yet, some Christians are offended by it. According to them, the proper term should be “Merry Christmas,” since that is the “main” holiday we are celebrating (at least in their eyes.)
Actually I find it interesting that many Christians are upset about the idea of Christ being removed from Christmas…when Christmas was never a holiday He asked us to celebrate for Him, anyway.
Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to celebrate Christmas, or the birth of Christ. In fact, many Christians don’t even celebrate it. Why?
Because, in their eyes, Christmas is nothing but a string of pagan-rooted traditions that have been Christianized…never mind the greed and materialism bred by this holiday. The Puritans refused to acknowlege Christmas; to this day there are different sects (including 7th Day Adventists and various fundamentalist believers) who do not observe Christmas.
I am not one of them. I like my Christmas tree, and I don’t worship it, and I could do without it (it’s rather a pain to put up, decorate, and take down…). I enjoy giving gifts to family and friends.
I like the lights, I like the decorations. I even like Santa Claus. We never taught our kids to believe in Santa-from-the-North-Pole-who-delivers-presents-to-good-kids (but we also taught them not to rain on someone else’s Santa parade…) I always felt sorry for the poor children who were very good but never got much from Santa. (Thankfully, we have the Marines filling in for Santa, but still….)
Anyway, I like “Happy Holidays” because it IS inclusive. I do not know many people who celebrate Hanukkah, but I’d like to wish them a happy holiday anyway. I don’t know of anyone who celebrates Kwaanza, and I really don’t know much about the celebration, but I’d like those who celebrate it to be included in my greeting.
And I’d like to think that when others say “Happy Holidays” that they are including Christmas in that greeting as well.
That’s enough for my soapbox for today. Click the picture below and enjoy the show I put together. I call it “Happy Hawley-Days!”
Click to View The Hawley-Day Show!
I am constantly annoyed by the perpetuation of stupid myths by my brothers and sisters in Christ. The one currently annoying me is the “Theology” of The Twelve Days of Christmas.
I pride myself on my imagination, but there is no way that a “partridge in a pear tree” will make anyone think of Jesus Christ. Or “three French hens” will make people remember “Father, Son, Holy Ghost.” When I hear “three French hens” I think “DINNER!”
Some of the ideas are not so far fetched; the two turtle doves could make one think of the Bible (Old and New Testament) since the dove has long been a traditional biblical symbol. The 5 golden rings being the 5 books of Moses? It’s a stretch but not too bad.
The rest of it is way too much of a stretch. Someone had a very vivid imagination and probably too much time on their hands to come up with the rest of the theological contortions…
I am sick and tired of this nonsense being spread around in emails and on blogs – spreading fiction as fact is makes Christians look like gullible idiots.
TRUTH OR FICTION: 12 Days of Christmas
RANT AHEAD:
I’d really like to take this time to rant about how STUPID I think a certain line of thinking is, regarding gift cards.
“I think giving gift cards is 100% thoughtless unless you don’t know the person.”
It’s a gift, someone thought about you, someone drove to a store, and probably picked out a gift card with a cute picture on it – purchased it and sent it to you. It has value, it cost them something, and the best part is you can get what you want with it.
Is a birthday card with a scribbled signature and nothing to go with it more thoughtful? The same thought that goes into buying a gift card goes into buying a birthday card – unless it’s a birthday card from a box, which means there is even LESS thought behind it.
My brother’s family lives 3000 miles away. I have not seen them for 14 years with the exception of two days this July. I do not know what they have, what they want, what they need, what they don’t need. But I show that I love and think about them and want to give them something. I not only pick out a different style card for each family member, but I pick one with a picture on it that will appeal to them. I then purchase a tiny gift to go with it, like a new pair of gloves or a new pair of socks, and wrap them up with a “XXXOOO DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS” message on it.
And I know that a lot of people get hoity toity, dismissing gift cards as “thoughtless” – when actually it might be the most thoughtful thing someone can give, since they recognize maybe you might want something other than what they may pick for you.
I think looking down on someone’s gift of a gift card is as ungrateful as not liking some other gift (i.e., another useless set of stinky cheap lotion and shower gel in a basket, or a cheapo men’s tool kit with an imitation leather case, or two bottles of Old Spice….or yet another Hickory Farms box of fake cheese and stinky salami.)
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest – I’ve seen people degrade gift cards long enough!
HEY EVERYONE! YOU CAN GIVE ME ALL THE GIFT CARDS YOU GET THAT “WEREN’T THOUGHTFUL ENOUGH…”
BTW, there is an email circulating about store closings and gift cards, etc. Here is an update from Snopes.com about it.
This blogger has a super generous spirit and she wants to spend the next 29 days giving stuff away! See if you might be a lucky winner!
The season of giving – it’s a beautiful thing.
Photo Credit: Gift photo courtesy of mysza831, via Creative Commons.
