Merry Christmas!
Had a great Christmas Eve.
Geogal and I both had yesterday off. Time for being lazy and time for constant noshing. (Both of us completed our gift shopping.)
On Sunday I did my annual trek to Kearney to hit the big box retailers. Unlike the previous two years there was not:
Temperatures hanging just above zero with a death-inducing wind chill
or
Snow falling and accumulating at a MUCH higher rate than forecast by the weather prognosticators
In fact the temps were just a smidge below freezing, which makes it the warmest Christmas shopping journey I’ve had since moving here from Arizona. I also had my Sirius satellite radio which meant I could while away the boring 90-minutes-one-way-drive with NFL action. Hot coffee and plenty of sugar ensured I remained engaged in the driving but created a cruddy and bizarre mood upon returning home (just a bit too many free radicals coursing through my system).
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Browsed around iTunes a few days ago, added to my Christmas music playlist. Finally they have the ORIGINAL version of Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.” Also added Johnny Mathis’ playful crooning of “Sleigh Ride.” Both are songs I’ve heard on the radio every Christmas season and as any regular reader to this blog will know, many of my happy memories are associated with travel.
Regarding the Mathis version of “Sleigh Ride,” I distinctly remember one of the times I heard it. Just a few days before Christmas in 1989, driving (with dad, mom, and younger Geosister) toward our destination in Texas. We hit Amarillo about midday and it was a beautiful bright sunny day. Then we passed by a truckstop with one of those large lit signs that indicated the temperature was 4. “Has to be a mistake,” I thought. Then the radio announcer gave a current temp. The sign was right.
A blast of Arctic air was going over the region.
It’s funny, as I was remembering that trip our local paper had a small blurb headlined: “Are you cold yet?” It indicated that while the past few weeks featured “biting cold temperatures” it still doesn’t come close to the time period I just mentioned. On Dec. 22, 1989, approximately 137 cities in the Central Plains and eastern United States set record lows. In this area of Kansas, for example, Goodland recorded a low of 27 below zero.
And that’s probably not taking wind chill into account.
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I’ll use this space to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas. Please don’t forget what this season is really about: celebrating the birth of Jesus, who lived a sinless life and then died (taking every sin committed by all human beings past, present, and future) on Himself in order to reconcile mankind to God. If you haven’t invited Him into your heart why not do so on Christmas Day?
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As I write this I’m the only one in the house who’s up at this time. (It’s almost 7:30 a.m.) Amazingly the little girl is still snoozing away. But that’s OK, we’ll have the traditional activities soon enough. (I’ve already taken a glance at my stocking--just looking, no touching.)
The coffee tastes good, the living room is ready, and just a little later I’ll season the prime rib roast and pop it in the oven.
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I’ll leave you with just a bit of Christmas kitsch, quite possibly my most favorite novelty Christmas song:
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