Thursday Mash Up

Since my fellow Inkers are slacking, I'm posting again!!

Here is the mash up for this week:
Dan Wells VS Rob Wells (literary mash up, I'm sure they fought enough as kids to make a cage fight almost too predictable.)



So who will kill more people in their next novel? Rob or Dan?





Cartoon Mash up
Who does Christmas specials better?
Phineas and Ferb or Charlie Brown

As for me, I am a believer!

Snowfall and winter dreaming, capturing Christmas Magic. Modern thinking pulls me from the fond fantasies of my youth and whispers, "It can't be true."
"Bah and humbug," I say to the wicked whispers of the technology age.
Twinkling lights and unexplainable phenomenons of kindness guide me to the other truths of a short man in a warm red coat who represents the desire to bring joy and unselfish gifts of love to all the world.
I am a believer in the magic of Christmas. Are you?

PS my 5 year old son says Rudolph had a green nose. Maybe he's right.

Christmas Quotables

I started today with a healthy dose of Christmas spirit. After spending 7 hours in the car en famille running errands and shopping, I'm afraid it has been gradually beaten out of me.

In an effort to get some spirit back, I turned to thinking about some of my favorite scenes from Christmas-themed movies. Here is a selection:

A Christmas Story

[Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted]

Santa Claus: How about a nice football?
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'.
Santa Claus: Okay, get him out of here.
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!
Ralphie: [Ralphie is shoved down the slide, but he stops himself and climbs back up] No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
Santa Claus: You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

Christmas Vacation
[Clark's meltdown after a series of VERY unfortunate events at the family Chirstmas Eve - language cleaned up]

Clark: Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white a** down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of a**holes this side of the nuthouse.

It's a Wonderful Life

Zuzu Bailey: Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.
George Bailey: That's right, that's right.
George Bailey: Attaboy, Clarence.

Miracle on 34th Street

Doris: Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.

Die Hard
[It was set at a Christmas party]

[Reading what McClane wrote on the dead terrorist's shirt]
Hans Gruber: "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."

Ahhhh. I'm feeling better already. Feel free to add any of your favorites.

Oh My 'Rein-Deer!'

It's Christmas Eve and tonight the reindeer will be flying around the world and all the little kiddies will hopefully be snug in their beds.
This blog is not about reindeer, really. It's about a cousin of the reindeer called the antelope. (We see alot more of them around here than we do those north fliers who live with Santa.)

This is a true story-
Recently on a sunny winter afternoon, I was driving with my two youngest children and at a stop sign my daughter looked out the side window and exclaimed, “Look! What are those things.”
She’s 6 so that’s not an unusual question from her. I glanced over and saw 40 antelope standing in a field just to the east of the four way stop.
I happened to be talking on my cell phone, also not unusual, and I explained to my friend and my children that we were seeing a huge group of antelope beside the road.
The graceful creatures then decided to cross the road en masse in a brilliant display of herd mentality. The humans yielded right of way and no antelope were injured.
“How fun! They look like reindeer,” I told my friend with Christmas in mind.
After the animals had all passed we drove on to our destination and I went on with my busy day.

That night at dinner, my daughter was complaining about not having any juice and I was answering another question from my oldest son when she waved her hand and said, “What are those things called, mom? You know is it cantaloupe?”
Thinking she was asking for fruit, I replied that yes indeed we could get some cantaloupe and she ran off.
A few seconds later I walked into my bedroom to find her explaining to my husband that we had seen a ‘flock of cantaloupe’ on the road.

“Were they rolling down the street,” he asked, adequately perplexed and turned to me for explanation. I was laughing too hard to answer right away.
“You mean a herd of antelope, dear,” I clarified.
After some persuasion and a little explaining of the difference between fruits and grazing animals and an interruption by my 4 year old claiming ‘no they’re reindeer, mommy said so’, we all had a little chuckle and went about our evening.

Then Grandma called.
The story was retold by my daughter over the phone and grandma responded appropriately with loads of giggles.
Grandma then pointed out that it was an easy mistake to make because cantaloupe and antelope rhyme.

To which my adorable little scholar said very seriously, “Yes, because they both end in antelope.”

Merry Christmas!!

To Tinsel or Not To Tinsel

Every year around this time, I begin digging trenches to prepare for the battle of the Christmas Tree Tinsel. My dear hubby sports a distinct likeness to Ebeneezer Scrooge, which unfortunately I did not discover until after our wedding on December 26th because our first Christmas we spent in 2 countries and 3 different states and all that travel left little time for discussion of whether or not to put tinsel on the Christmas tree. So for the last 11 years the battle has raged and so far my trench warfare has prevailed. There has been tinsel and a live Christmas tree every year, except when we went to Mom's house, where she had a live tree and tinsel, and I had no need of trenching or guerrilla tactics.

This year the shots over the bow have already begun.
Hubby says, "Okay, we'll spend our last dime on a dumb tree, if you insist, but no tinsel."
My response, "Hmm...well...I guess I could try ribbon this year instead of tinsel, BUT if it doesn't FEEL like Christmas, then I'll have to put some tinsel on the tree."
There. I have clearly drawn my battle line, including a compromise. Enough said right? NO.

Day 2
Dear Hubby says, "I just hate picking the tinsel out of the grass all summer. (Note: we drag the tree to the street for pick up after christmas and the tinsel has been known to fall off in the transport, BUT he's exaggerating, obviously.)
It clogs the mower."
My response, "No it doesn't."
DH: "Yes, it does and the vacuum cleaner too. I hate that."
Me: "But there has always been tinsel on the tree, every Christmas forever."
DH: "It's still Christmas without the messy tinsel."
Me: ...
DH: "Right?"
Me (to myself in my head): "Bring it on, Scrooge."

Could I live without the tinsel? Probably, if forced to by flood, fire, or allergy. BUT I don't have to and I don't want to. Did I mention that I still sleep beside the glittery Christmas tree on Christmas eve, like I did when I was 6, because I love looking at it that much?

What do you love about Christmas?

Autumn Memories

Autumn is here. It is my all-time favorite season. How about some stream of consciousness writing to pay tribute to Autumns past and present? Please join me if you wish.

...class lists, freshly sharpened pencils, shopping for new clothes, lunch boxes, chilled air, picking apples in Oak Glen, Santa Ana winds, ollie ollie oxen free, running from house to house trick-or-treating, the smell of wood burning, crunching leaves, walking to school, latest crush, yelling at football games, family gatherings, Grandma's rolls, Mom's mashed potatoes, mountain treks, acorns, pinecones, Utah snow, new students, counting the days until Christmas, breath coming out as fog, Gardner Village, carmel apples, hot chocolate, witches everywhere, good movies, deer, antelope, great sunsets...