Holiday Cheer

We have a fresh blanket of powdery snow this morning.  I bet the staff and skiers are thrilled up at Schweitzer, which has actually gotten off to a fairly decent start this year. 

It's not yet daylight, but when it is, we might even get a festive feeling during outside visits as the snow has created a scene worthy of Christmas-card status.  

Of course, seeing the picture of Annie's award-winning Ugly Sweater featuring her "hero" Justin Bieber got my day off to a rousing Ho Ho Ho.  

Annie wore the sweater to the Seattle Sounders holiday party last night and earned "finalist" standings.  

I don't know if the Sounders star standing with her won the contest or if Annie just took advantage of a good photo op.  Twould be nice to see the winning sweater.

I've never owned an ugly Christmas sweater because the ones I see certainly appear a whole lot more upscale than anything I've ever worn.  

Could be that in the old days they were just all ugly sweaters without the moniker.

Anyway, it's Wednesday.  Another Republican debate is over. 

I'm always amazed at the egos among these candidates, especially as they try to separate themselves from the pack of other egos during the debates.  

Take Chris Christie's looking straight into the camera talking directly to all Americans as he disses off all the other reprobates who happen to be standing next to him on the stage.  
After all, when you've been a governor, you've done it all. 

And, then there's Ted Cruz's logorrhea.  Some people call that diarrhea of the mouth; I think Wolf Blitzer wanted to call it something else when Ted would NOT shut up.

The superior sneer of The Donald when a candidate like poor Jeb Bush tries to knock him down a notch or two tops them all. Yes, he is No. 1, thanks to a lot of self-imposed judgments.  

I have a feeling that he practices his ugly faces in his gold-plated mirrors, much like my mother and I used to do to entertain ourselves. 

Nobody's gonna argue that The Donald ranks No. 1  in a lot of other areas too, but those rankings in other people's perspectives might not make The Donald very happy. 

I have decided that if The Donald wins the Presidency of the United States, my long-awaited dream of moving to Ireland will come true. 

When I shared my plans with Bill this morning, he said we'd better plan the move for October, 2016, because once Donald wins, most other countries in the world will not provide places at the inns for hundreds of thousands of American refugees.

So, don't tell anyone else our plans, okay????

Oh yeah, I declared earlier in this post that it's holiday cheer time, right?

Well, I enjoyed a cheerful moment or two visiting with Erik Daarstad yesterday afternoon at Keokee Publishing where he signed copies of his autobiography detailing his career as a cinematographer in Hollywood and to all ends of the earth.

 

I'm not telling who in the family is getting this book, but it is duly and personally autographed.

I also went to another book store where I purchased a nice book for a brother.  No hints, but another was ordered for a daughter-in-law.  I'll just let the family and everyone else play the guessing game. 

The book, however, was purchased with the solid approval of one Michelle, who's been with Vanderford's forever, it seems.  

Maybe Michelle will tell you if you go into Vanderford's.  My only hint:  she has a wooden cut-out next to her house, and for the holiday cheer season the cut-out is adorned with a Santa hat. 

Speaking of Vanderford's, a quick commercial break:  they asked me to bring some copies of Pocket Girdles and Postcards from Potato Land to the store.  So  . . . you get the drill! And, I'm feeling holiday cheer as a result. 

I'm also feeling especially cheerful this morning because I emptied the refrigerator freezer yesterday.  The 26 or so ultra frozen hotdog buns, with crust peeling off, and the baggies of huckleberries, with more frost than berries, needed to go, along with a lot of other items.  

Since completing that project, I'm so pleased with myself that while walking past the refrigerator, I can't resist opening the freezer door to admire the meticulous order and space inside.  It won't last long, but at least we can find things as we lead up to Christmas. 

Slowly but surely, the daunting list of "to do's" of pre-Christmas time are becoming history, and that makes me really cheerful.  

So, I'll end on that note and wish everyone a happy Wednesday as I go and dream of Ireland every time I see or hear The Donald.