Gathering No Dust

holiday self-portrait

Well, here we are nearly one whole percent done with 2011 already, and about three-fourths of the Christmas lights are already darkened in our neighborhood. We, however, are never willing to part with the festive spirit of the season, and our lights blaze on crazily, illuminating the dead pines gathering at the street's edge awaiting the final ride to the chipper.

The "holiday season", as some like to call it, was the usual whirlwind, but a very fulfilling one nonetheless. I did not capture it very well with a camera, or even the cell phone, and some of the pictures I did manage to take have little to do with the actual main events of the season. I tend to refrain from tossing up group photos without warning and first right of refusal to all participants, so you will not find any of the gatherings 'round the tree; at least not those involving humans.

I counted seven dogs that I spent some serious (or, better put, extensive) time with between Christmas and New Year's. That would be the Grand Dogs (Ana, fox terrier resembling chihuahua; and Lily; one of those Puggles where God broke the mold after this one was designed); sister's knucklehead dogs (Athena, a Boston terror...I mean terrier...really, she calms down and is pleasant enough after the initial bark-down; and Bella, a pure Pug - also Moxie, new Boston on the block owned by my niece); and Auggie, the schnauzer that we dog-sit from time to time. And, of course, our Ollie.

Saw a lot of people, too, including a third cousin whom I did not know existed until the wonders of Facebook brought her into view. It is pretty exciting and fun meeting relatives this far along in life.

Christmas itself was wonderful; our band played a Christmas eve service, the Sunday morning service, and a couple pieces leading into the more formal, later-in-the-evening Christmas eve service. Fairly rigorous, but really fulfilling and fun, too. Christmas Day itself was filled with my time-honored tradition of failing to get out of the PJs, and being extremely lazy.

We used to stay at my Dad's house when we went to visit my old stomping grounds. Now we stay with my sister and her family (and the aforementioned Athena and Bella, who many of you are familiar with courtesy of her blog, plus my niece's pup, Moxie). She and her husband are excellent hosts, and the arrangement has worked out well (we hope they feel the same...). However, there is some sense of loss and change as we drove by the old house and found a cadre of contractors hard at work, transforming it into a more salable property, which will end up being very little like the house in which I grew up. But it is all for the good, as no one in our family needs the albatross of a vacant property, and the rejuvenated house should make a fine home for its next occupants.

OK, here are some really random pictures that do not really lay out the feeling of holiday cheer and Christmas charm, but since we are already three days and one full work day (and counting) into this new year, who's looking back?
One of my introductions to the world of blogging was "Weird Object Friday", which was a lot of fun. This little stocking stuffer would be a good candidate. A group of us had a big laugh over this gift. I will not keep you in suspense - It is an egg cracker and separator. It does not work very well, at least in our experience as novices, but it makes a good conversation piece, and I am just glad it is not some sort of arcane medical device for poking or prodding...

That is pretty much a fail right there...

Here, below, is my favorite oddball shot. We have some fish in the basement that winter over down there because our pond tends to freeze all the way down. We brought the aquarium up near the back door so a neighbor could feed them easily while we were away. This shot is technically not very good, but for some reason, I like it. It looks like something went very wrong...

And let's bring on the Dogs of Winter...

Ollie and the Grand-Dogs, awaiting another handout.

I am pretty sure that bone chewing could, if harnessed properly,
provide one fine an alternative energy source.

Who can do this with their tongue?

The Dogs of the East: Moxie, Athena, and Bella, just hangin'.

Knowing how to show us a good time, my sister Margaret took us to the local Costco. Being a transplant flyover bumpkin, I had never been in one of these establishments. The enormity of the place, the size of the inventory, all stacked up to the warehouse-scale roof and gleaming brightly in those suspended industrial strength lights, was just overwhelming. I tell you, I was in awe. Judging from the bustle in that place, I feel emboldened to proclaim that we Americans just might be turning the corner, economy-wise. Way to go, consumers!

Finally, I end where we began. We kicked off the Christmas break with a visit to our daughter and son in law's, where we took in their church service and ate at one of those TGI Fridays. Partook of their special where for a decent price you get an appetizer, entree, and dessert. Now, I know the saying that presentation is everything, but if they really feel the need to bust out the large plates for my desert, it seems like they could toss a couple more slices on the plate in lieu of that artistic slime trail, eh?

I have no pictures of this, but I also got out to a (vinyl, old school) record store with my son, who swears by LPs as the only way to go, and a more contemporary independent CD shop with childhood bud Gerald (and with whom "flipping the bins" is a sacrosanct tradition going back to a long walk in the snow to E.J. Korvettes to purchase the Beatles' White Album, and even earlier), and the brother in law (who later on paid for the oven-fired pizza, for which I am grateful) and son (who is now back at his graduate studies and complaining about how, for the first time in his life, he has to suffer the indignity of not one or two or three, but four 8:00 a.m. classes.

Anyhow, all told, I hope you had a nice break, and that you can think back to some fond and lasting memories. However, we now return you to 2011, already in progress.