Saturday, December 31, 2005

The End Of The Year Post

Hi everyone.

I trust you all had a Merry Christmas, Spiritual Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, Joyful Kwanza, Wonderful Boxing Day...did I miss anyone? I'm sure I have. Well, whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope it was a good one.

So, we are in the last hours of 2005.

Anyone care to say anything special?

...

Ok...I guess since it is my blog, I should do the saying.

In order to make my drivel a little more enjoyable, I will intersperse a photo tour of our Christmas/Winter Solstice/holidy tree among my comments.

And away we go!


First, I think it would be good to thank the Big Being(s) for all of the wonderfulness of the past year. (Atheists feel free to skip this part.) So, with deepest gratitude I would like to thank President George W. Bush and the ladies and gentlemen of Congress...

I'm kidding!

You all know who I mean.

Anyway, I'd like to thank God and Co. for the following:
My life because, well, it just makes sense to do that
My family - immediate and extended because they are the best
My friends - because they are also the best
Our big, beautiful world and all the cool stuff therein
My country
My home
My job
Dictionary.com

You get the idea. I guess this really would have been more suitable as a Thanksgiving post but, alas, here it is.

I think now would be a good time for a picture.

Now, other than the traditional mercury glass balls, we try to decorate our Christmas/Solstice/holiday tree with things that are meaningful to the celebration of the season and so I bring you...


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Christmas Glasses - Do you see what I see?



Back to the scheduled post...

So, anyway...I was trying to think of the big goings on of the year and the first thing that comes to mind is getting the goat. And, while we also got a beagle this year, I think the goat might come to mind first because the beagle didn't happen to eat a rather important piece of mail yesterday that I happened to drop on the porch whilst trying to wrestle my way into the house with a pizza box, a purse, a camera, a few books, a bag of embroidery floss and the rest of the mail, all the while trying to keep the beagles in the house and the goat out. As a result, I guess I have a bit of explaining to do to the insurance company.

Photo op!

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Christmas Coke Can - Everyone looks forward to a visit from the can dressed in red and white!

So, other than the goat, the other events that jump out are the big things that happened with the kids. Daughter went to Europe; Son got his driver's license; both got to go to Grassroots for the first time; Son got his first root canal - you know, all those great milestones of youth.

And speaking of root canals...

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Holiday Dental Mold - You know, All I Want For Christmas Is My ... Root Canal?


Hmm...what else?

Well, I guess if I want to look beyond my own nose I could comment on things like Katrina, the war in Iraq, the earthquake in Pakistan, the ass in the White House and all of the other tragedies of the year. But rather than dwell on the negative, I would prefer to think about the positive things. Like all of the folks who pitched in to help after the tsunami; Sean Penn in a row boat; or was it Angelina Jolie in a Russian orphanage?; or was it Ethiopia?

See what happens when you don't have cable? Now I'm not sure on anything.

At any rate, the one thing that really sticks out in my mind is when the National Guard helped bring a peaceful end to a standoff between Native American casino owners and the women who performed in the nightly shows as entertainment for the casino clientele. I was so moved by the way this dipute was settled that I chose to depict it, as best I could...

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

...on my Christmas/Solstice/holiday tree.


Moving right along...

I don't know. I'm trying to think of "very meaningful things" but it just isn't happening. I'm having a hard time thinking of anything. My mind is like...like...like this!

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Cristmas Cheese Grater - O Christmas Cheese, O Christmas Cheese...


You know, events just get scraped over it and these little stringy memories fall through the holes, some going where they should but most ending up on the floor.

I was still doing the mind-as-a-cheese-grater thing there in case that didn't make sense to you.

Well, since it seems my muse has left me, I will just finish up with the Christmas/Solstice/holiday tree tour.


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Peacock, Curler and Big Glowing Gumdrop - And a Peacock in a pear treeeeeeeeeee!


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Christmas Crow - Seven crows a-cawing and all that


And who could that be hiding in the Christmas/Soltice/holiday tree? Why it's...

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

DEATH!


And last but not least, a vignette depicting everyone's favorite Christmas Carol...

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

The Wreck Of The Old 97



Thank you all for reading my blog this past year. I wish you all a very healthy and Happy New Year full of peace and love.


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

brewed w/ fresh, clear, mountain....goat.

you can really taste the goat...
-homer, swilling a can of Duff

Ya know...I was so captivated by the goat (and the moonshine soaked cherries. Ok, and the unorthodox boilo) that I never took a peek at your giant Christmas Tree.

Oh, I heard Tony's Lunch was closed. Bummer.

Whatever happened to the Mountain City Diner?
(Serving mashed potatoes to hungry junkies since 1968.)
I remember when Mary worked there for a while.

anne said...

Tony's was indeed closed which then resulted in a dinner of home-made screamers the day after, complete with the majority of the in-laws. And that's a lot of in-laws!

We never bothered to check the MC Diner...too concerned about what havoc the 4 teens might be wreaking on the home front.

On the bright side, I did get to see alot of pictures of Ralph holding fish.

Anonymous said...

Nice to See your carrring on your fathers traditions of having the most gigantic christmas tree possible. I have a hard time believing that you were able to even bring that thing in a doorway. You must have it growing in some back room that you've yet to fix up-I can picture the 4 of you putting on your army surplus and electric blankets rigged up to some kind of homemade generator run off of goat droppings and beagle slobber. Decorating the magic Evergreen growning in the back off-the-side bedroom. Of course why cut it down- Saves a lot of trouble for next year.

and do you really put the Christmas glasses on the tree? Cuz that is so fucking brilliant I wish I'd thought of that.

anne said...

cuz e-

While we have contemplated growing a tree in the room, this is, in fact, harvested from our neighbor's front lawn. With their permission, of course.

And, yes, the glasses - as well as all of the other items - really are on the tree and get packed away every year with the other ornaments. One of my personal favorites is a clarinet lyre but I didn't post the picture because it's at the top of the tree.

ps-Tell Nancy to check the comment on her post about the Tanya's. I gave her a tip on another great group.