Rudolph The Resigning Prime Minister

Damn you, Jonathon Gatehouse. You and your National Today newsletter just ruined Christmas and Canadian history for me for the rest of time. Today in history Nov. 15, 1948: A farewell address from Prime Minister Mackenzie King — who was also apparently the voice of Sam the Snowman in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He’s right, …

No, I didn’t forget the Christmas Wrap-Up. Here It Is

So here it is, February 5th and I’m finally writing the post I always do about our holidays. Although horribly late, it’s not as late as it seems because we only finished having get-togethers 3 weeks ago. Why? Because weather and circumstances are evil. We had the best plan ever. We were going to spread …

Hail Mary, Full Of…Uh, Guys? Is She Supposed To Be Full Of Those Things?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkJA6SYwa94 These songs, as you may have noticed, are just a tiny bit different. But while this observation did not get bye you, the same cannot be said for the person responsible for printing up the lyric sheets for this year’s Catholic Joy to the World Festival. A Christmas carol service in the Sri Lankan …

We Wish You A Maily Christmas

Here is the story of Juanita Rodenhiser , a very sweet, well-intentioned mom who’s trying to bring her daughter some happiness. Believe me, I completely understand that goal. But the thing is she has not heard the stories of the others who have preceded her into the “another postcard” category in which she now finds herself. …

Christmas Memories On Acid

The thing I just posted about the fire that wasn’t got me thinking about a couple of seasonal things I maybe should have soundtracked it with. But since I didn’t use them there, I’ll just stick ’em here. First, this clip from an episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. And this classic holiday ditty …

Merry Scary Christmas

Steve told me about these painful-sounding Victorian Christmas parlor games and after I stopped wincing and covering my face, I started to envision what would happen if somehow, someone of that era could visit current day us, sort of like those old Freedom 55 commercials. I can see it all now. “You folks are wimps! …

Thanks from Tansy to Trixie

One thing I neglected to talk about in the latest holiday wrap-up was the fact that Tansy inherited a couple of gifts I gave to Trix that she didn’t care for. She got the neat-looking squeaky duck, andthe much-sought-after Skineeez raccoon that Tans stole from Trix over and over again. Today was kind of a …