There's Still A Bit Of Day 9 Left!

I knew going in to this 12 days of Christmas cheer thing that it was going to be tough to get a post done every day. However, I thought at worst I would miss 1. Here we are though on Thursday and this is only post #2 this week. It's been so busy at work, home and church this last 2 weeks that I think I'm running on adrenaline at this point. But, that being said, it's better to be busy than have nothing to do!

I have no doubt though that those of you who do read this on a regular basis have been able to find and make your own Christmas cheer without me so I'm not too worried.

All that being said, it's now day 9 and there are only 5 full days left until Christmas comes and quickly goes. Time sure flies when you're having Christmas fun right? My wife pointed out the other day that she was disappointed that we haven't watched any Christmas movies yet. No Elf, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, It's A Wonderful Life, White Christmas (although, that's barely a Christmas movie if you ask me), Home Alone (yes, I consider that more of a Christmas movie than the previous one mentioned). We did manage to watch Frosty The Snowman and Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer though so at least we got those in. However, I did miss the cartoon version of the Grinch and a Charlie Brown Christmas.

I know what some of you are thinking, "You can watch those anytime, what's the big deal?" That's where you're wrong my friend. I'm a purist. Christmas movies are for Christmas time. That's what makes them special!

With Christmas movies on my mind, and after re-watching the clip from Elf that I posted, I've decided to link some of my favorite scenes from some of my favorite movies. If I can't watch the whole thing, at least I can get some of it in right?

First up, my all-time favorite movie, "A Christmas Story". Here's a little Fa Ra Ra Ra.

Next up, my all-time favorite movie, "Elf". Wait, I already said that didn't I?

And finally, for you nostalgic types, "It's A Wonderful Life"

Day 6/7

I guess the title of today's post makes it pretty clear that I missed yesterday. I had a couple of reasons though. One, I flew to Dallas early yesterday morning and didn't have any time to write until I got on the plane on the way back and by the time I got home and settled, the blog was the last thing on my mind. The other reason, and the much more legitimate one was the fact that in the light of the events of last Friday in Newtown it seemed a bit incongruous to spread cheer.

That being said, I'm clearly no theologian, sociologist or journalist so there's nothing I can really add to the already existing conversation that will shed any new light or find some sort of meaning to what happened anyway. And even if I did, It's unlikely that I could say it any better than the professionals mentioned above. So, I'll leave it to the many commentators who have already taken to the airwaves and pulpits across America to discuss.

Instead I'll try to do what I intended to do when I started the Christmas cheer email last year and that, of course, is to spread some cheer. I hope this clip makes you smile today.

Try to enjoy this final week before Christmas and continue to pray for those in Newtown and do good for somebody in your community this week.

On The 5th Day of Christmas...

Can you believe that Christmas is just over a week away? Holy Christmas Angels!! I really have to find some time to get some shopping done! By the way, if any of you are done shopping already I don't want to hear about it in the comments section. That is, unless you're offereing up your help to get mine done.

So it's Friday and we've blown through the week already. I hope you all found some time to enjoy and/or spread a little Christmas cheer over the past 5 days. On this final day of the week I would like to turn to all of you. What are some of your traditions? What "Christmasy" things have you done to get into, or stay in, the Spirit of the season? If you've been reading throughout the week you've learned a few of mine and if you keep reading next week you're sure to learn more but I'm tired of talking about me (shocking right? Christmas miracles never cease).

 I want to know what all of you do. Bake cookies, go look at Christmas lights, cut down your own Christmas tree, whatever it is share it in the comments section of this post.

Now, I realize there is a chance this can all backfire. I have noticed that the readership has diminished as the week has gone on so it's entirely possible that you're all too busy to share something but that's why I chose Friday. You have a full 3 days to stumble back to this blog and add a comment. Don't be a Grinch, share with your fellow citizens of Whoville!

By the way, if you're still struggling to get in the Christmas mood maybe you can put up some Christmas lights this weekend. Here's a picture of a very simple project to give you some inspiration:



Merry Christmas and happy Friday everybody.

Merry Day 4!

Here we are at day 4, it seems like just yesterday it was day 3. How time flies...

Today's installment is going to be brief for two reasons. One the video below is about 5 minutes long and two, it's been a busy few days and I'm a bit short on time.

A quick intro to the video. It's one of those Christmas flash mob clips which I'm sure many of you have seen at one time or another and, like most of those clips I've seen, it's really moving. I posted one last year that was shot in Macy's and included hundreds of people singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Like that one, this one is incredibly heart-warming in my opinion. I can't think of a better scene than a group of people publicly singing about the Lord and Savior. You know, the real reason for the season. Christmas movies, Christmas music and even Christmas smells are all great but ultimately it's about the birth of the One true Savior of the world. On the surface all religions seem to point to the same conclusion but only Christianity is about what God, through Jesus, does to offer salvation to us VS what man can do to earn salvation, which is the focus of every other religion. That's actually a pretty big difference.

Anyway, I hope you take the time to watch the video below. I admit that it brought a little tear to my eye hearing the lyrics. Special shout out to my mom for passing this one along and to our family friend Neil Sheehy who passed it on to her.

Day 3: Smells Like Christmas

When I woke up this morning I walked by our Christmas tree and took a big whiff. To me, the smell of a Douglas Fir is the ultimate. There are a lot of things that bring back Christmas memories but nothing like the smell of a Christmas tree. If I drive by a tree lot I'll roll down the windows just in case the wind is blowing in my direction. I love the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree.

There is a downside to going the real tree route though. For years I've been getting sick in the last week of December and during that time I've been living in a state of denial. There's no way my beloved Christmas tree is the culprit! But alas, I think it may be. Blasted allergies!!

I did contemplate going the "fake plastic tree" route this year, but when I walked through the parking lot at Home Depot to buy more lights for our house, I strolled past a huge pile of caged pine trees longing for a home. At that moment I smelled Christmas amongst the SUV's and sub-compacts. The trees drew me in like the Sirens from Homer's Odyssey. (that's Homer the author, not Homer the Simpson). Unlike Ulysses though, I wasn't able to break free from their cursed siren call and I packed up the fam a few day later and, blamo, we had a tree.

It's not just the scent though, it's the tradition. I always loved going to the tree lot as a kid and I can't wait for Jack (and his future little sister) to be old enough to anticipate that day like I did. Plus, without the existence of the tree lot we wouldn't have the classic scene from A Christmas Story where the Old Man haggles with the guy on the lot:

Salesman:We got 300 trees. This here is the Christmas tree emporium of the whole midwest. Look at this tree. Aint no needles coming off this tree (thousands of needles fall off). This aint no tree. This here is a tree.

Mom: It looks a little skimpy in the front.

Salesman: Well, you can just put it in the corner.

The Old Man: Haven't you got a Big tree?

Salesman: Yeah! Heck, this aint no tree! This here is a tree.

The Old Man:  (giddy): Hah ha, look at the needles there (touches tree lovingly)

Mom: Don't you think it’s a little big?

The Old Man: Oh no. You know Christmas only comes once a year. How much?

Salesman: I'll knock off two bucks because I can see you’re a man who knows his trees.

 Mom: This isn't one of those trees where all the needles fall off is it?

Salesman: Naah, that's them Balsams.

The old man loved bargaining as much as an Arab trader, and he was twice as shrewd.

The Old Man: You know the neighbors bought one of those brand new plastic trees.

 (salesman gets a look of disgust on his face).

The Old Man: This thing looks like it was made of...green pipecleaners (laughing)

Mom: It’s a very nice tree.

The Old Man: Naah.

 Salesman: I'll throw in some rope and tie it to your car for you.

The Old Man: Sold!!

That being said, if I get as sick this year as I did last year I may have to give up that tradition. Maybe a new tradition will be driving down to AutoZone to get the pine tree air fresheners and hanging them all over our "green pipe cleaner" tree.



 You know what... Bah Humbug to that!!! I'll live through the sniffles to keep the tradition alive!

12 Days of Christmas (Day 2)

I wasn't sure if I should call this day two leading up to Christmas day or day 11, counting down. I guess it's 6 of one, a half dozen of the other...

Anyway, as I was sitting in my living room sipping a cup of tea listening to Christmas music and trying to come up with my next entry I had one of those eureka moments. Actually that's not true. It was more like one of those, "where are my keys!" only to find out they're in your hand, kind of moments. I'm sitting here racking my brain...while listening to Christmas music!!

Put up some music you cotton headed ninny-muggins!

What says "Christmas" more than Christmas music? Uhhh, nothin', that's what. Of course putting up music on your blog is easier said than done. See, I just said it and as you can see there is no music at the end of this sentence.

Originally I wanted to link to a couple of my Spotify playlists which total about 15 hours of music but in order to do that everybody would have to have Spotify and would have to click on a bunch of links, blah, blah, blah. If I've learned anything about people it is that if there are more than 2 links you can pretty much forget about them getting to the finish. This whole Internet fad is really destroying our attention...oooh look Christmas lights!!

Where was I? Oh yeah, Christmas music. So I found a YouTube clip that has about 44 minutes of music and most of the songs are pretty good. Obviously the down side to this is the fact that if you are in to Christmas like me you already have found all the Christmas music you'll need to get through the season but it is what it is. It's the thought that counts.

Without further ado (I just wanted to use "ado" in a post) here's a link to bushel full of tunes that you can listen to if you, for some strange reason, don't have access to any Christmas jingles.

Enjoy!

12 (business) Days of Christmas

Last year I did a daily email to a small group of friends that I called the "12 Days of Christmas" daily email. The title alone took me hours to come up with! The basic purpose was to help all of us take a moment each day leading up to Christmas to truly enjoy the season. Once Thanksgiving passes, the final month leading up to Christmas day seems to come and go so quickly that you're left sitting there on December 26th wishing you had taken more time to enjoy those things that make Christmas, Christmas. So, last year I decided that I would send a little "something" out to my friends each business day leading up to the greatest day of the year. I purposely left off the weekends because the weekend is typically the only time that we do actually manage to do something Christmasy so I wanted to spread a little cheer while we were all stuck at work or school.

Obviously, the things that make Christmas so special are different for all of us and something that I loved might hold zero meaning to somebody else. However, everything did point to Christmas in some way so even if what I sent was completely devoid of the meaning it had for me personally it was still, what I thought,a nice reminder for everybody else. Some of the things I sent were silly, like an old TV commercial, and others were more profound like a choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus. But in the end, it was all Christmas!

That brings us to this year. I woke up today and realized that we are 12 business days from Christmas day and I can't, in good concsience, neglect my self-appointed duty to bring a little frivolity, joy and wonder to Christmas Season 2013. I currently have no idea what I'm going to post over the next 12 days or how I'm going to find time to do it but, dagnabit, I'm going to find a way.

So with all that being said, fire up the yule log, knock back some egg nog and prepare to laugh, cry, gasp in wonder or ponder what influences I'm under over the next 12 (businesss) days as we embark on operation, "Don't forget to enjoy Christmas before it passes you by in a blur," 2013 edition! Again, hours and hours on that title...

Feel free to share these posts with friends and family and anybody else who might enjoy a little Christmas pick me up.

To start things off I'll go back to what is for many of us like another member of the family. I am of course talking about TV. What says Christmas more than a classic Christmas TV commercial. My all-time favorite happens to be the Hershey's Kisses "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" bell choir but I used that last year and I don't want to be accused of laziness so here's another great one from the Mars Corporation (I thought I would give equal time). Merry day 12 of Christmas everybody!!

(Christmas cheer bonus: Here's the Hershey's Kisses commercial. It's just too good not to include!)

Please keep in mind I have no control what the "next" video is that pops after these so hopefully it's nothing too crazy!

You Call That A Recap?

This morning I realized that I've reached the one year anniversary of my blog. Let's do a quick recap and see what's happened in the last year on Pencil and Paper!

Ok, let's see here. Looks like I have written a total of 12 posts. Huh... Well, um, that's not quite the volume I anticipated when I started this thing a year ago. I was thinking at least 1 a week. So at a minimum I'm supposed to be at 52 posts at this point.

Let's do a little quick math...carry the one...divide by the square root of an isosceles triangle...hit the calculate button...aaaand? It appears I need to write 40 posts today to get back on track. Holy smokes! Hmm, maybe I need to change my output goals for the next year.

What else do we have here. I see I now have 12 followers. One for every post!! It appears my blog growth more closely matches that have a stalactite (you know because they're, like, really slow growing and stuff).

I guess there are a lot of reasons why there are only 12 of you but I think I'll go ahead and blame the economy. It seems to take the blame for pretty much everything so I'm sure it had an impact on my blog growth this year as well. That and climate change. Those pesky chlorofluorocarbons. Somebody should really do something about those.

Sheesh, that was a pretty quick recap. Now what?

Wait, that's actually a pretty good question. Now what? I'm asking you. All 12 of you. Now what? What do you want to hear about? Maybe that's how I increase my output. Let the people decide!

Of course this means that in another year if I'm sitting at 24 posts I'm just going to blame the 12 of you (or 24 of you if the pattern stays consistent!)

Is there something you want to know? Is there something you want me to write about? I don't care what the topic is, I'll take a crack at it.

My goal a year ago was to entertain, inspire and/or inform. I'm not sure if I've done much of any of that but I'm willing to try it for another year. So, if you have a topic you want me to dive into, a story you want me to tell, something you just want to know more about, let me know. I'll take a swing at it.

Man, I hope this doesn't backfire...

Little Bird

I briefly hung out with a humming bird this morning at the local watering hole - the bird feeder on our back porch. He was pretty friendly but he had kind of an attitude. I think there was a bit of a Napolean complex thing going on there. I didn't mention it to him though. Most birds are well aware of their short comings so there really is no need to point it out to them. Plus they can poop on your head so it's best not to risk irritating them.

Listomania! You call this food? Pt 2

Time for part 2 of my list of 5 least favorite foods. In today's installment I give you the remainder of my list:

#3: Raisins - Aside from the fact that it looks like a dead bug and probably has a very similar consistency (I assume this fact having never intentionally eaten a bug), raisins are basically rotten fruit. Take a grape, leave it out in the sun for a few days and VOILA! you have raisins. Why would I want that?

I feel very similarily toward "sun-dried" tomoatoes. I'm fairly certain they only call them "sun-dried" because calling them what they are, "fell off the vine and were left in the dirt only to be picked up a few days later" tomatoes, is very hard to market to people, let alone fit on a package.

#2: Beef Liver - I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you will be with me on this one. I don't think I have to explain much here. It's organ meat. Not only is it organ meat but it's an organ that filters toxins. Not only is it an organ that filters toxins but it's an organ from an animal that has a disease named after an angry version of itself. All that being said, I will devour a porterhouse steak so I guess a cow can't be all bad. I just won't eat their organs or drink their...
 

Listomania! You Call This Food?

For a long time I’ve been toying with the idea of posting lists to this blog. Yep I’m one of those people. You know, the person who spends arguably too much time putting lists together before starting any actual work. In my defense though I pose this question: how can you get anything done if you don’t know what you need to do? If you expect me to simply remember it you’re living in a dream world!

I admit though, my list-love goes a bit further than a simple “to-do this weekend” type of list. One year I maintained a list of every album I purchased. It ended up being over 60. I also started a list of my top 100 songs of all time. I never finished that one because it was constantly changing. I’ve also maintained a list over the past several years detailing every book I’ve read and, I hesitate to admit, I’ve also given each book a letter grade. My wife and I recently put together a list of all the projects we would like to get done around the house. Yep, she’s a “lister” too. It’s probably why we ended up getting married. Though she's not as list crazy as I am. That's why we're still married! (among many other reasons)

As I recall she had her own list when we met 8 years ago. Her's was a list of attributes that, in a perfect world, she was looking for in a husband and I’m pretty sure I nailed most of them. Accept for the only child part and S’s in the

A Bone To Pick

As the title of this post suggests, I have a bone to pick and it's with the month of February. I have issues with this month. It's nothing personal per se, I mean the month has never done anything to me directly and honestly one day I may find some redeeming qualities in February, more on that later, but right now I have some problems. It's not a long list, it's just two things, but they're enough to provoke me to finally sit down and get it off my chest with the hopes of being able to move forward with the month.

My first beef is the smaller of the two beefs. It's like a cow-sized complaint vs, oh I don't know, a bull-sized complaint if we want to keep with the whole beef metaphor. Anyway the first issue I have is with the weird length of the month. If we have all these months with 31 days why not just take a couple of the extra days from those months, give them to