Ding dong! Merrily on high

by chuckofish

Well, we are into the holiday swing of things here in flyover country. The tree is up, thanks to the boy coming over and putting it in the stand and daughter #1 coming home to help decorate it. We are cooking with gas, as they say.

I went to see Lottie’s ‘Holiday Show’ put on by the dance studio where she takes lessons.

As always, she was front and center and knew all the moves and words to the song. Her brother, watching from the sidelines, pronounced it a “Nice job!” at the end.

On Saturday the OM, daughter #1 and I got up and dressed in our warmest gear so that we could go to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery to put wreaths on veterans’ graves as part of the Wreaths Across America event which coordinates wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as at more than 3,400 additional locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea and abroad. My DAR chapter is a sponsor, so I volunteered to participate and the OM and daughter #1 gallantly offered to go along. However, the traffic down in Lemay was insane, backed up onto the highway, and after making a wrong turn into No Man’s Land, we cut bait and headed home. I felt bad until the DAR lady who coordinated our group replied to my email telling her that we were baling by saying she had been stuck in traffic for over an hour herself. The next day she followed up to say that she had been in a traffic line for over an hour and a half just waiting to pick up the wreaths! Zut alors. The best laid plans and all that.

(KSDK.com photo)

So we went home and decorated the tree and then I took a nap.

This weekend we also watched Home Alone (1990) which never fails to entertain…

…and Hatari (1962), Howard Hawks’s wonderful movie about a diverse group of fun-loving adventurers who capture exotic animals in Africa to export to zoos all over the world.

All the actors did their own stunts and, although they thought they might die any day, they all looked like they were having a terrific time. And Henry Mancini wrote the score.

Meanwhile the wee dog is becoming acclimated to car rides and short stays at our house, not to mention watching John Wayne movies.

This is a good thing because he will be moving in with us very soon. He is a happy little fella.

At church I noticed that I am finally able to sing without setting off a coughing fit. Finally. But both daughters are sick as is precious Katiebelle who I hear is watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on demand. “More Snoopy!”

We all have our coping mechanisms.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand,

All other ground is sinking sand.

–Edward Mote, 1834