Less then 30 days...CHRISTMAS!

[StinkerBell]

 

[peternap]

Thanks!


And they'll feast, feast, feast, feast. They'll eat their Who-Pudding and rare Who-Roast Beast. But there's something I just cannot stand in least... Oh no. I'M SPEAKING IN RHYME!

[ScottA]

Don't remind me. I need to get the tree up.

[glenn kangiser]

I'll just go up a tree.  Don't forget Festivus...

[apaknad]

glen, where can you get a festivus pole/ none of the stores carry them. 

[Redoverfarm]

Bah Humbug.  No not really.  I just hate the way Christmas has gone.  Too much commercialization.  I keep trying to get my wife to resort back to a more traditional mindset but it is hard to reverse things. 

As far as a tree goes yes I do but my choices have changed in the past few years.  Originally I would put up a cut tree but that was a complete waste.  I love wood and hate to see something destroyed for such a short period of time.  I went to balled trees (blue spruce) but with a 50/50 chance it would survive re-planting in Jan/Feb it just wasn't a gamble I wanted to take at $10 ft.  So I have went to artifical and haven't regreted it.  It looks authentic and is a lost less hassle. 

And it comes a time that you realize that Christmas is age defining in that it should be for the little ones.  Need to get back to the true meaning of the holiday and let the credit card companies starve to death.

[ScottA]

Well said John. Reject the shopping hysteria and have an old fashioned Christmas instead. A man was trampled to death in a Wal=mart this morning by crazed shoppers. What the hell is the world comming to? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27955316

[NM_Shooter]

I'm wondering what the retail numbers were today. 

They were either high, which means that almost everybody went further into debt.

Or they were low, which is going to depress the market on Monday.

I wonder why we in the U.S. particularly reach for our wallets to make ourselves feel better? 

I visited a needy family today with one of my kids for a church thing.  We had an old dresser that we needed to get rid of, and they needed one, so it was a win-win sort of thing. 

Everything that family owned was basically on the floor of a 350 sq. ft apartment, or in the kitchen drawers.  They had a bed, a TV, some pots and pans and dishes, and trash bags full of clothes.   The dad works in a warehouse for $8 an hour, and their car went belly up so he walks to work each day.  Two kids are with them.  The third (12 years old) started exhibiting self-destructive behavior after they were living out of a car for two months and they sent him to be with his grandma.  They are barely in this apartment now and are basically two paychecks away from homelessness.

My church has helped them financially a bit and a few of us are going to see if we can give them a bit of a boost.  Sad thing is that there are lots of other stories just like this.   

I went home, and looked at my garage which is packed with crap I hardly ever use, and felt pretty ridiculous.  I'd be embarrassed for anybody to see in there.  Made me think about how little I actually NEED. 

I'm clearly part of the problem.

-f-

[MountainDon]

I'm clearly part of the problem.

Depends on whether or not you paid interest on a CC/loan to buy it all. Of course, that's just my opinion; I don't mind having stuff if all I paid for is the item, not the financing.

[glenn kangiser]

glen, where can you get a festivus pole/ none of the stores carry them. 

Aluminum handle extension for a bull float should work, Dan. 

The Airing of Grievances is one of the great times. 

[NM_Shooter]

Depends on whether or not you paid interest on a CC/loan to buy it all.

Mostly not, rarely once in awhile.  The part that bugs me is that I purchase stuff and then sometime can't find it.  I have more tools than space to store them 

Just yesterday for instance... I couldn't find my bow saw (going up past your road to get a Christmas tree).  I had that saw for my elk hunt and brought it home.  I remember washing the hair and blood off of it, and now I can't find the stupid thing.  My garage would be easier to search if it didn't have so much crap in it (tools, paint, building supplies, boxes of old family stuff).  Maybe that will be my resolution.... clean the garage, at least for a week.

BTW... there is a bunch of snow up around 8500' in the Jemez.  We drove over towards the fire tower by the Caldera to look for our tree, and had a bit if an exciting trip.  No dents or scratches, but I was heavily considering getting out and putting on chains.  This is early this year.  We've cut a tree the first week in December up there before and didn't have this much snow!  We definitely needed the moisture.

[MountainDon]

I remember washing the hair and blood off of it, and now I can't find the stupid thing.  My garage would be easier to search if it didn't have so much crap in it (tools, paint, building supplies, boxes of old family stuff). 

It only gets worse as you age Frank.     

Ask me, I know! 




I have to clean our garage too, ... Maybe when the Jemez gets snowed in I'll have/take the time.

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not sure you two even have a clue how bad it can get.  You need to see mine.  I still have tools laying out from my Dodge truck engine change a year or so ago.... but I'm working on it... yeah - right...