Oh Boy! It’s Christmas week and I can hardly wait! I’m 58 years old and still get excited. Now, I’m not going to get silly and wait all night for Santa to arrive. I spent too many years myself as Santa to do that. But we are going to have fun.
One of the ways I have fun is to remember. I’ll remember Christmas with my own children. To me, the meaning of Christmas became evident when I became a father. When I could watch the magic that is Christmas by watching my children’s eyes and expressions of awe and wonder, surprise and delight as they encountered a tree filled underneath with presents. When they were little, Christmas Eve was a combination of lasagna dinner followed by church followed by getting them to bed and then followed by several hours of assembling the toys that “Santa” was giving them (all toys had to be assembled and functioning).
I confess to evenings spent grumbling and growling at balky parts. I also confess to falling asleep on the living room floor in “mid-elf mode”, waking at 2 a.m. and finishing the task before stumbling off to bed only to be awakened by the laughter of small people at the “butt crack of dawn”. (Just let Santa/Dad get a cup of coffee first, pleassssssseeee!).
But before I let this go on and on and on, I really wanted to touch base with a couple of songs that by today’s standards are dated but which were delightful and fun-filled when I was just a boy and when Mike and Susan were little. We played Fred Waring’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and “Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer” incessantly. It’s a wonder my Mom wasn’t totally loopy before Christmas arrived having to listen to those 2 songs on the stereo over and over and over each day. Mom recorded the album onto a cassette when my kids were young but I doubt that these children of the ‘80s ever got the same joy that I did back in the ‘50s.
So here they are. I hope you enjoy them as much as I still do:
One of the things that Carolyn and I look forward to is the “24 Hours of Ralphie” on TBS that will start at 8 p.m. Christmas Eve and run through 8 p.m. Christmas Day. We love this movie and overdose on it each year. It’ll be on in the bedroom all night too and we’ll each wake up several times during the night, watch a few minutes and then drift off back to sleep (I in my kerchief and Ma in her cap….settled down for a long winter’s nap). Have you ever noticed though that you seem to wake up or tune in at the same point in the movie when you’re watching a “marathon”?
And last but not least. We came across a wonderful website last Christmas. It’s perfect for every single kid—from 4 to 84! It’s the NORAD website which tracks Santa’s trip around the world. Even better, using NORAD personnel and volunteers, there are brief vignette’s about Santa’s journey and about the various locations he is visiting on his journey. It’s fun. It’s educational. It’s magic. And it’s an obvious labor of love for the people of NORAD. Check it out!
The website is www.noradsanta.org
Have a wonderful Christmas.
Showing posts with label Ralphie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ralphie. Show all posts
Monday, December 21, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Freshmen Don't Win the Heisman But Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Freshmen don’t win the Heisman Trophy do they? Well, it’s possible but hasn’t been done. From time to time there is a freshman who sets NCAA football on fire his first year but no freshman has ever won the award. And only 2 sophomores have done it.
Why? Well, the Heisman is awarded to the outstanding football player in NCAA football each year. It’s for individual accomplishment but it’s also more like an MVP award in terms of the player whose efforts and accomplishments contributed to the success of his team. Freshmen typically have to prove themselves for more than one season before being seriously considered for this honor.
Well that’s certainly interesting this time of the year when NCAA football is in full swing, when individual stats are starting to roll up, injuries are starting to take their toll on promising seasons and the talk starts to turn to the almighty BCS.
So where am I heading with this? Not football.
Pres. Obama was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday. I did a “tongue in cheek” blogpost suggesting that his reaction was probably the same as Ralphie’s in “A Christmas Story” when he was helping his Dad change a flat tire. “Oh, fuuuddddggge.”
I literally could envision Obama getting word of this honor over breakfast with Michelle and turning to her and groaning out “Oh, fuuudddggge.” I get the impression from his response about being humbled by the award that he realizes that he was like a Freshman receiving the Heisman based on talent and potential more than on his level of actual accomplishment.
I really wish that the Nobel Peach Prize had not been awarded to the President. He’s had a remarkable first 9 months in office but I’m having a hard time justifying just exactly what he’s managed to get done to facilitate, promote and achieve peace in this world in that period of time. He’s been more of a janitor—cleaning up the messes he was left with as of the date of his inauguration.
The man’s plate is so full that he just doesn’t need any more crap that distracts from the serious issues and threats to the nation’s economy or security or the welfare of its citizens. Every time he turns around there are insidious roadblocks thrown up by the opposition party, so-called experts, “pundits” and even from within the ranks of his own party and supporters.
This becomes a distraction. It is an honor and Obama has indeed been gracious about it. As have previous American Peace Prize honorees Jimmy Carter and Al Gore. As have members of the “loyal” opposition John McCain and Tim Pawlenty. But guys like GOP Rep. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina and others have been at their typically mean-spirited worst. There was even a comment made last Friday from one Republican expressing mock dismay that apparently there was now an “affirmative action” criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize.
That’s why this is a distraction. That’s why it would have been better for the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo to have either found another deserving candidate or, as has been done in the past, decline to present an award this year. With the way “peace” has been going in the world, it’s hard to find a legitimate candidate and maybe that would have been the best scenario.
As it stands, here is an honor which the President really hasn’t earned—yet. In coaching parlance, Obama has a "tremendous upside". I would have far preferred that the Committee wait until the President’s "upside" has been more fully realized when peace is not only “at” hand but “in” hand.
We have a freshman receiving an incredibly prestigious award. What’s he going to do for an encore, to prove that he deserved it in the first place?
Why? Well, the Heisman is awarded to the outstanding football player in NCAA football each year. It’s for individual accomplishment but it’s also more like an MVP award in terms of the player whose efforts and accomplishments contributed to the success of his team. Freshmen typically have to prove themselves for more than one season before being seriously considered for this honor.Well that’s certainly interesting this time of the year when NCAA football is in full swing, when individual stats are starting to roll up, injuries are starting to take their toll on promising seasons and the talk starts to turn to the almighty BCS.
So where am I heading with this? Not football.
Pres. Obama was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday. I did a “tongue in cheek” blogpost suggesting that his reaction was probably the same as Ralphie’s in “A Christmas Story” when he was helping his Dad change a flat tire. “Oh, fuuuddddggge.”I literally could envision Obama getting word of this honor over breakfast with Michelle and turning to her and groaning out “Oh, fuuudddggge.” I get the impression from his response about being humbled by the award that he realizes that he was like a Freshman receiving the Heisman based on talent and potential more than on his level of actual accomplishment.
I really wish that the Nobel Peach Prize had not been awarded to the President. He’s had a remarkable first 9 months in office but I’m having a hard time justifying just exactly what he’s managed to get done to facilitate, promote and achieve peace in this world in that period of time. He’s been more of a janitor—cleaning up the messes he was left with as of the date of his inauguration.The man’s plate is so full that he just doesn’t need any more crap that distracts from the serious issues and threats to the nation’s economy or security or the welfare of its citizens. Every time he turns around there are insidious roadblocks thrown up by the opposition party, so-called experts, “pundits” and even from within the ranks of his own party and supporters.
This becomes a distraction. It is an honor and Obama has indeed been gracious about it. As have previous American Peace Prize honorees Jimmy Carter and Al Gore. As have members of the “loyal” opposition John McCain and Tim Pawlenty. But guys like GOP Rep. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina and others have been at their typically mean-spirited worst. There was even a comment made last Friday from one Republican expressing mock dismay that apparently there was now an “affirmative action” criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize.
That’s why this is a distraction. That’s why it would have been better for the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo to have either found another deserving candidate or, as has been done in the past, decline to present an award this year. With the way “peace” has been going in the world, it’s hard to find a legitimate candidate and maybe that would have been the best scenario.As it stands, here is an honor which the President really hasn’t earned—yet. In coaching parlance, Obama has a "tremendous upside". I would have far preferred that the Committee wait until the President’s "upside" has been more fully realized when peace is not only “at” hand but “in” hand.
We have a freshman receiving an incredibly prestigious award. What’s he going to do for an encore, to prove that he deserved it in the first place?
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