Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Christmas Carols

1) What's the first holiday song that comes to mind? "Have a holly, jolly Christmas! It's the best time of the year ..."

2) Are you sending cards (either by postal service or email) this year? If so, have they gone out yet? Yes. I always try to get them mailed on December 1. I like the thought of brightening people's mailboxes.
 

3) Can you see any holiday decorations from where you're answering these questions? Just the cards I've received and placed on the coffee table.

4) Do you wrap gifts in paper or take the gift bag route? Paper

5) The holidays are an important fundraising time for charities. Here's an opportunity to do a shameless plug for your favorite. What organization or cause do you wish got more support at the holidays, and all year around? I'm a big fan of Feeding America, and other food pantries. It's so sad to think of families going without, especially on Christmas.

6) Andy Williams was famous for his family holiday specials. What TV family would most like to spend Christmas with? Kate and Allie. I like how "family" was expanded to include best friends. This holiday season, my friends are morphing into my family and I appreciate them all enormously.

7) The holidays are a big time for travel. Where did you go on your first airplane flight? From O'Hare to Ft. Lauderdale. I was 16, accompanying my cousin to visit her dad/my uncle for a couple weeks.

8)  Does the weather have an impact on your mood? I wish it would snow. That would help me feel a bit more "Christmasy."

9) Snack time! You're about to make yourself your favorite sandwich. What ingredients do you need? Hmmm .... Ham and cheese on wheat. Light mayo. Maybe a little relish. Or lettuce. I'm not picky.

5 Loads of Wash

Yesterday I did nothing productive. Today I nearly made up for it. I paid bills, stopped by the dry cleaner, went to the bank (a roll of quarters for laundry and savings bonds for the safety deposit box) and added money to my transit card and did five (count 'em, five!) loads of laundry.

Tomorrow I still have to do my grocery shopping. But I'm almost done with the icky domestic chores I intended to do this long weekend away from work.

Heartbreaking

"Close to 30 dead, mostly children."

"Yes, by all means, let's have more handguns available out there!" That's what I have been shouting at the TV ever since I heard about the CT school shooting.

I refuse to believe that this is what our forefathers had in mind when the Bill of Rights was written. There has to be a way to fix this! "… mostly children." God help us.

Holidailies -- Day 14

Today's prompt: What is the best gift you ever gave someone?

The best gift I gave was to my niece. It wasn't for Christmas -- in fact, it was for no particular reason at all. The year was 1998. She was 6, and deep into the movie Anastasia. She used to walk around pretending to be Anastasia and could recite dialog. She was so Anastasia-obsessed that she had a dream about a mythic Anastasia Store that carried only Anastasia products. As her dream went, she could purchase everything Anastasia for $100, and she happened to have exactly $100 in her purse.

I went on eBay and purchased all the memorabilia I could find from all over the world (my favorite: plastic Anasastia medallions that had been packaged in cereal boxes in Ireland). I spread them out all over my apartment and put a sign on the front door: Anastasia Store -- Everything $100. The look on her face when she came in the door, the way she clasped her hands together under her chin and looked around the room in wonderment at the Anastasia dolls and books and puzzles and pillowcase, etc. was pure magic.

In a way, this was the greatest gift anyone has ever given me. I mean, how often in life do you get to make someone's dream come true?

The wait is over!

I got my coveted ticket to The Book of Mormon early this year -- at least 10 months ago. And this past Wednesday I finally saw it.

It really is that good. The staging is awesome, the score is memorable (I'm still hearing "I Believe" in my head) and the cast is great (Syesha Mercado of American Idol made her debut in Chicago).

And no, it's not shocking. It's vulgar and profane, yes. But my jaw didn't drop anywhere near as far as it did when I saw Seth MacFarlane's movie Ted.

And while it's irreverent, it's very affectionate and good hearted. I was worried that it would bash Mormonism and organized religion. But all the main characters are really very sweet and decent and you leave the theater thinking that maybe the world could indeed use more like them. Clearly I'm not alone in thinking this way: The LDS took out three pages of ads in the Playbill.

So when The Book of Mormon comes to your town, see it, see it, see it. It's higher concept and more original than South Park (which seems afflicted by sameness to me). Just be prepared for the adult (albeit good natured) material, and enjoy.