Arkansas Blog

Merry Christmas, Max, and thank you for building the always-glowing campfire that this "tribe" gathers around for counsel, for humor and for discourse with both the like-minded (and those in need of convincing! ha ha.) There is kinship here even among those with conflicting opinions - we all want our home state and our beloved country to be a better place.

Thank you for kicking out the topics, both serious and funny. Both news and humor are significant and necessary to discuss and share.

We can all stop by here and peck a few lines to each other but let's give Max the day off to be with his family - we probably all need to push back from the keyboard for a day or two as well.

Fellow AT Bloggers, let's all go be with our tribes. There will be plenty to wrassle with politically after the holidays. I wish you all a happy celebration of the winter holiday of your personal choices. Eat hearty, give generously, love fiercely and act courageously.

-mag

To quote Robert Earl farther: "Merry Christmas from the fam-uh-leeeeeee!

REK is playing Bass Hall in Ft Worth Dec 30...come on down, I'll reserve u some tickets. Good Warmup to Reggie Herring's head coach debut in Dallas

Max, Christmas is never the same magical time after the kids grow up and no longer watch
the sky for that first sight of Santa.
I'll never forget, in south Louisiana, our across street friends had four kids and bought them
each a new bike. They hid them on our back screened porch and after all the kiddos were
fast asleep, slipped over and there was four adults, each riding a bike, feeling no pain,
laughing like fools that we were. We did get them inside and under the tree.
Back to the gumbo pot, no seafood, just chicken and smoked sausage.
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd like to invite everyone to a candlelight Christmas eve service at Quapaw Quarter UMC, 1061 S. Louisiana in Little Rock, qqumc.org. It will be wonderful.

Forgot to say it's at 6:00 p.m. tonight

Yep. Christmas is for children.

Click on Cato for my wishes to all.

Merry Christmas, Max. And Merry Christmas to bloggers of all political persuasions. The late evening Christmas services at St. Michael's Episcopal Church at 12415 Cantrell Road begin with carols at 10:30 and Holy Eucharist at 11. Those with no church home are especially welcome at St. Michael's, where everyone is welcome at Christ's table. There's a five o'clock service, too, for those who want to get to bed before midnight.

Thank you, Max, for dogging and blogging issues related to our ex-governor Huckabee. A great Christmas gift.

....And a Merry Christmas from ol' Uncle Rick & clan up in Chickendale. Enjoy it. Polytix'll still be here when it's over.

max my wife and i decided that instead of gifts for each other we would get a new wide screen. it will probably be a little dissapointing but when the hogs come on the field on new years it will be great. plus we watched miracle on 34th street last night and it was great, the original, not one of the bad remakes. ted turner has cleaned it up and it looks really good. my mother in law who is 84 just loved it, she has been kind of droopy this year so it cheered her up a little. now we are waiting on the kids so that will cheer all of us up. thanks to everybody on the blog for the fun this year. that means the fun and fights. we are all americans and want the best we just have to agree on the right way to do it which is of course my way. merry christmas to all.

What do you mean by "the first year without Santa gifts"? You told Santa not to drop them off?

My son is now 19. Gosh, if Santa didn't bring all those gifts for him, I'd have to come up with them myself.

Max, I fully understand your misgivings about the tradition of presents under the tree from "Santa." This was a tradition in our house up until I graduated from college. Of course, being an only child helped keep this tradition alive for so long. My parents, now both deceased, were the kind of people who would wrap dog shit and put in under the tree if they thought I wanted some. They were wonderful and I have missed them terribly for the last 12 years.

To all my fellow bloggers, I wish each and every one of you the very best in the coming year you are each and every one an inspiration to those who want this county and state to be the best they can be. I don't post as much as I used to simply because so many of you are much more able to express my thoughts than I am. I am a man of few words in most instances, note I said most, but I will chime in whenever I think that something else needs to be added to the discussion.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

We just missed our White Xmas in Chickenopolis. Was cold, sleety with trace snow yesterday. Today sunny, mild and no wind. So the jolly fellow with popcorn balls may need to bring the Corvette.

I saw a special on MSNBC this morning. Santa was crucified (on a cross). The perp said he did it to make the point that the Christmas spirit was crucified on the cross of crass materialism.

Good move Max

Later pals.
Love much, laugh often.
L.W.W.

We're just getting started with Santa at the rosso house...

Our two-year old son is just now starting to realize somethin's up...

Our nine-week old doesn't have a clue, but she'll still get a bunch of stuff from Santa...

Anyway, it's fun getting back into toys and such...

Although I do have to put together a Radio Flyer rocking horse tonight...arghhh...

Merry Christmas everyone...

Happy Christmas to everyone. Thanks to the blogmeistro for providing this forum for all of us. It's like nothing else around.

Here's a Christmas miracle: I've already assembled Junior's "big boy bike", and it's not even 2 a.m. Christmas morning! (I'm a procrastinator.) We're still baking bread, wrapping presents, and getting ready for the big day tomorrow. To anyone traveling, please be careful out there. If you plan to drink (which I do) get someone else to drive for you.

Happy Holiday!

Now that you have that "big boy bike" assembled I think I'll drop that rocking horse at your house, hugh!

And that bread is excellent!

I envy all of you young parents,,,love them, love them, enjoy them....years pass so quickly.
My babies now are almost 8 yr old twin Gransons....they were just in kitchen wanting to
'HELP' Nana,,,I asked if hands were clean and they lifted four little precious hands for me to
look at. I started to say, 'thats not how you see dirty hands,' but, I just grabbed them in
big hugs and wet kisses, yes, I got out the bar of soap. I was there to see the little 3 pound
things come into the world so I feel so happy and full of joy every time I am with them, they
are both on the honor roll at school and just two normal little boys.
Gumbo is simmering away, pies baked, rice pot plugged in, french bread ready for oven,
wine flowing..........
All's right with the world.

I wish I could smell your kitchen right about now, ms. jazzy. Mine doesn't smell terrible, though.

rosso, I wouldn't want you to miss out on these *simple* pleasures of fatherhood, so you go on and put that thing together. Good luck with the "English" instructions, translated from Chinese. (They're so polite: 1. Kindly have insurance that all parts are present in the container of shipping. 2. Please read all instruction before proceeding with the act of assembling. 3. etc.)

And on a very sad note for me, the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has died at 82. Video at my name. Rest in peace.

Thank you Hugh. Somewhere in a dusty carboard box I have his Night Train 33 LP.
Glad to live in the electronic age so priceless artists like Oscar will live on.
Ray was soooo good on UR bass.
.

Mr. Hugh,,,,,kitchen smells purty good, as I'm sure yours does.
Funny how food is the glue that seems to hold americans together. I have lived all over the
U.S., and hubby from french Canada, so my cooking is a little of this, little of that...
just had a big surprise........gotta run

Miracles happen at Christmastime........our 18 yr old granson, that we have raised, met
his bio father this afternoon for first time in his memory. I'm blown away.
We fought a court battle for the baby, that we won. Two 19 yr olds that had a beautiful
boy they couldn't care for.
I expected it to happen someday............
WOW,,,,what a gift
expect pics soon of father & son together,,,,, father about 5'8 ,,,,son 6'2
WOW WOW WOW

Thank you Max for all the wonderful, insightful [sometimes curious] information on the Blog, I have been logging in daily for quite sometime, I have so enjoyed the comments from jazzy , cato, eLwood, zonker, dealthbyinches and all the others. I feel like you are all old friends!
One of these days I will brave a comment or two..........I still can't believe Huck is garnering all this attention and support! More on that later.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas Eve, We have a wonderful Candlelight Communion Service at 11:00 tonight at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, you are all invited, I'll be in the choir!
Merry Christmas Ya'LL!

Jazzy, Do you have to be old [older than 50] to appreciate sweet 8 year olds that want 'to help' in the kitchen, the innocence of childhood....I can still remember my little brother rushing to bed and "scrunching" his eyes shut at the jimgle bells he heard outside our house on Christmas Eve..he just knew Santa had arrived, never dreaming it was a neighbor "helping him believe in Santa'.
This time of year I think of all those childhood Christmas memories, family gatherings, all the special treats, everyone's favorite food on the table, my sweet parents always managing to get "just what I wanted"...as a child I took it all for granted........I don't anymore.

Dear Friends, its Christmas Eve 2007 and I'm bawling like a baby, heck, like I always do,
missing those that I loved so much, memories pouring out with every breath, a miracle of
one lost but now found, well fed family with good old gumbo, beautiful music filling the house,,
Frenchie and I alone now with all the young gone to look for excitment in other places.
At my age I always wonder if this is my last Christmas, New Year, Easter, July 4th............
NOW,,,I just pray to vote one more time.....that is my prayer, LORD LET ME CAST ONE MORE
VOTE.
So many thoughts crashing over me tonight, Lordy, next thing Rudolph will be on roof trying'
to come down chimney.....I wouldn't be surprised.

NANC.........oh, Lord, no...........there is no age to love the little ones.
I was an 'only child' but had half brothers & twin sisters and my own. Loved them from
tippy toes to head, after a bath, rubbed them all over with lotion and powder, then
started the kissing from toes up.............lordy, wish I could do that all over..............
then, I did it with a granson, you can too...........take care of the little ones...........
My Christmas wish;;;;;;no child hurt or unloved.

It's soooo hard to change gears! Got Ma home from the rest home for a little bit, will have to take her back in an hour or two. But I'll go get her again tomorrow morning bright and early...as she wants. Poor thing...she wanted to spend the night, but in the effort of getting our lives back on track after a 3 year sidelining.....our Christmas present to each other was a new living room suit.

Ma's hospital bed is in 10 pieces up on the unheated 2nd floor. I must admit I'm afraid to let her stay the night...what if she didn't want to go back to Dreary Manor ever again. The troops have seen Paris...I can't go back to the war...I can't go back to being a home-bound nurse, 24-7. I kinda know how our troops feel when it's time to be redeployed to Iraq for the 3rd time. I can't do it! I'm weak! I seek the sun! I'll die if I have to go back.........

OK.....my pity party is back in its little oak box. Life is hard, so it's vitally important to love each other and enjoy the good times. Our kids, no matter how old, will never be this age again either. Neither will we....we must make good use of our time, our affection, any kindness we can muster....the train keeps rushing faster and faster....the tracks are a blur. Life is like a roman candle and I know I'm on ball number 5 or 6.

As uncomfortable as our current situation is in America, I do, more than ever appreciate the people on this blog who strain with all their might to figure out right from wrong and truth from BS. I'm not always right, but it's not for a lack of trying to be right, to think right, to do right. I'm not talking about team mentality. Our common enemy are the twin devils of greed and hatred, older than Jesus....exactly what did Jesus in.

Those who enter service in our government do so hoping to become powerful and rich....they'll feed from any hand that feeds them. They'll cut our throats and sink our country to line their pockets and the pockets of their masters. The other who hate gays, blacks, Mexicans, Muslims.....anyone different from themselves do so out of hate. Not out of love for their brand of god, or their country.....it's just hate...they can't stop themselves. If we were all white, the same people would find a way to categorize and hate just the same. They're old sick dinosaurs and I'll be happy when they're dried bones in a museum. Sadly, that day will probably not happen in our lifetime.

Enjoy this Christmas season, be kind and be generous. Pat, kiss and hug all you can. I hate to see 2008 coming. I predict it will be a terrible year for Americans. Everything is coming to a head. I see nothing but problems and no cures. Feels like everyone is armed for bear and heading to the middle of main street at high noon......very soon. We have gigantic mountains to climb and vast rivers to cross by next Christmas. If the world is changed a year from tonight......and if I was a praying man....I'd pray that it's changed back to the way it used to be. Not changed into a nightmare we can't escape from.

Sorry to be such a downer on Christmas, but for months its felt like December 6th, 1941...over and over. I hope I'm wrong. I'll be the happiest SOB next Christmas if I am. But my apprehension level is at orange and I can find no comforting reason to think otherwise. Good luck to us all in 2008, and by all I mean chasv, Prouster, LB, the anonymous desk, Barrett whoever and all the rest. Good luck to us all. We're gonna need it.

I think this country is going to be ok, just as it has always been. My kids still believe. More than any Christmas in my life I feel so much appreciation for what I have, and I worry more than ever about families who struggle. Thank you all for the daily give and take here. And thanks to Max for gathering us around the electronic campfire when we have no where else to vent. God bless you all and god bless this little state we all care about.

Okay, hugh...dammit...I put the thing together and yer right...all the instructions have bad translation...

But I'm a universal kinda dude, dude...

Oh...and I just got back from our annual Christmas Eve family craziness and my Republican uncle gave me a hat that says "01.20.09 Bush's Last Day"...

And it is in red, white and blue...

Merry Christmas to all & especially Max!
My husband and I ate a delicious early Christmas dinner with good friends and came home to watch "It's a Wonderful Life".
Our fervrent (sp?) hope this Christmas is for Santa to bring my husband a new liver--fairly soon, please. We're trying hard to celebrate the season even though it could be his last. Remember that life, just like those precious children and grandchildren, is a gift -- use it wisely but enthusiastically.
Forget the milk and cookies, get Santa a stiff drink!

Merry Christmas to Max and AT bloggers!! I've just returned from a gorgeous service at my tiny St. Matthew's in Benton, it ain't Trinity Cathedral but we do quite well thank you. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas.
Peace on earth, welllllllll that may have to wait a while...DBI says it all, as he usually does. Would that I could be so eloquent!
Kid is 10, has pretty much figured that Santa isn't real. But the Tooth Fairy, THAT is different, that wench brings cash so I think we'll be forking over dollars til the wisdom teeth come out :-0

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Yes indeed, RIP Oscar Peterson and a very merry solstice Christmas, whatever sooths your soul to everyone in the AR blog. Other than shared goodwill towards all, I really only have a little funny story about a Christmas in NW AR back in around about '83. Rather than place it all here.. You can read it at my name if you like. jazzy.. I think you will get a little kick out of it. (at my name)

All the best from the top of my liberal heart!

Hubby and I just got home from a gathering with my family - I think about 60 people in and out throughout the afternoon. Inlaws and outlaws invited, too. After evening church, we all returned for gift sharing. Our family includes white folks, people of color, Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Muslims, a hippie or two, very old people, babies, and everyting in between. We have a ball.
Didn't talk any politics this year........maybe we are all on the same page for once.
Jazzy, your story touched my heart. What a wonderful thing to have happened to you and your grandson.
To all the others on the blog and Max - have a wonderful holiday.
Merry Christmas.

I've never had aspic of any kind Eureka....maybe 2008 will be the year. Good story! And today as I was fighting the traffic I heard that Oscar Peterson had died and I would have bet the farm that hugh would mark the sad occasion for us. If I could have got home in time, I would have beat him to it just for fun. Thanks, hugh.

I think I've got the dressing nailed this time around! Uncooked it smells and tastes like the real thing. I worked on it on and off all day much like I imagine Dr. Christiaan Barnard worked over his first heart transplant. I even stared at it for long periods of time....mind over dressing, ya know. I swear, if not for my total love-lust for women..everything else points that I should have been gay. Maybe in 2008, if I bear down real hard or something.

And why am I awake? I should have dropped over hours ago. My God......George W. Bush has been asleep for 4 and half hours by now. For the last time.....at least until about 9 am, later today.....Merry Christmas! And yes indeed....thank you Max for all you do.

"...My parents, now both deceased, were the kind of people who would wrap dog shit and put in under the tree if they thought I wanted some. They were wonderful and I have missed them terribly for the last 12 years..."

Yes, we'd 'wrap dog shit' and put it under the tree if our only boy wanted it so. And, I agree with kelley...gosh, if Santa didn't bring our 26 year-old Christmas we'd have to step in...and he's a very expensive electronics geek.

As regards Santa's visit, and so forth, I suppose this is irreverant, but since our only (22 year old) child knows that every gift she receives comes from mommy or daddy, the "From" space on the card may be from a variety of sources. Any of our 4 pets, three dogs plus the fish, Santa of course, and one this year from "Mike Huckabee" (no, not a gun nor a cross nor a bassboat). In addition a jar of pickles (a necessary family tradition--don't ask) came from Santa Kraut, and one stocking gift came from Kris Kringle.

The dog's presents were left, of course, by Santa Paws.

We have our big dinner on Christmas Eve, either roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, or roast goose (yes we are Anglophiles). This year procrastination led us to put a pair a' ducks on our rotissarie. Yes, a paradox for sure.

Enough if this.

Merry Christmas!