All Dressed Up For Christmas One Last Time...

Chili dressed up in her Christmas finest last night to do Christmas with my parents and bro/sis-in-law/niece still-chilling-on-the-inside. We celebrated my Mom's birthday afterwards with dinner at Terrene and dessert at Bissinger's Chocolate Experience.

Chili opening her Christmas presents...

Santa Claus dropped off a stocking stuffed with goodies for Chili:

Chili in the snow...

Chili playing in my backyard after the snowstorm of December 15-16:

Chili's Christmas...

I failed to mention what Miss Chili-dog got from Santa Claus! She got a new stuffed toy, a shin bone filled with beef filling, a Milk Bone steak chew and a new collar. My parents and bro/sis-in-law will have something for her when we all meet up on Saturday, so Miss Chili will have a good Christmas. Here's a picture of her stocking.

Christmas 2007 Post-Mortem...

Chili and I are relaxing at home following our Christmas trip to the Bootheel. We (the parents and us) had a nice visit with representatives of various sides of our family during the 24 hours we were there. We enjoyed a relaxed lunch of Taco Soup with all the trimmings at Risco. I was the only Matlock cousin present, unfortunately. One Risco cousin couldn't get away from work and the other was under the weather. My dad and his brother regaled us with a few stories from their childhood, much to my amusement. I was surprised to learn (though I probably was told before) that my Matlock great-grandmother was a full-blooded Indian, perhaps Cherokee. Chili had to stay "garaged" during our dinner.

Onto Malden for a late-afternoon gathering at my Papaw's house. Several members of his second wife's family were there visiting. My cousin J. was also there. Of course, I had to eat again, doggone it! : ) Everyone enjoyed meeting Chili and she enjoyed meeting them back! I found a special Christmas collar with bells on it at Petco and she wore it well. It had a set of 4 matching "ankle bracelets" which also had bells on it but also which got chewed off by Chili so they didn't stay on he rlong. Chili enjoyed 2 long walks around the fields surrounding my Papaw's house before we left this morning. She's dozing on her bed near me right now and is apparently re-living the sights and smells she encountered because just emitted a series of moans and yelps.

Santa Claus brought me what I asked for, a gift card to Home Depot I will get my closet organized tomorrow, it looks like. He brought a new Panasonic cordless phone system for my parents from me. They also got a DVD apiece as a bonus stocking stuffer - this for Dad and this for Mom.

Chili shopped for me when I wasn't looking. This book showed up on my desk last week wrapped nicely and tagged "From Chili to Daddy John" I believe I know which co-worker to thank for this. : )

Happy Christmas...Let's Make It A Good One...

Happy day-before-Christmas. I hope my readers have all their shopping done and can relax today. I thought I was done last week but of course Santa Procrastinator waited until the last moment to take care of the dog and the grandparents.

Her Chili-ness will be getting braunschweiger and hot dog along with her usual dry kibble tomorrow. I also got her a new collar (the one she has itches her terribly, for some reason), a beef-filled shin bone and new stuffed animal. I have bought a stocking for her! : )

The grandparents are getting a gift card to Cracker Barrel. I also like to think of Chili as a gift that I share with them. I know my Papaw likes having a dog around again; Chili bears a strong resemblance to his beloved Blackie (aside from the brown-ness) and it makes me feel good to have Chili around him when I'm visiting.

My parents and I and Chili made a quick trip down to Malden on Friday and Saturday. The four of us squeezed into my Dad's truck (yay crew cab!) and headed south. I don't know why they thought it would be a good idea to try and travel with Chili but I gamely played along. Fortunately, she traveled wonderfully once we got going on the interstate. For some strange reason she gets EXTREMELY worried and yippy when traveling city streets with lots of stopping and starting. Again, Chili has been a gift that I've shared with my parents this year. They both love her to death, my dad especially. He is a "dog person" and he really enjoys playing with her and having her around.

Chili behaved herself nicely at my grandparents' house. She's been there enough by now to be familiar with the surroundings. She made a new friend in my grandpa's twin brother when he came to visit on Saturday morning. My Papaw's wife's granddaughter and her husband and toddler also visited before we left. Chili did well with the toddler; she was free with her kisses! : )

Christmas will be down south this year. We were slated to have it at my parents' house as usual but a change in plans is sending us to have a casual lunch in Risco with my aunt and uncle there. The bro and sis-in-law are with her family in Columbia. The grandparents are hosting a drop-in Christmas open-house kind of thing so we'll end up there eventually. Don't know how long we'll stay at this point.

I'm not sure what I'll be getting for Christmas. I suggested a Home Depot gift card, like I got 2 years ago. My bedroom closet needs some major organization and I could take care of that with a nice fat gift card! I just hope my mom didn't leave my dad alone again in the Cracker Barrel gift shop, as she did last year! : )

My Hallmark Christmas e-card...

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

The Christmas Card Picture...

Snowy Night....

First of all, since you're just DYING to know...yeah, we had a pretty large snowstorm here in St. Louis. For once, we were in the bullseye for the highest snowfall amounts. Usually we're above or below it. I got around 4.5 inches at my house. One of my pals up north in St. Charles said he got 7 inches at his. I actually took out my snow shovel and USED IT for the first time in several years this afternoon. Chili the dog didn't make a big deal of it again today. I bundled myself up in my ski pants and jacket to walk her this morning. Afterwards, we engaged in a game of keep-away with my gloves. She isn't naturally playful, but if you engage her and start something, she's happy to play along.

My parents' church is putting on its Christmas shows this weekend. My bro, sis-in-law, baby-to-be, and I were all supposed to travel down to Festus last night to see my dad sing in it. I didn't figure on going since the snowfall was predicted to re-develop during the late afternoon and evening after being in a lull all day. When I heard that the others were still planning on going, I bummed a ride with them. I figured it made sense since we were all going to the same place. Besides, my Mom promised a dinner of hot chili and hot dogs. I hadn't had lunch so I was really looking forward to that part of the evening.

(ASIDE: As I blogged earlier, I am on-call this week . On Saturdays there is a 2-hour gap between the day and evening shift which the on-call tech must cover. The pager went off 5 TIMES in that 2-hour time span yesterday. Once as I was getting dressed for the evening and four more times before we made it to Festus. I met my ride in the parking lot of a shopping center near my house and exploded out of my car with a laptop and carrying case as the snow fell lightly. It was like something out a Russian spy movie. I was actually putting out fires, so to speak, in the back seat of the car as we drove down I-55. Each time the pager goes off, I have to call in and listen to the associated voice mail. then call the person back to help them.)

My parents' church repeated the Living Christmas tree theme this year with different music. It was impressive, a little too showy and gaudy at times but overall not a waste of an evening. We came out of the church and found that the snow was falling quite heavily and had accumulated quite a bit since we went in. Did we go straight home from there? Of course not!

Back to my parents' house for an hour of just "us" time. The five of us sat around the kitchen table and just talked for a while about anything and everything. Preparations for new baby, a bizarre Thanksgiving weekend stop in Ellsinore, MO for firewood (don't ask!), various and sundry memories, etc... The house is all decorated for Christmas and that added to the "warmfuzzy" experience.

Alas, we have to get back to our homes and out into the snowy night we trekked. We encountered an armada of snowplows on I-55 heading north and had to proceed behind them at 20mph all the way up into St. Louis county. Needless to say, we were late in getting home.

Experiences like this remind me of my deep emotional connection to my family and the holidays. I am so blessed!

Bye, Bye, Jimmy Ballgame...

The big headline in today's paper is that the Cardinals have completed a trade of center fielder Jim Edmonds to the San Diego Padres. In return we'll get a minor-league third base prospect who is a St. Louis native. This is the unfortunate new reality for the Cardinals. They have a lot of older, expensive players and need to get younger. Jim Edmonds was a popular player both in the clubhouse and with the fans. However, he is 37 years old and can no longer make his trademark highlight-reel catches without all the king's men standing by to put him together again.

The Cardinals are going to have a different look next season. Infield regulars David Eckstein left for Toronto, Aaron Miles, So Taguchi, and Gary Bennett have all been let go. It makes me wonder why Tony LaRussa agreed to come back for another year.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!...

Chili and I woke up to a nice snowfall this morning. She took it in stride, pretty much. It's just a few inches, so far, so not much to play in. I bundled up and took her on a walk around the neighborhood. She didn't seem to mind the cold and snow; I didn't see her shivering or shaking. She did appreciate the rubdown I gave her after we got in

Name Game...

The Chicago Cubs recently took another futile stab at greatness with their signing of Japanese import Kosuke Fukodome. I regret that Harry Caray isn't still with us to try and pronounce that name.

Things That Break In the Middle Of The Night...

I started my latest 7-day turn in the on-call emergency pager rotation at work yesterday. After-hours, our employees can call a special emergency number that pages the tech who's on-call at the time. Last night I got my earliest call since we started the rotation a year ago.

One of our newspaper delivery depots lost their network signal around 2:00 in the morning. That is bad because the overnight hours are prime time for newspaper delivery men. They need to be able to log on and print out their delivery lists for the morning. After an hour of trying to troubleshoot with the depot manager, I woke up my network administrator and he told me to have that depot shut down and move to another depot nearby. It looks like they lost their DSL signal and it didn't come back on until 4:30 a.m.

I think I was almost back to sleep by then. Almost.

Chili the Dog's Photo Session...

The photo session with Chili and me went just as I expected it would. : ) My dad was away at a church choir rehearsal when I arrived at my parents' house so my mom had to make the initial attempts at getting some good shots of me and the dog. Chili was not interested in being cooperative like a good dog would. She is a very smart dog in that she knew exactly what we were trying to do and thwarted almost every attempt to cajole her into smiling or to at least stand still! I think she must have been spooked by a flash camera when she was a puppy. While her lack of cooperation made for some riotous outtakes, it also stressed us out. We decided to take a break while waiting for my dad to come home. After a pizza dinner, he gamely tried a few shots with his camera and it's good that he did because I ended up using one of them for the Christmas cards. They're waiting for me now at a nearby Walgreens so I should get them mailed on Tuesday. I'll post the outtakes next week sometime.

The weather outside has been slightly frightful - cold and rainy with. This has been the rainiest weekend the St. Louis area has had in several months. Freezing rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. This would be the night I didn't bring ice skates for my car. GRRR..

OK, Borders is officially desparate...

to sell CDs. Their latest Borders Rewards member coupon advertises all, that's right, ALL single-disc CDs are on sale for $10.99 for the next 3 days. Considering that a good portion of their CDs sell for $18.99(!) this is a good deal.

Christmas Cards...

Chili and I are having a picture taken together today for this year's Christmas cards. If you'd like one, please e-mail me your mailing address and I'll be happy to send one out. Of course your address will never be sold or otherwise used for bad things. : )

Family members - you're family so you're already getting one!

Happy (Belated) Birthday To My Blog...

My little blog had its second birthday back on December 2 but I didn't realize it until just now. Thanks to all who read and comment!!!

Christmas Tunes Are Here...

I have made my Christmas music purchase for the year. This year it was Over The Rhine's "Snow Angels" CD and a newly-remastered version of the "Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack. Both are worthy additions to my Yule tunes collection.

"Snow Angels" is a typical OTR record, but with Christmas-themed songs. If you're a fan of the band then you'll enjoy this CD.

The new version of "CBC" is a vast sonic improvement over the original analog version and adds alternate takes of several songs as bonus tracks. Purists will prefer the old version but if you think of it as a jazz record then the new version is for you.

The Bubble Bursts...

The BCS balloon popped tonight. It turns out ol' Mizzou isn't quite ready to ascend to BCS Championship heights just yet. They got blown out by their nemesis Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game tonight. The Tigers can console themselves with the knowledge that the Cotton Bowl is the worst they can do for a bowl game destination. That's not too shabby, considering they haven't played on New Year's day in forever.

They've come a long way, baby. Congratulations!

(Aside: MU's loss combined with #2-ranked West Virginia's loss will likely cause the explosion and spontaneous meltdown of the BCS computers. This has been the nuttiest college football season I can remember. No one team stayed atop the polls all season as in years past.)

To Get December Started Off...

It's time for another edition of "Potentially Shamed By The Shuffle!" which first appeared back on May 23 in this space. I've added a ton of my old CDs to my iPod so the shame potential is greater this time around. If you're new to the game, you must have an iPod and then blog on the first 10 songs that come up on your shuffle.


First Song: "Have A Talk With God" - Jon Gibson

Blue-eyed soulster Jon Gibson covered this Stevie Wonder classic on one of his early albums. Jon does a decent job of covering it, and upped the cool-ness factor by having Stevie Wonder himself add some harmonica to the track.

Second Song: "Sweet Dreams" - Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler

These two old pro guitarists collaborated in a labor of love on their 1992 CD "Neck and Neck." Their rendition of this Don Gibson gem floats by on an instrumental cloud of sweetness. A classic.

Third Song: "Flavor Of The Month" - My Friend Stephanie

This was included on a compilation CD of live performances at the old Strand nightclub in Atlanta. The venue hosted numerous Christian rock groups in its heyday. MFS is heard in a decent early performance here.

Fourth Song: "Soul Sauce (Guachi Guara)" - Poncho Sanchez

I have this on Concord's Poncho Sanchez compilation "Ultimate Latin Dance Party." Poncho and his group turn in a wonderful performance of this Cal Tjader hit.

Fifth Song: "Bye Bye Country Boy" - Karrin Allyson

From her "In Blue" CD comes this cover of a Blossom Dearie song. The song tells the tale of a big-city singer wooed by a country hick admirer. This track features great bass and Rhodes solos.

Sixth Song: "Jacob's Ladder" - Bruce Springsteen

Springsteen covers this old folk song on his CD tribute to Pete Seeger. He is in full-on drawl mode on this track and delivers it in classic hootenanny style with his assembled musician friends.

Seventh Song: "Music Box Dancer" - Frank Mills

I broke down and bought this from the iTunes store last month. I've loved it since first hearing it at my cousin's dance recitals as a child. A true one-hit wonder.

Eighth Song: "Mystery Of Mercy" - Caedmon's Call

Nice track from Caedmon's Call here. It's off their "Back Home" CD from a few years back. The song uses biblical characters and parables to convey the theme of Christ's love for us. It's truly a mystery of mercy!

Ninth Song: "When It Comes To You" - Dire Straits

Mark Knopfler had just finished his duet CD with Chet Atkins when he assembled the Straitsmen for what would be their final outing. The Nashville country influence was heard throughout the resulting CD and this track shows it plainly. This track would not have been out of place on country radio in the early '90s. Country star John Anderson covered it during his brief career revival and made it a minor hit.

Tenth Song: "Ain't Even Done With The Night" - John Mellencamp

Oh yeah, this was John Mellencamp during his early "John Cougar" phase. This was one of his early radio hits. A nice timepiece from 1980.