I’m
usually going into deep (and I mean really deep) Christmas spirit around this
time of year. As soon as Thanksgiving is over I immediately launch into
immersing myself in my favorite holiday of the year. This year has been a little
different. It’s been a year of excruciatingly painful loss on both sides of my
family. So many memories of the season are tied up with the departed that it’s
taken me longer than usual to get cranked up. Thankfully, that is starting to
happen. Chief amongst those reasons would be how pissed Soxfather would be if
he impacted our Christmas in a negative fashion, he loved it as much as I do.
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| The House Last Night |
We’re
not doing the extensive outdoors lighting display this year (YES!!) because we’re
leaving for Panama earlier than our usual January deployment. I also finally retired
the damnable illuminated reindeer that have been a constant source of irritation
for the past couple years (felt great stomping them into trash bag size). My Favorite
Panamanian, who’s upstairs preparing Christmas cookies as I write this
(SCORE!!!), has completed her annual transformation of the house into a holiday
wonderland. Every plant has its own set of lights which is a pain each night
turning them off but I cannot argue with the effect. She’s put me knee deep
back into the pool of Christmas spirit. Granted, I usually fully immersed by
now, but that’s coming.
 |
| Granddaughter Ready, Except for the Presents |
This
whole A-Z movie effort has become something of an obsession. It’s kind of what
I had planned when I retired but it’s taken on a life of its own. I didn’t even
check in on the Monday night football game last night and there are several TV
series that I have queued up that I’ve totally ignored (including Yellowstone!).
This is weird. On the other hand I’m truly enjoying this march through my movie
library, validating (mostly) the movies that I own. I’ve made my way through
the reorganization of the shelves in the mid-Cs that the FBR and BRS undertook.
I wonder what’s going to happen to my fragile psyche when I have to leave the movies
behind for the winter (beach is more fun anyways).
 |
| Obligatory Nativity Scene |
I
finally got to watch 3000 Year of Longing, a movie that slipped though the theaters
way too fast. This featured two of my favorite actors in Idris Elba and Tilda
Swinton. Elba plays a literal genie in a bottle released by Swinton ins a trip
to Istanbul. This movie is made by George Miller of Mad Max and Fury Road fame
so the visuals are appropriately stunning as the genie recounts his long, sad
existence imprisoned in the bottle. I loved the central role the importance of
story telling plays in the plot. The movie soars though the first two thirds as
Swinton and Elba get to know each other but suffers a bit, stumbling across the
finish line when they move to England. Well, that happens. Still, a lot of fun
watching these two chewing up the scenery in story telling mode.
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Connecticut
Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor
of the big river; Curbside Girls – close
friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of
course); FBR - First Blog Reader -
first granddaughter; First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend
since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife –
her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew –
son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends
of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the
Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather -
my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
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