Friday Five: Don't Call It a Comeback

Parishioners pushing for carols before you digested your turkey?

Organist refusing to play Advent hymns because he/she already has them planned for Lessons & Carols?

Find yourself reading Luke and thinking of a variety of ways to tell Linus where to stick it? (Lights please.)

Then this quick and easy Friday Five is for you! And for those of you with a more positive attitude, have no fear. I am sure more sacred and reverent Friday Fives will follow.

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1) dessert/cookie/family food
Disappointing cookies. They're colorful, all shapes and sizes, piled high on a plate, covered in sprinkles and sparkles and silver balls, and they taste the same -- dreadful.

2) beverage (seasonal beer, eggnog w/ way too much egg and not enough nog, etc...)
Mulled anything.

3) tradition (church, family, other)
I am really, really, really tired of the so-called "War on Christmas." I'm saying it for the last time, the ACLU wants you to celebrate (or not) any holiday you want without interference, but the government should not be in the business of setting up Christmas displays. Let's leave that to the retailers, OK? Please, just don't get me started.

4) decoration
Fake Snow. Yuck.

5) gift (received or given)
Secret Santa/White Elephant gift exchanges (but see the post here for the solution to your Secret Santa woes.)

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.
I vote for "Christmas Shoes" and Garden Girl puts in her vote for "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"

Secret Santa Solution

I don't enjoy Secret Santa gift exchanges, so no more gag gifts, soap, candles or boxes of candy for me. This year, we're doing something different and I am so-o-o-o excited. It starts like a Secret Santa exchange: draw names, keep it secret, gather to celebrate and exchange gifts. Here's the twist -- the Secret Santa gift is a toy that reflects the life and interests of the recipient. So my friend the artist might get a coloring book and crayons and my friend who travels for work might get a toy airplane. Be as silly and creative as you dare. Once the presents are open and the party's over, the presents go to a local organization that collects toys for children. (Most of them don't want the toys to be wrapped anyway.)

Everyone wins. The gifts are personal, inexpensive and fun, and best of all, they end up in the hands of a child who will love them. Way better than soap, candles or golf balls. I hope you'll spread this new tradition to your friends. Merry Christmas!

For Real? Yes, it's For Real

Yep, you could've bought this Christmas ornament for your tree, but unfortunately it's already SOLD OUT. No kidding . . . .

Ten Random Things About Me

Songbird tagged me. Hmmm, maybe she's trying to tell me something. I haven't posted anything in a long time.

Ten Random Things About Me --

1. I went to a school where they gave demerits for just about everything. To this day I take no pleasure in chewing gum or walking on the grass. Most of my demerits were for being "out of pocket." That's demerit-ese for being somewhere you aren't supposed to be. It's a good thing they don't give demerits to grown-ups.

2. I have three last names. My first name is my mother's maiden name; my middle name is my great - grandmother's; and my last name is mine. Very Southern.

3. I eat peanut butter every day.

4. I grew up in a house just few yards from the waterfront of a busy harbor, but I don't like to swim and I don't know how to sail. I'm taking sailing lessons this spring! I can't wait.

5. I had three babies in four years and my sisters nicknamed me "the planned parenthood poster mother."

6. I like C-Span, or as my children say, "Nerd TV."

7. I was the first girl acolyte in my church, maybe in my diocese. I remember being incensed (wow, that was a Freudian slip) when only the boys in my confirmation class were asked to be acolytes, and insisted I be allowed to attend the training.

8. I have three tiny tattoos, one on each hip and one on the small of my back. I got them when I had radiation after a cancer diagnosis a couple of years ago. When my son got a little tattoo on after his 18th birthday, I told him that I had one first. I have considered adding a few more dots so that I can spell something in Morse code, but I haven't decided what the message should be. (Not S.O.S.)

9. I regularly cook dinner for between 12 and 20 people.

10. I sing in the car, but only when I'm alone, because I have a terrible voice. I know the lyrics of just about every song Diana Ross ever recorded, even though she was way before my time.