Help me out here.  Christmas was only just last Friday, right?  Baby Jesus, Santa Claus, presents, ho, ho, ho and all that jazz?  New Year’s Eve wasn’t even on the radar yet.

Barely two days later, I walk into our local mega-mart to find the shelves are being stripped of anything remotely Christmasy and Valentine’s Day crap is hurriedly being stocked in its place. 

Out with the snowmen and angels, in with the big heart-shaped boxes of candy and the stuffed teddy bears that have “I Wuv You” embroidered on their furry chests.

All of the holidays are being compressed into one continuous frenzy.  Last August, Halloween and Thanksgiving reared their collective heads when we were all sweating bullets from the unusually hot summer here in central Texas.  The last thing I wanted to do was contemplate slaving over a hot oven whomping up another turkey dinner.  And the grandkids were giddy to try on Halloween costumes even though I knew that in the heat the polyester material would stick to them like napalm.

Halloween was swept out almost before Oct. 31st, but Thanksgiving and Fall decorations remained, joined by the Christmas onslaught—in spades.  Mass produced straw scarecrows vainly jockeyed for position alongside the more glitzy snowmen and angels. 

It was kind of like watching a beauty pageant, but without the breast implants.

I hate to be one of those old farts who preface their complaints about the modern age with “Back in my day…”, but….I will. 

Back in my day, the holidays were more distinct ( or at least they seemed that way to my little brain.)  There was a separation between Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Christmas decorations and all the attendant hoopla didn’t begin to show up in stores until it was officially December. 

 One holiday was allowed the opportunity to gracefully fade away before the next rose up to take its place.  Now, it’s all one big sales extravaganza. 

I know the economy sucks, but would it be too much to ask for a brief breather between holiday festivities before we’re being urged to hurry up and have fun (and buy, buy, buy) again?

My son and his family sent us a huge box of See’s candy for Christmas.  Actually, it was several boxes of candy within a ginormous red box tied with a bow.  There were a can of Toffee-ettes (gone now), five White Chocolate Mint Truffles (gone now), a pound box of nuts and chews (half gone now), and a pound box of assorted chocolates (not gone but sure to be going soon.)  Plus…a box of peanut brittle and a bag of peppermint twists (twists half gone.) 

You know you’ve lurched over the edge of sanity and plunged headlong into chocolate mania when, while sitting at the computer, you notice a speck of something small and brown on the tile floor beneath your chair. 

Okay…first thought was that it was a very small doggie poop that had fallen from my ancient Toy Fox Terrier, Spunky, while he was on Crumb Patrol under my desk earlier. 

You bravely reach down to pick it up and upon investigation determine that it isn’t poop, but instead it’s a morsel of chocolate coated nut that fell from one of the candies you’ve been cramming in your face all day while reading some interesting new blogs. 

So what do you do? 

*Sigh* 

You pop it into your mouth. 

Am I sick or what?

Well, Christmas is over for another year and I hope everyone had a good holiday—meaning, no drunken brawls precipitated by Aunt Lou’s bourbon balls. 

Time for a little irreverence in the form of a cartoon (not my own, unfortunately) that I’ve been hanging on to forever.  You can call it a little “palate cleanser” after all the yuletide treacle that was served up in heaping amounts.  Enjoy!

Happy Holidays to everyone who has stopped by to visit my blog. 

I appreciate y’all and wish you a wonderful New Year!

“And this is where the insurance company lobbyists drop off their bribes .”

The month of December is quickly winding down so I thought I would submit one more painting to the Virtual Paintout for Mexico. 

This painting is the Apatlaco, Iztacalco, D.f., area in Mexico City.  The street was an amazing feast for the eyes, with street vendors on both sides of it (and down the middle of it, too) along with shops of all kinds.  This shop was a “unisex” barbershop which was graced with a beautiful bouganvillea bush.

Click on the link above to visit the Virtual Paintout site and enjoy the wonderful interpretations of Mexico City by various artists.

Wow!  Was I surprised today to get an email from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) letting me know that my cat, Culvey, was being featured on their website.  I had submitted his photo and a brief “bio” about him to the HSUS “Pet of the Week” contest they administer.  Every week a pet that has been rescued in some way or adopted from a shelter is featured in their email newsletter.

This article for December is called Home for the Holidays.  (Click on the link to go to that page.)  There’s a photo slideshow you can scroll through to view the pets whose corresponding stories appear on the page.  Culvey is the second photo–and a very handsome fellow he is too, if I do say so myself.

Please consider adopting your next pet from a shelter and, as always, please spay or neuter your pets.  Help prevent pet overpopulation, which always leads to the tragedy of euthanasia for unwanted animals.

Culvey says “Thank you!”

 

Well, I’m sure many children have been traumatized at one time or another by a visit to Santa where a photo was snapped of them to commemorate the occasion.  The expectation was that they would gleefully clamber onto Santa’s lap and whisper in a delightful lisp what they wanted for Christmas. 

It’s supposed to be a happy time for kids, but more often than not, it doesn’t quite work out that way.  Now there’s a website, Sketchy Santas, where you can submit your own photos of the horror. 

Some Santas are downright creepy and some are just trying to make the best of a bad situation–i.e., the little darlings writhing and screaming in abject terror while the jolly old elf is just tryin’ to make a frickin’ living. 

At any rate, it’s worth a visit.  It’ll help remind you of those holiday trips home to the bosom of your family—with loud, alcoholic uncles and demented aunts who insist on cleaning your face with spit on their hankies. 

                 And to all a good-night!

(I know I’ve done this one before, but it bears repeating—unfortunately.)

Hola!  Just in time to warm you up for the holidays—the Virtual Paintout location for the month of December is South of the border in Mexico City. 

My entry is for the area called Stand de Tiro.  As before, you can view all the entries for this month and past months on Bill Guffey’s great website.  Just click on the link above.  While you’re there, click on any photo to see an enlarged view.