Christmas Ho Ho Ho

Well another Christmas is over and done with.  When you work in retail you look at Christmas a little differently.  My Mom, sister and niece were all down and over my brothers for the day, which was good.  What wasn't so good was that I've been sick the last few days and only managed to spend about half the day with everyone before I had to head for home.  Still it was nice to see everyone together again, it isn't that often that we all manage to make it in the same house at the same time.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Thanksgiving

I work in retail so this holiday has always had, shall we say, bittersweet memories for me.  When my Mom and Dad still lived here I would make sure I always went to their house for Dinner.  To them it was a big day.  To me it was the day before all Hell broke loose.  Today now that my Mom is six hours away it means less to me as a Holiday.  Sometimes I'll get together with my brother, but mostly the last few years I spend it at home by myself. And I don't mind.  It's one of the few days that I have off that I know I'm not going to spend the day running around doing errands.  I can actually spend it at home, trying to get some things done or maybe just spend the day reading and relaxing.  Because tomorrow is the start of the Christmas Season.

Or at least that was the way it used to be.  Christmas gets a start almost at Labor Day nowdays.  I've been hearing Christmas music in stores for weeks.  Christmas merchandise has been on the shelves since before Halloween.  Once retail used Thanksgiving as the kick off for Christmas.  Now they're so afraid of losing a leg up on the season.

And what's worse.  I can't even start to list the stores that are opening today.   I remember when I first got into retail (I know, I know, I'm the old man of retail) stores didn't even open at four or five on Black Friday.  I don't even remember calling it Black Friday.  But now everyone wants to be open earlier than the other guy.  So early now that they're not even closing on Thanksgiving.  Luckily the store I work for is closed.  At least this year.   But I have my doubts as to next year.  As everyone else opens they're going to figure they have choice but to open.

When I worked for Service Merchandise we started opening on Thanksgiving towards the end.  I remember one Thanksgiving and a customer was in shopping and she remarked to me that it was "such a shame that you have to be open on Thanksgiving."  Now I bit my tongue or I would have told her that we wouldn't be open if people like her wouldn't be out shopping on Thanksgiving.

I said at the start of this post that this holiday isn't all that special to me like it once was.  But I still don't want to work on it.  We have so few days that we are actually closed that I hate to lose the couple we have.  It's a good day of rest before the start of the Christmas season.

But I fear this may be my last one off.

Veterans Day

Happy 4th

Happy Mardi Gras!

I had to work.

Merry Christmas

My best wishes to everyone on this day and hopefully everyone will have a great day.

I'm kinda bittersweet about today. My mom and brother and sister are up in Tennessee and I'm stuck down here. There was no way I could get off to drive up there and get back for work tomorrow at six a.m. This is the first Christmas I have never been able to be with my Mom (and Dad while he was still alive), so I'm a little sad to be honest.

I've spent the day reading and cooked a ham and did some laundry and cleaning that I've neglected because of the extra hours I've been working. I've actually got to make a schedule for work and than a little more reading and probably to bed.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

White Christmas

I caught the last half of this on AMC tonight. I like Holiday Inn better but I still enjoy this one.

Black Friday Deals A Day Early

Ok, I work in retail so Black Friday means something quite different for me than it does for most of you. If I was not working retail I would lock myself in my house and not even think about leaving for the Friday after Thanksgiving. But I do understand that there are a lot of good deals out there. Well Amazon (and this isn't a plug, I'm not getting any type of kickback from this) is running special deals throughout the day, for a certain amount of time, pre-Black Friday. I've got it open and am just picking things as they come on. I have the movie based on Neil Gamian's book Coroline for $4.99, so it's got some pretty good deals. We'll see what else I buy before the day is over.

Ho Ho Ho, More Christmas Music

I haven't been keeping up to date with this as I meant, but here's a local Christmas song from Benny Grunch and the Bunch. It's a local favorite, "The 12 Yats of Christmas."

Veterans Day

I really only have one thing to say: THANK YOU!

Just because I might not always support the war does not mean I do not support the soldiers. The men and women that are willing to pick up arm are what keeps us free. Never forget that freedom is sometimes hard won.

Thank you to every man and woman who serves and has served.

Christmas Music

I think I've missed a week at least since I said I was going to try and post a Christmas song once a week here. Well, here's a new one. It's called "Santa Claus" and it's by the blues singer Sonny Boy Williamson. It's definitely not your typical holiday type song.

Ho, Ho, Christmas Is Coming

Working in retail I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas. After seeing parents fight over a toy it's hard to get in the jolly peace and goodwill to all vibe about the holiday. When you have to work more hours than you thought possible it's hard to get too overjoyed when the day finally gets here except as a day off and much needed sleep.

But I still have to admit that there is something about the holiday that I love. Some of my favorite movies; Holiday Inn, It's A Wonderful Life deal with Christmas. And I love some Christmas music. Now I don't love it when I'm working or go shopping and I hear Christmas music and it's not even Halloween yet. Used to be Christmas didn't start going up in the stores until after Thanksgiving. Somehow it's snuck up past Halloween and I've seen some stores start decorating after Labor Day.

Still we only have something like nine weeks till Santa slides down that chimney. So even after what I just said about Christmas music I'm going to start a weekly posing of some of my favorite Christmas songs now.

And the first one is a surprise to me. Bob Dylan just released a Christmas album. I can hear the surprise in all your voices, cause it was in mine. Bob Dylan and a Christmas album! I figured this for a train wreck for sure. Dylan's singing style has always been, shall we say unique, but ten years or so ago he seems to have blown his voice out. It works great for the blues and old country style songs he has been favoring on recent albums. I don't think it works that well when he tries for the Tin Pan Alley material he goes after on his newer albums. I was just having trouble wrapping my mind around this concept.

Well, I am glad to report that it actually works out quite well. I enjoyed the album. His voice puts a different spin on the songs, but they come off quite nicely. I'm posting "Must Be Santa" because it's such a fun song. It's different than most of the other songs on the album, in that Dylan isn't the focus of the singing. On this song it's the chorus. But still it's a really fun Christmas song. Before the nine weeks are up I'll probably post another Dylan Christmas song and you'll hear him better singing yuletide cheer.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bob Dylan's likely to pull anything out of his new Christmas bag (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Paul Snyder: Christmas in Bob Dylan's Heart (huffingtonpost.com)
• Bob, Ty Cobb, and the Macabre (pastemagazine.com)

Independence Day

Late Memorial Day

I missed posting Memorial Day. I was up at my Moms and she doesn't have Internet access, but I still find I need to post something. My Dad was in the Navy for twenty five years. He spent part of his time overseas when he was younger in Europe. Every year he would spend at least two weeks in the summer of sea duty, where he had to go aboard an aircraft Carrier. He was an Aviation Ordiance and the a Chief.

Where my Mom lives now she is pretty much out in the country. The town she lives in has less than a thousand people in it. The town next to her is Middelton. They have they Veteran's Wall, where everyone from the area that served in the military is up on their wall. Each veteran has a brick. The one above is for my Dad.

Happy New Year

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin

New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. ~Mark Twain

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols. ~Thomas Mann

The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears. ~W.H. Auden

Christmas Music: Leon Redbone and Dr. John

Two legends doing "Frosty the Snowman."

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Music: Brian Setzer

Brian Setzer from the Stray Cats singing Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run."

Christmas Music: Aaron Neville

New Orleans' Aaron Neville singing "Silent Night."

Christmas Music: Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong singing "Christmas in New Orleans."