Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Twelfh Day of Christmas & Twelfth Night

 Sunday, January. 5, 2025

Haven't been to church since Advent due to travel and illness. Finally made it during the Christmas season for the Second Sunday of Christmas. Sang lots of good hymns including Once In Royal David's City, Gabriel's Message, What Child Is This, In the Bleak Midwinter, and The First Noel.  Good to be back. 

                        

Dale and I had brunch at The Howe afterward. 

We headed to the grocery store and then home. I had a cigar and Dale went to the gym. 

Listened to music. 

We’re celebrating 12th Night tonight.

We lit lots of candles.

We made a chicken pot pie and it was delicious.

Watched Big Bang Theory and ate gingerbread cookies for dessert. 

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Tenth Day of Christmas

Friday, January 3, 2025 

More Sunday scaries today but I talked myself down. Now it just feels like the verge of a regular weekend. Anyway, Mom’s decided recently that she needs an Apple Watch so we ventured to Southdale (It opened in 1956 and was the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. My family did a LOT of shopping there when I was growing up.) I asked her why she wanted the watch and she said that all the old ladies (the ones in their 90s which does NOT include her - her words) in her senior living building have them. The watch has an I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up feature which is why all the old ladies (again, her words) in their 90s in her building have one. I know there are probably cheaper options but I didn’t feel like talking her out of what she wanted. We went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch and took some time to get the watch set up while waiting for our food. She was actually quite giddy playing with it and was like a kid with a new toy. I hope Sam and Pete and I showed as much joy as kids with our new Christmas toys and that Mom and Dad witnessed it. It’s actually quite touching to see.

Another little cigar this afternoon despite the cold. Smaller cigars are the answer to freezing weather. I can last 20 minutes outside if it’s in the teens and I’m dressed for it. Besides, it wasn’t windy and the sun was out. Nice weather.

Simple dinner of a frozen pizza tonight and also broccoli salad from the Lund’s deli. Mom gave me a bag of Christmas candy today so we had that for dessert. 

We also got into the bottle of Prosecco that Mike and Charisse gave us on New Year’s Eve.

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Eighth Day of Christmas - New Year's Day

 Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Brunch with Julie and Regina this morning at a restaurant called Book Club over on 54th and Penn.  They took a road trip to North Carolina and spent Christmas there. We told them about our Christmas in. Arizona. 

First cigar of the New Year.

Lit up around 3:30 while Dale was at the gym.

Finished up at 4:00 pm. The cigar would've lasted longer but it was just too cold outside and it's supposed to get colder and remain cold for the next few weeks. 

Leftover spaghetti from last night for dinner. Left over chocolate Bundt cake and ice cream too. Laid back New Year's Day. 

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Seventh Day of Christmas - New Year's Eve

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Time to wrap this year up. Dale and I went to the downtown Lifetime this morning to do weights. This is something I’d like to be better about in the New Year. 

Went to The Howe for lunch. I had an Old Fashioned. Hoping to cut down on calories and booze in the New Year. I haven’t been bad about those things this year but I could be better. 

After lunch we stopped at Lund's to pick up makings for dinner. We’re having Mike and Charisse over tonight and Dale wants to make his awesome oven baked spaghetti. 

Mike and Charisse arrived at about 5:45. They each brought some house shoes to wear inside instead of their boots. Mike showed us some slip-on lace-less sneakers he got as an assignment from a student years ago. The assignment was to make a craft related to a piece of literature and this particular student painted a different character from the story on each shoe along with some quotations from the book. I wasn’t familiar with the story but the shoes sure looked cool. 

                                         

I showed them my craft of Peeps and sugar in a clear jar. I made it last year with the Christmas tree peep and this year I added the gingerbread man peep. This is about as craftsy as I get. 

Mike and I stepped outside to shelter in the garage while we each smoked an Oliva. It was nice to catch up as I haven’t seen him for a couple months. 

After cigars Mike and I joined Dale and Charisse inside for appetizers. Charisse brought some smoked salmon from Ingebretsen’s which we had on crackers. It was delicious. Spaghetti for dinner and chocolate bundt cake and ice cream for dessert. It was nice to just sit around and talk. We didn't make it until midnight but we made it to 10:30. Not bad for people growing older. 

[Added New Year's Day] Dale wrote the following on his blog: "We had one of Joe's high school friends and his wife over for NYE last night.  It's become kind of a tradition to spend New Year's Eve with them and we absolutely enjoy their company. They're the kind of people who make you comfortable just being yourself.  We talk about anything and everything.  Since we hosted this year, I made a Brian Lagerstrom spaghetti dish that was several steps above your standard spaghetti dish and I had to say it was bangin'.  Super deep flavor in the sauce and with a real kick.  We just sat around the table the whole evening and before we knew it it was 10:30 and well past everyone's bed time.  I haven't made it to midnight in several years, but we almost made it to 11:00 (Central time) so actually did make it to the eastern time zone's new years anyway."

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Sixth Day of Christmas - Morning Cigar

 Monday, Deccember 30, 2024

Still have one more week off. One of the nice things about not working is having a morning cigar with coffee. 

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Fifth Day of Christmas - Setting Up. Santas

  Sunday, December 29, 2024

Set out the Santa collection this morning. Also,  rewatched Christmas in Connecticut this afternoon since I fell asleep during it last night. 

It's one I didn't become familiar with until my adult years and it's become one of my most favorite Christmas movies. 

Not only is it generally a great story but the script is tight, it's perfectly cast, and the editing and pacing are fantastic.  

Originally Bette Davis was to play the lead role of Elizabeth Lane and although I'm sure she would have been fantastic it's hard for me to imagine anyone else in the part but Barbara Stanwyck. S. Z. Sakall as Uncle Felix almost steals the show. 

Tonight Dale and I watched The Family Stone on the recommendation of Noel. The movie's almost 20 years old and I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before. It was hightly watchable and well done but I don't know that it's the kind of Christmas movie you'd haul out every year to watch like Christmas In Connecticut. 

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Fourth Day of Christmas - Post Holiday Shopping

 Saturday, December 28, 2024

The Joe and Noel Post Holiday Shopping Adventure was postponed slightly this this year due to my not being here on Boxing Day. We started the day before lunch today by heading to Anthony Scornavacco Antiques before lunch. 

They weren't doing half off but I ended up getting this fantastic belsnickle Santa anyway. He's a nice shiny purple and has some kind of real animal fur for a beard. 

He goes very well with the other purple Belsnickel Santa I got at Anthony Scornavacco Antiques (formerly Nakashian O'Neil) earlier this holiday season. 

After Anthony Scornavacco we stopped for lunch at Red Rabbit on Grand Avenue and then stopped at the gift shop at the J. J. Hill House on Summit Avenue. Turns out they didn't have a lot of holiday merchandise  and they weren't even doing half off. 

I still have another week off so I stopped by Stogies on Grand to get stocked up on cigars.

Also stopped at Gypsy Moon. Now. they werer doing half off and you can see the bunches of stuff I don't need but hey it's Christmas and it's 50% off. 

It was a balmy 42 degrees when I got home from shopping and the sun was shining. Perfect day for a cigar.

Checked the temp for Phoenix just for kicks. Only a 25 degree difference.                                             

Dale got home from a bike ride shortly after I got home from shopping with Noel. Stepped outside and Lit up a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur. Loved it. 

                                                                                                                                                         

Chili for dinner.  It was delicious. We watched Christmas in Connecticut while eating and I had some eggnog spiked with a little Tanqueray gin for dessert.  

Christmas Season 2024/2025: The Third Day of Christmas - Krumkake, Barbra, and More

 Friday, December 27, 2024

Nice relaxing morning. Have a mild cold that’s making me feel a bit washed out. Told Dale that today felt like a usual Christmas morning for us. Lounging around in our robes, reading, and getting breakfast for ourselves. I had some krumkake with my morning coffee. 

Dale went to the gym this afternoon but I continued to read, blog, and lounge around. It felt quite good to do so. Not a lot of food in the house due to us being away for a while so I made some macaroni noodles with butter. 

Listened to Barbra Streisand's A Christmas Album this afternoon. Mom didn’t have this one when we were growing up but I picked it up for myself in the mid-80s on cassette tape. Can’t believe I’ve been listening to it for about 40 years now. It was the first time I’d ever heard the lead in for the song White Christmas which is often left off. You know, “The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway, there’s never been such a day, in Beverly Hills, L.A. But it’s December the 24th and I’m longing to be up North…” I think it’s included more often now on recent recordings. However up until this version I had never heard it before. Anyway, I was thinking about this intro while in Arizona for Christmas especially since John and Dianne have an orange tree in their back yard. I was surprised how well I did without the cold and the snow this year. Anyway, now we’re back home and there’s a little bit of snow on the ground. It’s raining out now so it’s a little messy looking but I guess ya can’t have it all.

I’m on something of a Barbra roll today since I also listened to her other Christmas collection, Christmas Memories. It’s got quite a few selections that are far from being over-recorded including A Christmas Love Song, Snowbound, Christmas Lullaby, and Christmas Mem’ries all of which I really enjoy listening to. And I love her version of It Must have been the Mistletoe which I find surprising hasn’t been covered more often. 

Watched Meet Me in St. Louis tonight with Dale during dinner. We usually watch this in November to tie together the time between Halloween and Christmas. This is one of my all time favorite films. Dale and I always have so much fun watching and we never seem to tire of it. Notable that the story took place only 40 years prior to the release of the film. Currently it would be 120 years ago!  It would be like making a movie now that took place in the 80s.  In fact I first watched this movie just about 40 years ago with my gay college buddies as a kind of anti-Superbowl party. We watched the movie at my friend Paul's house in the family room. His dad was sweet and kind and gave up the big tv and offered to watch the game in the bedroom. 

I was curious about the house used in the film so I used AI to find out the following information: " The 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis was filmed on a soundstage at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City, California. St.  Louis Street: A street lined with Victorian homes built for the film on Lot 3 of the MGM backlot. The. street and the Smith family's house were demolished in 1972. The house was later used in the film Cheaper by the Dozen." I've heard the land was sold and that there are condos there now.

Dale picked up some eggnog for me at the store today. I drank some as we finished the movie after dinner.