I’ve already ranted enough times and in enough places  about my aversion to all things Christmasy and “Seasonal” that I won’t do it here today (I cannot promise, however, that as we near the Holiday itself I won’t explode into little Grinch Bits.  Just a fair warning).  I do have another secret to share, though. 

I don’t like the Nutcracker.

You heard me.  I don’t like the Nutcracker.  The first time I saw the Nutcracker was when I was 9 with my Grandmother (some of you may remember this story).  I had been in the Nutcracker for a few years, but I was never obsessed with the story or the need to dance the part of Clara.  Not necessary.  My experience seeing the professional production was memorable and awe inspiring, but I can honestly say that I’ve never seen one that captured the same magic for me again.  Every so many years I’ll find myself flipping through the channels around this time of year and realize there’s nothing on, and end up leaving my screen on whatever version of the Nutcracker is playing on PBS while I do work around the house or cook. 

The strange part is that I’m considering making the Nutcracker a part of my yearly routine.  The year my grandmother died (5 years ago yesterday), I had purchased for her a beautiful Nutcracker music box:

You can’t really see the beautiful detail of the silver figures that dance on the mirror inside, but there are better images here  if you’re interested.  What I’ve been thinking about is collecting items like this in honor of my gram every year.  I’ve narrowed it down to two kinds of gifts, and if they’re combined, all the better:  Fabergé style eggs and Nutcracker music boxes.  If they both have a Nutcracker theme then it’s doubly good.  I realized this weekend that it’s been 5 years since she died, and I suppose that hit me kind of hard when I didn’t really expect it to.  So I’m thinking of buying just one more gift every year for Gram, but keeping it to remember her by.  We’ll see. Maybe I’ll start with ornaments and work my way up.

He got what he wanted.  Why so disappointed?

... Sometimes you get what you want...

Tags: Charac, creativity, Homework

Look for a RetConned Homework assignment for this week later today or tomorrow.  I miss the Homework and I know you do to. 

Now, to the Friday 5!

1.  When did you last have a mid-day nap?  I do believe it was on Sunday.  The Thanksgiving holiday weekend was busy with family and friends (Don’t worry, there were naps involved, too), but by Sunday I was spent.

2.  When did you last have milk and cookies?   We discovered over the holiday, that I may or may not be lactose intolerant (well, cheese intolerance, really), so not recently.  I had a ton of cookies and delicious cookie dough while baking, but no milk, sadly.

3.  When did you last have a bubble bath?  That would be…. last Tuesday. 

4.  When did you last jump on the furniture?  I am assuming you mean jump on furniture like an overly rambunctious kid.  That would have to be…. when I was a kid…

5.  When did you last play in the mud?  Well, it was kinda muddy out on Saturday when we went to play in the Inaugural Yinz Team Flackle Football Turkey Bowl (The debate rages on whether it should be considered the 1st annual, or the inaugural.  As long as we do it again, I don’t much care!).  I managed to stay mud-less, but plenty of others were caught rolling around.  As always, hanging out with YinzTeam was a wonderful time (And thanks to UncleCrappy and Mrs. Crappy for the delish food and hospitality!!).

Oh, there will be more Yinz Team madness to come, I’m quite sure.  Someone really ought to create a website to document our insane exploits… Then again, maybe the fact that we all write about it anyway is unique…

A website could still be cool…. Just sayin’, yo…

Tags: Friday 5, Holidays, Sports, YinzTeam