CHRISTMAS PLACE BLOG

I participated in a youth leadership weekend recently (see Key Leader- it’s a great, great thing!).  Teams had to name themselves, and our fav was “Fiesty Baby Chipmunk Cookies” – this brilliant group of future leaders put a whole bunch of words into a hat and pulled four out - and we love love love the results.  I think this is how I will name all future posts.  [I think this could be how a lot of things should=can=do get named!  Have you seen any of the business-speak-generation web sites?  BRILLIANT!]

So, we’re half-way through Cowboy Poetry Week, Sky Awareness Week, Fish Fry Week, and TV Turn-off Week.  On top of all that, it’s Bill Shakespeare’s birthday today!  How many more excuses do we need to put on the pointy hats and eat cake with butter cream icing?  Sugar-high line forms behind me…I’ll take a corner slice, with flowers, please…

Okay, Cowboy Poetry ~ I recommend “The Night Before the Jackalopes Saved Christmas,” a rousing tale from David Althouse.  Not only will you find a wide-ranging selection of poetry at the Cowboy Poetry site, they also include a really cool selection of cowboy art and old ~ and new ~  photographs like this one.  I could spend some time here.

Sky Awareness Week ~ subtitle, “Chicken Little Was Here”?  Turns out this is serious stuff.  Now, the biggest sky of which I am aware is found in Montana, where I have many friends.  They have confirmed that yes, indeed, they are fully aware of the sky, and have particularly noted its presence above them this week.  Here’s an important take-away from SAW ~ there really is a difference between “partly cloudy” and “partly sunny.”   Take that to your next party and stop standing in the corner by the window – get out there and wow them with your clever banter and weather knowledge – you’ll be on everyone’s guest list by Christmas.  If you really want to rocket to the top of your social ladder, of course, you’d better nail your nephelococcygia.  Crucial for garden parties, weddings, barbecues, shrimp broils and what not.  I also think this is a great time to practice flying airplanes.  I mean the ones like this.

Oh, and Fish Frys, too – check out the Ultimate Fish Fry guide here.  My diligent, exhaustive,  and comprehensive search of the entire first two Google pages on “Fish Fry Week” failed to return a home site for this celebration, however – which means one of you opportunists out there can still grab “www.fishfryweek.com”, “www.fishfryweek.org” or “www.fishfryweek.net”.  Dude – fishfryweek.wordpress.com – start the blog!

As an avowed -though selective- TV-enthusiast, I cannot bring myself to say anything more about TV Turn-off Week.  Please take my actual mention of this so-called celebration in this column as the first of 431,567,908.2*{√π} steps to conquering my addiction.  Let’s move on.

Finally, The Bard’s Birthday!  I know you’ll make time today to reread a couple of plays and poems and insert a few pithy quotes into casual conversation.  It’s so easy.  “To be or not to be” “a rose by any other name” “is rotten in the state of Denmark.”  See??

“When you do dance, I wish you
A wave o’ th’ sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that.”

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S. Watch for it Saturday ~ Hug an Australian Day!