aussiew

Slept over at my daughter's house so I could be up early with the almost 2 year old grandson for the Santa gifts. So by 9:00am I didn't know what to do with myself. Not cooking this year for the first time. Christmas Day can be a little boring when you're too old for toys.

So, who were those people who showed up in Cincinnatti wearing Bills uniforms?? Some rogue football team??

Hell no. I heard it this morning on the local Bill Bennett show and copied from their radio web site.

I'd like to wish all my wall friends a safe and happy time with their friends and families. I'd also urge each of you to take a minute to remember and show appreciation for all our heros in uniform. This is long but worth reading. A Different Christmas Poem The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. "What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said ... "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December," Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam', And now it is my turn and so, here I am. I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag. "I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother. Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall." "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son." Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you .......as you mattered to us.

Be safe Nick.

Such a Scrooge. Drink more wine. And go find me a good Christmas desert recipe please sweetie.

Ridden hard, put away wet?

LOVE that song.

Good King Wenceslas (sp?)

Happy Birthday Dev!!

I'm a Red Cross volunteer and they are unmatched in their reaction speed in a disaster. But the Salvation Army Katrina Fund is also very worthy. Be careful - there are a LOT of Katrina Scams out there.

I like to be active in sport. But not team sport.

Exactly. I hear ya! But I start climbing the walls in April.

I'd go back. If I could find a similar job. And a single man over 45.

I'm a totally confused WASP. Hardly understood a word of it. But it sounded good.

OMG. I love it!

If nothing else, we still have a sense of humor. Thanks Cindy.

Hell yes! Watching that "deer in the headlights" look that we know so well. LOL

Wow - I can think of better places to sleep. How about that soft fluffy rug in front of the commode? Happy belated birthday.

No garbage plate either Rich?

Disagreements and debates are stimulating and IMHO, always welcome. However, I'm offended by being called stupid.

Perhaps not enough?

Why didn't you just wear something orange?

How many levels? Seriously though. I respectfully disagree with you. Why would you judge someone's desire to protest as "stupid". Just because you dont agree with it, doesn't make it "stupid". Aren't our boys dying in a war fighting for "democracy and freedom"? Are we not free to protest something in a way that is not harmful, cruel or unsafe? Seems to me that wearing something orange to make a quiet, non hostile statement is more classy than people at the game chanting and booing or yelling "!@#$ Donahoe/Mularky" in front of children. I think the idea had merit. It just lacked pre-planning and should have been communicated a lot sooner and included the press.

You've got to be kidding. Show me a man who reads directions.