J.P.

Over the past two weeks I have replaced 82 lights on the strings tied and/or fastened to our Mickey Christmas Tree. A few moments ago everything lit back up like it was suppose to and it is wonderful.

This was our Christmas Tree in 2015 when we spent the holiday at Walt Disney World. I loved that version of our holiday and I love this tree.

I’m happy a little determination resulted in a fully lit up tree again.

It’s New Year’s Eve Eve and honestly, I’m looking forward to what 2019 brings. My biggest wish is the New Year will bring some sanity back to our country because honestly, this constant chaos coming out of Washington, D.C. is exhausting. Kids are dying in detention centers along the border, Flint, Mich. still doesn’t have drinkable water, the stock market has turned into some demented yo-yo (watching one’s retirement fall apart is particularly fun), and loon’s are still running around trying to rationalize and explain the babbling of a man who’s unfit to be labeled a human being let alone in charge of something like the United States. This chaos is exhausting, but if you’re not paying attention to the chaos then it feels like you’re being immoral or something.

Something has got to give.

A while back I watched some episodes of the old television series “Maude” on YouTube. The episodes have since been removed because someone’s pocket wasn’t making enough spare change, but one episode in particular sticks out. It was a New Year’s Eve party episode and no one wants to celebrate because the country was in such a turmoil and the following year wasn’t looking any brighter. I want to say it was the 1973-1974 New Year highlighted in this episode. Nixon was a crook, gas was scarce, the economy was going down the toilet, and everyone had to drive 55. People were cranky then just like people are cranky now.

I want to be an optimist and think that 2019 is going to bring much better things to our country, but part of me fears it will be same-old, same-old. I keep thinking this can’t go on forever, but it feels like every week is another year gone by and there’s another round of idiocy and associated outrage.

Write something good in the comments to this post and let’s celebrate New Year’s together. I’ll start.

So on Christmas Day we maintained a tradition we started a couple of years ago; we played the “Happy Yule log” non-stop, all day long, on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel. The music, coupled with the images of the fire and a very content dog and cat made our holiday just a little bit more special. This year the dog and cat, whom are both named “Happy”, were joined by puppies, kittens, ducklings, and a pig.

The holidays are always better when friends are invited over.

I got to wondering about the two stars of this video so I did some Internet research. Happy the Dog was rescued from the streets of Los Angeles a few years ago. Happy the Cat came from a shelter in Ohio; he’d lived at the shelter for two years. I believe both live with the CEO of the Hallmark channels.

As I was doing some research on these two happy furry friends, I was surprised by the small number of comments folks made, basically complaining about the Yule log video that played all day long. They paid their cable bill for movies and they wanted their money’s worth!

Wow, people are selfish.

I’m happy that both Happy the Cat and Happy the Dog are around to share some festive love with their audience. I look forward to seeing them next year.

Earl and I have been married 22 years. That’s like Allen Ludden and Betty White years. When asked why she didn’t marry again, Betty White responded “when you’ve had the best why settle for anything else?”

I totally get that.

22 years ago tonight I married my best friend. That’s the way to do it, folks.