Fun and Games Dept

So my husband and I are celebrating our 23rd anniversary today. 23 years ago today we stood together on Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, witnessed by my future brother- and sister-in-law, and exchanged our vows of commitment for this happy journey we call marriage. It would be 15 years before the law would catch up with the facts; luckily we’re blessed with patience.

I remember the ceremony as if it was yesterday. I still had hair on top and a small little mustache. I was a little lighter than I am today. I drove a 1994 Hyundai Excel. It was cherry red. I had driven down to Philadelphia on Christmas Day to meet up with my future husband and my future in-laws; they have always just considered me family, right from day one. My mother and father were supportive.

As I looked across the table at the restaurant tonight I fell in love all over again. I can’t believe the guy still loves me after all these years. But I’m lucky.

I married my best friend.

Happy The Cat and Happy The Dog are a wonderful part of our Christmas holiday. Long live Happy The Cat and Happy The Dog on the Hallmark Channel.

My husband and I have started our yearly tradition of watching the Christmas episodes of “Bewitched”. There were four Christmas episodes in the eight year run of the show, not counting the “flashback” Christmas episode in season 2.

Tonight we watched “Santa Comes and Stays and Stays and Stays” from season six. This was the first year Dick Sargent played Darrin. The premise is simple; Alice Ghostley’s Esmerelda sneezes up Santa by mistake and he won’t fade away. Mrs. Kravitz screams a lot when she sees elves and Santa doing their thing, Larry Tate has a few belts, and there’s the usual latter half of “Bewitched” frivolity.

Elizabeth Montgomery will always have a very special place in my heart.

I realize humans are doing some very awful things to our planet, but 50°F and higher in Chicago the weekend before Christmas is enjoyable.

It’s a shame we’ll pay the price for this weather further down this timeline.

Only a couple of the terraces on our side of our condo building have Christmas lights or similar decorations. This building down the street from us has seemingly all participated and coordinated the whole all white lights vs multi color lights approach. The designs are different but everyone seems to be thinking along the same line.

The rows of homes along any given street seem to follow a theme, probably in an effort to “do as the neighbors do”. You’ll see a bunch of homes in a row with all white lights on one block and then on another block you’ll see a bunch of home with lights of varying colors. Years ago I heard a discussion around whether this types of lights used were indicative of a socioeconomic status, but I don’t think this holds completely true. If anything I think this would apply more to the inside decorations.

We confuse people as we have multiple trees with multiple approaches to decorations.

Growing up we had the family room, which was decked out in colonial 1970s wallpaper and color scheme. I would decorate a tree with red and white decorations and all red lights. I always enjoyed doing this. In later years the red lights gave up the ghost and the tree was decorated in all white lights.

It was still quite enjoyable.

I’ve had quite a day at work today. Here’s a rendition of “Linus and Lucy” originally by Vince Guaraldi Trio, performed on the CBC in 2014. The drummer is the percussionist on the original recording, Jerry Granelli.

This is what one would call “loving the moment”.

My husband is busy in the kitchen. I’m not allowed beyond the breakfast bar. It’s just part of our “thing”.

Not a holiday song but usually heard during the holidays, here’s “Linus and Lucy”.

Growing up both my husband and I were in charge of the Christmas Tree lights in our family. I spent hours finding the proper lights for the tree our family would put up, Earl had a very specific way of putting the lights on his family’s tree.

Our approaches to putting lights on the Christmas Tree are completely opposite from one another. I always started the bottom, he starts at the top. He puts the star or other tree top on first, I put it on last. He goes counter-clockwise, I go clockwise. Everything is opposite.

So naturally we now do it his way. We’ve done it his way for 23 years.

We’re holding up just fine. And everything turned out beautifully.