'Twas the nocturnal segment of the diurnal period preceding the annual yuletide celebration, and throughout our place of residence, kinetic activity was not in evidence among the possessors of this potential, including that species of domestic rodent known as Mus musculus. Hosiery was meticulously suspended from the forward edge of the wood-burning caloric apparatus, pursuant to our anticipatory pleasure regarding an imminent visitation from an eccentric philanthropist among whose folkloric appellations is the honorific title of St. Nicholas.



The prepubescent siblings, comfortably ensconced in their respective accommodations of repose, were experiencing subconscious visual hallucinations of variegated fruit confections moving rhythmically through their cerebra. My conjugal partner and I, attired in our nocturnal cranial coverings, were about to take slumberous advantage of the hibernal darkness when upon the avenaceous exterior portion of the grounds there ascended such a cacophony of dissonance that I felt compelled to arise with alacrity from my place of repose for the purpose of ascertaining the precise source thereof.



Hastening to the casement, I forthwith opened the barriers sealing the fenestration, noting thereupon that the lunar brilliance without, reflected as it was on the surface of a recent crystalline aqueous precipitation, might be said to rival that of the solar meridian itself - thus permitting my incredulous optical sensor to peruse a miniature airborne runnered conveyance drawn by an octet of diminutive specimens of the genus Rangifer, piloted by a miniscule, aged chauffeur so ebullient and nimble that it became instantly apparent to me that he was indeed our anticipated caller. With his undulate motive power traveling at what may possibly have been more vertiginous velocity than patriotic alar predators, he vociferated loudly, expelled breath musically through contracted labia, and addressed each of the octet by his or her respective cognomen ... "Now Dasher, now Dancer..." et al. - guiding them to the uppermost exterior level of our abode, through which structure I could readily distinguish the concatenations of each of the 32 cloven pedal extremities.



As I retracted my cranium from its erstwhile location, and was performing a 180-degree pivot, our distinguished visitant achieved - with utmost celerity and via a downward leap - entry by way of the smoke passage. He was clad entirely in animal pelts soiled by the ebon residue from the oxidations of carboniferous fuels which had accumulated on the walls thereof. His resemblance to a street vendor I attributed largely to the plethora of assorted playthings which he bore dorsally in a commodious cloth receptacle.



His orbs were scintillant with reflected luminosity, while his submaxillary dermal indentations gave every evidence of engaging amiability. The capillaries of his molar regions and nasal aptenance were engorged with blood which suffused the subcutaneous layers, the former approximating the coloration of Albion's floral emblem, the latter that of the Prunus avium, or sweet cherry. His amusing sub- and supralabials resembled nothing so much as a common loop knot, and their ambient hirstute facial adornment appeared like small, tabular and columnar crystals of frozen water.



Clenched firmly between his incisors was a smokingpiece whose gray fumes, forming a tenuous ellipse about his occiput, were suggestive of a decorative seasonal circlet of holly. His visage was wider than it was high, and when he waxed audibly mirthful, his corpulent abdominal region undulated in the manner of impectinated fruit syrup in a hemispherical container.



Without utterance and with dispatch, he commenced filling the aforementioned hosiery with articles of merchandise extracted from his aforementioned previously dorsally transported cloth receptacle. Upon completion of this task, he executed an abrupt about-face, placed a single manual digit in lateral juxtaposition to his olfactory organ, inclined his cranium forward in a gesture of leave-taking, and forthwith affected his egress by renegotiating (in reverse) the smoke passage. He then propelled himself in a short vector onto his conveyance, directed a musical expulsion of air through his contracted oral sphincter to the antlered quadrupeds of burden, and proceeded to soar aloft in a movement hitherto observable chiefly among the seed-bearing portions of a common weed. But I overheard his parting exclamation, audible immediately prior to his vehiculation beyond the limits of visibility: "Ecstatic yuletides to the planetary constituence, and to that self-same assemblage my sincerest wishes for a salubriously beneficial and gratifyingly pleasurable period between sunset and dawn."

Morning Merry Christmas!

The videos were great bobber...

I don't know if they did I saw it on TV yesterday morning and I was shocked by it.



Between the 2 stories, one would think a REALLY good infrastructure bill would be part of any economic stimulus package. Our country is literally crumbling all around us.

Cat falls 34 stories and LIVES...

Killjoys...

So Mala Are you working a full or half day today?

They didn't note the source, but I suspect that it's from the "Center for Science in the Public Interest", an organization that I hate with the white-hot fury of a thousand suns all going supernova at once.



Fascists.

Exactly *sips salted caramel hot chocolate*

The christmas Eve dinner preparation has begun...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!





{I may be around much later tonight, after Javi is nestled all snug in his bed, while visions of Nintendo DS's dance in his head, but I wouldn't bet on it.}



Everyone Be Merry!



:sprint:

For the Chicagoans and ex-Chicagoans out there...



Merry Christmas from Hardrock, Coco and Joe

And a second video... the Original Frosty the Snowman:

I've actually seen the special on WGN where they play this. They just ran it again this past Thanksgiving

Another video treasure. The first Christmas themed film, made in 1898. No, it did not star Grampy McSame...

:rofl: Happy fun time, smelling like beef!

Hello all



Wife making cookies. Just trying to stay out of the way. Have Christmas Eve party in a few hours and will be driving my parents over there.

Melissa Etheridge is on with Thom!

Awww...Thom and Melissa.



Have I mentioned that I love Thom?

That was a great segment.... *sigh*

Happy Birthday Earthrise!



Spectacular.

:huh: how did we go from Dick Cheney and War crimes to Plaxico Burris? That was quite a leap there.

Speaking of WGN. They are running the Yule Log tonight for everyone who gets the WGN America feed.

And now the KTLK train wreck segue, the add for the Hustler Store. Everyone needs some creams.

Ditto.



Christmas. Hmpf.