It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – Because It IS Christmas!!!  Eve Anyways.

Good Morning – way to state the obvious right?    Today I brought  Cookies!   I could not say no since I was given a hint that they might be well received and because it’s Christmas Eve, I brought donuts too!  Lots of them.  I think I am going to put them out for Santa.  Why did I never do that before? I love donuts.

It’s a feast for Happy Talk this morning.  Coffee – Donuts – Cookies – mmmm mm good!  And please help yourself – we have plenty.

Today’s Music Selection:  

First of all I have a real treat for you all today in the music selection.  It’s a treat for me anyways.  It isn’t necessarily a holiday song – but a song that my family sings at odd times.  Holidays for sure but weddings, graduations, pretty much any family gathering.  Especially if there is a non family member that may be joining our family soon.  It’s a little twisted like trial by fire.   It reminds me of my Grandpa.  I can picture him singing and I miss him more at times like now –  the holidays.

Anyways, I thought of it, actually sang it for someone yesterday and I had an idea to look on YouTube to see if it was there.  I clicked and searched and had no real hope it would be there and I’ll be gosh darn cracked – I  found it!  I really really found it.

So who better to share it with then all of you?  No one I tell you – The only way this gets any better is if you could hear my whole family singing it.

The words are slightly different but I liked the animation –

Um ...that was a little awkward.  My family is kinda sick.  I am just going to …yeah…

ok then

I gave you 2 playlists last week both of my favorite Christmas tunes as well as the one non-holiday one.  So what do I have this week?

First an apology because I never did finish putting the playlists at the bottom of the post.  Sorry – you should have seen the butterfly though – Amazing!

Anyways I have reposted the Christmas list #2 from last week.  Cheating? Maybe but we really spent so much time on music last week and not so much this week that I think it balances out.  Don’t you?

Christmas List #2 – Some of my all time favorite  – it isn’t Christmas if I don’t hear them –  songs.  

So, our music portion was kinda lame today.. well no I take that back – John Denver is just good Christmas music and Dunderbeck  is a tradition – no don’t worry not for Happy Talk but you got a glimpse of where I come from …. If I weren’t so cracked I’d probably be just warped and weird…..  😛

Moving on –

The Week in Review:

(don’t forget – cheesy lead in music here – I’m thinking a lounge lizard Christmas song – kinda techno geeky – think porn meets Santa Clause – or don’t if the image is too disturbing.  I understand…)

• Once again thank you to Linda Vernon and El Guapo for using the word of the week.  How bout that?  You guys are rocking the vocabulary and will be the ones to try to best when EVERYBODY ELSE GETS INVOLVED – just a subtle hint – wink wink.  But this week our steadfast friend El Guapo hit it out of the ballpark.  I mean left field people.  He included it in a POST.  I was so impressed!  I tried think of something to reward our vocabulary participants -besides the obvious link… I say that every week huh?  Anybody have any ideas?  I am really working on a few but it’s a secret – I am keeping it quiet, like hunting wabbits …
• The week started out with Dear Santa…  I haven’t written to the dear old man for such a long time.  I don’t think I am asking for much – after realizing that I am really ok with my life minus a few minor details I only asked for some accessories that Santa can certainly provide if he feels so inclined and is in a generous mood.  What am I saying?  It’s Santa… generous is a given.  I do regret that I did not ask for a toy or 2 from the Island of Misfit Toys.  They would have a good home here with my little ones.  I am also hoping my plea for The Gaggle was enough.  I have been a parent going on almost half my life and not once has Santa brought coal – I never got any either, although I think one year my mom really had to make a stink.  It would be a great accomplishment to get them all to adulthood without that smudge.  Small victories.
• The Weekly Photo Challenge was Self Portrait.  Well that put an end to the Christmas series and I was a little disappointed although I could have made my self-portrait fitting to that theme.  The thing is, I didn’t really know what to do and spent some time just taking pictures, some with my web cam that added special effects.  I wanted to make it so that it caught that  je ne sais quoi..  that I didn’t even know I had until someone told me this week.  I still don’t know what it is but I know that it made me feel really good, kinda warm and fuzzy and special.  It is one of the nicest compliments I have ever received.  It might be that it is a foreign language  that makes it seem even cooler – you know what I am saying But whatever it may be – it just affirms my belief that gosh darn it, people like me.  And care enough to tell me.
• I am a lot  on emotional overload during the holidays , now way more than I was last week.  Last week I was a little overloaded now I am downright VERCLEMPT – You may or may not have noticed I have up until now been misspelling this word.  I did look it up and could not find it because I never included the R.  I was spelling it phonetically, the way I heard it and with a thick New York accent, yeah.  Excuses excuses.  I have been shown the error of my ways and admit I was oh so wrong.  Don’t hold it against me, although I would like to think that if anyone was aware of it or it bothered them greatly – hell even a bit you would have said something or used it in a post with the correct spelling  knowing I would read it  – yeah you know who you are! 😉 that was awesome!  Back to my emotional overload  though – I feel it so and wonder is it possible that you see it in my words – my feelings are huge right now, possibly too huge and I have felt it with every post more and more.  I can’t really help it.  Not bad feelings, big feelings, and they range every part of the emotional spectrum.  So if you think I may be over reacting – well I may be but it’s because I am over feeling – and clearly over articulating.  Arrgghh….
• My Mean Streak took this extra week off since it has been so mellow – maybe that’s why I feel all mushy and gushy – no Mean Streak to keep it in check?  So the next post this past week was about the Winter Solstice and Frank Zappa of all people. Great Googly Moogly!   I had fun with that one. I think it was classic Lizzie Cracked – unplugged.  A free trip down my thought process with no commercial interruptions.  It felt like me but I have no idea how Winter Solstice led me to Frank Zappa and I wasn’t all that concerned with it random stuff is kinda where I am at usually.  But when I saw that December 21st was not only Winter Solstice but Frank Zappa’s birthday – he would have been 71 I gotta tell you I had a little goosebumps moment.  Heebie Jeebie kinda googly moogly ya know?
• The next post was not what I had planned.  It was something Christmas originally but I quickly changed directions after reading a post about Why people blog – or more precisely Why Blog by Amor24.  Now you may read it and think yeah it’s pretty cool but what is she all gushy mushy emotional over…I am just not gonna elaborate here.  I read this post and when I got to the part about the crazy ass bipolar chick I was rendered wonky in a verclempt kinda way – figure that one out will ya..I am just trying to be honest about my emotional condition because this is the part of me that earns that silly little scary named monster.  😈  Kinda still cute and cuddly …but anyways, I will admit to a tear, a movement, a swelling of my heart which is really already way too big and breaks too easily – I wrote a comment that was so  long I questioned whether it would be acceptable as a comment.  To avoid tripping up that unknown path, I made it a post, elaborated on it and let my overwhelmed emotions dictate the words.  Just because it is overly big in the emotion department does not make it any less true or meaningful to me.  And the validation I received and feeling of acceptance and ..fitting in,  are what makes me want to never stop blogging, never stop meeting the wonderful people I have and hope to meet, never stop sharing and showing that the bad is also good.  To continue to just be me.  And blogging rocks.   While it’s true I am not overly concerned with being part of  just any crowd,  it is nice to know I am liked within the crowd I like and can be part of what is happening and that what I have to say is valued and I am being heard…really heard..it’s not too much different from any of you I am quite sure.  Everyone needs to belong to something – or somewhere.  It has been far too long that I have felt like I do.  
• Finally, I was honored to receive the Kreativ Blogger Award. I received it from maturestudenthanginginthere  and per the stipulated requirements, I told you 10 things I think you might not know and nominated 6 other very worthy bloggers to receive the award.  There were others, I wish the list was longer like the Versatile Blogger one but it is what it is and I have completed the requirements to be able to display the Kreativ Blogger Award.  I am feeling pretty pleased.

A week of sharing and recognizing the reasons we do this, the people who are part of it and all that happy horse shit 🙂 deserves a word fitting it.  A word that compliments another.

The word of the week is:

Aplomb   n.  Great coolness and composure under strain.  cool, poise, assuredness, sang-froid

just a little motivator maybe – I have already used this word in a post.  recently.  Do you know where and can you do it too?

And it looks like the time has come to say goodbye until next week, (and again, cheesy music like hmm.. we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas, we wish you a merry christmas……. we being me,   myself and I just to clarify.)

The best gifts are the ones that we can not put a price tag on.  They come from the heart,  and have value beyond measure.  

A little generic and cliché but it’s worth remembering.  Even if you have no money to spare or no way to give something material, you can give of your heart and the value to receiver will be beyond anything you would have bought anyways.

Have a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday if Christmas is not your celebration.  I thank you all for the priceless gift you have given me this year and hope that you all have peace, love and all that your hearts’  desire.  

Have a wonderful week!  Ho Ho HO!

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