Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall...but he just cracks me up!

I have tried a time or two to add to my blog page and so far, anything decent has totally eluded my efforts. Tonight, I have time and the energy...but do I have the mental wherewith all to put anything on my blog? I have lolly gagged a great deal of today so I am not tired enough to go to bed. I have been moving for two weeks and my body begged for relief...I got some today...relief that is.

I feel as if I have fallen through the looking glass....perhaps not the one from Lewis Carroll's (of Alice in Wonderland fame) imagination...more one of Dante's fame...yeah, more inferno-like--especially with the heat we have suffered the past couple of weeks. I hate to move. I suppose Mississippi is as good as anywhere else to live, it is just the moving and getting straightened out that is the hellish part.

I do not live very far from the childhood home of Elvis Presley....oh yeah, big whoop! Lots of factories and industry dealing with the furniture and auto industry here. Toyota is building a place outside Tupelo that is supposed to give quite a boost to the local economy---but you know where Tupelo is, do you not?  It is right next to Onepelo....you know, where José and Jos-B live (okay, go ahead say it out loud....Hose A and Hose B--ha-ha made you say it anyway!) But the location should be great for business.

I found a lovely home on three acres of property....in Pontotoc....literally translated from the the Hecauwee (pronounced: heck-au'-wee) Indian language meaning...a place where beautiful women go to live.....You know that tribe--they broke away from the Cree Indians many years ago and started their own tribe when their illustrious leader lead a large war and hunting party out and got lost....they say he stood from the upper side of a tall hill in Mississippi and putting his hand over his brow to block out the sun's glare looked into the distance and said..."Hey, where the 'Heck are we?'" Thus, the name of the tribe. Remaining in a lost state for several weeks, the chief finally authorized a raiding party to bring women in from neighboring tribes to start their own civilization and colony....While many of the women were of dubious repute and many were not of traditional native American heritage or descent, the chief of the lost tribe was heard to say,“No good fish goes anywhere without a porpoise.” Not that anyone really understood the meaning behind it...but Lewis Carroll (nee: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) used it in his writing regarding Alice.

Well that may be my brain in overload writing there...but, I can't help but wonder as I read Lewis Carroll if, in fact, he too may have taken a drag or two from that hookah that he wrote about the Blue Caterpillar smoking. Or, perhaps he was just as mad as a hatter on his good days....but he wrote and wrote more than 2,500 books and grinned like a Cheshire Cat all the way to the bank!

Okay, this blog just gets more and more curious or "curiouser and curiouser" so perhaps, I should go back through that looking glass but, "I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then." ("by Alice"...)

Some days life is really tough...then I get out of bed...

Everyone has been after me to add to my blog...I have been incredibly busy. I know that is no excuse, however, I shall use it any way. I have also been incredibly tired and and quite distracted trying to take care of a brother who is very ill.  I am so saddened with how I have failed this man. He needs to be nurtured and nursed back to health both physically and emotionally....but he doesn't know how to let that happen. So whatz a woman to do?

I have decided most definitely that getting old really stinks...be not deceived..."senior cokes," "Senior movie fares," and other "Senior discounts" just don't make up for not being young any more. I've decided I probably will no longer touch up my graying hair, I do not care that my face is wrinkled, and that spreading middle only concerns me because of my propensity to Type II Diabetes and my blood sugar plays games with me. I just want my back to be straighter in the mornings and my knees not to hurt when I over exert myself for too long.

Have I ever told you my ambition is to be a wealthy novelist?  I no longer care about being a novelist....just novel...and wealthy. My brother tells me I talk like "Hemingway on Crack"--whatever that means....sometimes he refers to me as "Barbara Walters on crack"...whatever that means. Actually, I believe I have reached the "purple stage" in my life...Yeah, you got it...purple....Surely you have read Jenny Joseph's "When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple---So--read it again:

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people's gardens

and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

and eat three pounds of sausages at a go

or only bread and pickles for a week

and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

and pay our rent and not swear in the street

and set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

What are satin candles?  I do not believe I have ever heard of them prior to having read this poem. 

Well, this old woman is in dire need of retiring to her bed chamber and to her bed. But no matter, I am fairly certain the sun will come up tomorrow...dang it all....I probably should move to Alaska so I could have some 6 month nights...ahhh, extended slumber. 

Do you know where the expression "Three Dog Night" originated? You probably do...as hot as it has been the past few days, I could use a couple of three dog nights...For anyone who doesn't know the "dog night" origin...it is an expression in the cold, cold north where people travel by sled and dog....depending on how cold the nights were depended on how many dogs you needed to sleep with you  to keep you warm....so it it took 3 dogs...that night was considered a "Three Dog Night"...Yep, right up there with a five-cow wife...but that will wait for another time. My dogs are barking, my head hurts, my back is pleading for relief, and my bed beckons me onward....Tomorrow is another day...and I shall think about all that tomorrow...

To Dream a dream....or if hogs could ride Harleys...

I had a dream a couple of nights ago about a city of which I have never heard. I had no idea where it was, or that it was, until I looked it up on Google Maps. I have no idea why I dreamed of it, but I am going this weekend to see what is there. I hope to find an answer to the mystery as to why I would dream of it. I will let you know how it turns out.

I, normally, do not set a lot of store in dreams, but once in a while I have to give some credence to my night visions. They sometimes tell me things I need to know.  But more often than not, the only thing conveyed in my dreams is a sense of wonder as to why such things would come into my mind...let me give you a for instance (and if anyone is adept in interpretation of dreams...feel free to let me know). I dreamed last night of a man who appeared to have no teeth...but a wide-mouth grin revealed he had one molar--far back, top, left side. (?) Some years ago, I dreamed my cat had puppies. (?) I dreamed I gave birth to a child that resembled Gary Coleman...when I questioned if I had been given the right baby, the newborn child looked up at me and said, "What you talkin' 'bout Mama?" (That could be just too much TV!!) The most unusual dream I ever had was several years ago; it remains vivid in my memory.


In the dream, I lived in a realm where the superior..or ruling entity was Hogs...as of the swine variety...yep, they all rode Harley Davidson motorcycles...they herded human beings and set very strict rules of behavior for the people still living free (as in not penned up)...such as..humans were not allowed to have a Christmas Tree, they were not allowed to go in certain places in the town...which, of course, lead to a underground of movement and secrets. Every so often a few humans were rounded up and put into a sty..or pen....where they walked about on hands and knees and were fed from a moving conveyor belt. On the belt would be what appeared to be lettuce and other greens chopped like salad...it was quite palatable...except...there were little red pieces mixed in with the greenery and if you ate one of the red things you died....and if you refused to eat you were killed. Well, thanks to a snitch, I got caught trying to smuggle a Christmas tree into my home and was put into the pen....I was trying to eat and not consume a red morsel when I awoke with a fog in my brain...oh, did I mention the Hogs also wore leather jackets?  Now, what was that all about?

Some of my dreams make absolute sense, or, I can at least tie them back to something on my mind, or something that happened during the day...but hogs on Harleys...can't imagine...

My day dreams aren't quite so bizarre...but they all start out with "some day...."  I think "some day" is a euphemism for "never," but we all gotta have a dream. Some day I will go to Hawaii, some day I will get to retire, some day I will be thin again, some day I will get to do what I want to do...not what I have to do!--speaking of dreaming the impossible dream...

For today, however, I am planning to follow my dream into the unknown....let's see...will I find genealogical records heretofore not available? Perhaps a pot of gold or a tract of land waiting for me to claim it? Oh, a long lost (never known) benefactor awaits to whisk me away to my inherited castle, in Hawaii, where I can retire and do all the things I want to do. I would have a personal trainer who would transform me in to the fair lady I would like to become...far away from the cold night air, with one enormous chair and lots of chocolate for me to eat....wouldn't it be lovely?

Okay, it is time to come back to earth again--work beckons...drat!  Just when things were starting to look up!

These are a few of my favorite things...

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday afternoon is tune in to a James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, or William Powell oldie or even a Clark Cable goldie  as long as they do not get too "sappy."

Don't misunderstand, I like love as well as the next person as long as the next person doesn't like really sappy love scenes (teary goodbye speeches, etc) with mushy, unrealistic, ridiculous dialogue. Most movie watchers enjoy a good heart tug, but there must be some limits.

The African Queen, with Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Alnut) and Katherine Hepburn (Rose Sayer) ( love Katherine), is among my favorites because they had a very special way of falling in love and being absolutely offended by each other at the same time--at least at first. Too, this movie confirms anything is possible if you are stranded on a river with someone long enough and, that even mud, leeches, and Nazi Legions can't kill the real thing! How's that for romance?

Scarlett O'Hara, in Gone With The Wind, (and for all you really young and tuned out people, this is not the story of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit....no matter what people say) with her antebellum charms and her near-harlot ways could have learned a couple of things from the staunch missionary, Rosie.

Of course, Jimmy Stewart seemed quite adept in the heart-string tuggers. I suppose everyone has seen It's a 
Wonderful Life starring Jimmy with Donna Reed. While I can appreciate the intent of the message and while I watch it at least once every yuletide season, it is so "socially moralizing," with such redeeming value, I prefer Stewart in Zotz, or Harvey, or The Cheyenne Social Club.  Now, nobody get your dander up...I do like "socially moralizing" movies...it is just after you have watched it 3,000 times, you can't help but to root for the character to get on with his life and leave town like he always wanted to do...at least once. THEN, he can come back and save humanity!

I have never been a real big fan of westerns, not even John Wayne, but there are a few that fall in that category I find particularly entertaining. But, in most cases I'd rather get my early-American exposure from the likes of Oklahoma, Paint Your Wagon, (I know a lot of LDS people do not care for this movie...and it does kind of scrap your sensitivity...but it is only a movie...and we know better) or The Unsinkable Molly Brown.  Wyatt Earp and Jesse James hold little appeal for me as they were both outlaws...Earp just got into law enforcement...made a good cover and James held truer to his outlaw ways. If I am going to watch historical events, I would prefer they be real life not fiction.

Since war is beyond my comprehension, war movies hold no appeal for me at all and gutsy, muscle-bound heroes with extremely limited vocabularies, which have erupted at the box office in the past several years, only reinforce my Saturday afternoon fondness for Jimmy, Bogie, or even Cagney or Astaire.  Actually if faced with having to choose among, Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Francis the talking mule....well, at least Francis talked in whole sentences....

Catastrophic movies, i.e. Towering Inferno, Volcano, Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, et al, rate very low as entertainment, but the most catastrophic thing on celluloid has to be slapstick comedy!  I find it quite frustrating! Just tell me what is funny about three ugly men poking eyes, slapping faces, and smacking each other in the head. Falling down or being hit with a board is not funny....that is why I deplore America's Funniest Home Videos! But lest I should offend those of you who enjoy the slap-stick stuff...that's all I got to say about that---yes, I did love Forrest Gump.  Because life is indeed like a box of chocolates......

The last time I went to see a science fiction movie, it promised to "go where no man had gone before."  It turned out to be a documentary on Ellen Degeneris' bedroom. Today's movies just are not the same as my oldies and goldies!

Give me a good mystery or thriller, and I am set. I'm disappointed, however, if I can figure out "who dunnit" in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I would like to be able to at least be kept guessing until the opening credits are over.

Hitchcock was indeed a master of mayhem and macabre. Sometimes his movies worked as a cardiovascular exercise as the heart did tend to speed up at times while watching some of his work. As a teenager, I liked horror flicks, but today's veg-a-matic movies...i.e. Scream, Saw, etc... are absolute turn-offs. I like a discernible plot and these body-to-body contacts are ridiculous. Ah, give me "Sound of Music"  that is as bad as I want to get.


Today's multi-million dollar extravaganzas tend to pale in comparison with the older productions.

Suppose Gone With The Wind had been made present day rather than in the '30s---Mammy originally played by Hattie McDaniel, would be, no doubt cast as a wise-crackin', head-knocking, independent woman about town, who only works nine to five with Thursday and Sunday off. She would have a hollowed out rolling pin with a fillet knife hidden inside, a .380 semi-automatic nestled in her cleavage, and poison dart pen in her hair do! She would be played by Queen Latifah--or perhaps Mo'Nique.

Prissy, played by a tiny-voiced Butterfly McQueen as a simple-minded, sniveling girl in the '30s version, would be played by Whoopi Goldberg (only because she would be so good at it...Loved her in The Color Purple) responding to Scarlett's plea for help for Melanie Wilkes with "Girl, you know I don't do windows, I don't iron sheets, and I DON"T do  no babies!  My manicure, you know."

Scarlett O'Hara would be played by Megan Fox or maybe Fergie, Taylor Swift would make an excellent Miss Melanie while Brad Pitt would do an outstanding job as the notorious Rhett Butler. The fine featured Ashley Wilkes would without a doubt bring out the best in Chase Crawford...something should...and Father O'Hara would be wonderfully portrayed by Russell Crowe!  Oh, what images we can conjure!

It would more aptly be named "Scarlett Fiddles Around While Atlanta Burns."  Atlanta, of course, would be played by Jorge Garcia...I really like him...I remember when he did a recurring character part on the TV series Becker.

Our values have changed; our senses are being dulled by the entertainment we choose. Suggestive is no longer pertinent; everything must be explicit. The trend in movies, however, seems to be the same trend in society...all down hill...and, that is really too bad.


But Rhett, wherever shall we go and whatever shall we do? .....

What light through yonder window breaks....

Do you ever feel you are in a "soliloquy mood?"  I do sometimes. This, I do believe, is one of those times.......My soliloquy today would probably go something like this:

The dust on the mantle lies still...no feather duster doth stir. Yet, the dishes from my dinner begs washing, but silent is their plea...for the want of a good scullery serf my sink is running o'er. Oh maiden where art thou that thou hast not yet cleaned my parlor? Ah bed, my bed thou hast not made thyself to be neat and comely to view. Oh, for the want of a good chamber maid my bedding lies askew.  My rugs need vacuuming, but shameful is the time for the want of a good butler, my floor is tracked and strewn. The wash woman is slothful, the laundry is in heaps. I've made present of soap and washing boards but slovenly ingrates ignore.
 'Midst the need of a good Cabana boy my pool is green, but it envieth not. For pools are not meant to envy but to be content in the tardy nature of their care.  My garden is besot with weeds... it needs so much the gardener's care, but alas, longing brings not one to hoe. The chariot awaits a washing...it's dusty fenders beckon, but no worker brings sponge or brush. Me thinks my bath house dinghy...ah, for the want of a scrubbing the tile and grout's sore ailing. The windows long for Windex but no hand is eager tending.  For the want of a diligent groomer, the hounds are tender begging. But go I must into the work day...a meager wage most surely...but for the want of riches of the world my creditors demanding.

Okay, it is not Shakespeare....to bee or knot to bee...that is the question...whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of pathetic prose or go about totally expecting good journalism....ah, there's the rub.....after all, this is only a blog.

My day has been long upon the land which the Lord my God giveth me.  I feel I have accomplished little... yet, I have worked hard and run when I should have been able to walk.  For the want of a good vacation, I am tired. The cashier at Dollar Tree (I was there to buy carpet shampoo) told me she is going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee this weekend. It made me wish for a weekend excursion.

My mother used to tell me I wished my life away. As a child I was always wishing for things different than I had at any given moment. During the school term, I would wish for summer. During summer, I would wish it were Christmas. On Monday, I would wish for Saturday.  I often wished to be somewhere other than where I was. I wished to be taller, shorter, skinnier....I still wish that...depending upon the given situation.  You might get the impression I am not content... hmm, and I guess you might be right. But then, I wish you weren't.

The truth of the matter is, I do find contentment and peace in many things in my life....but, I wish I was more content in more things....I am dissatisfied with myself--I wish I were not---in knowing the things I am capable of accomplishing...should time permit...Okay, you say....make time to be who you want to be....Whoa! That is a wonderful idea!  I wish to be a wealthy novelist. Tomorrow I take my dusty manuscript out to once again see the light of day...and begin working one more time---even unto completion. Wish me good luck!

Now, all seriousness aside...What light through yonder window breaks.."Tis the sun, and I have yet to bid my day good night perchance to sleep...to dream the dreams of the just. But while parting is such sweet sorrow, I bid you adieu---gee, I wished I had thought that up....until the 'morrow.

Lemons and Lemonade....

An often-quoted adage and decent advice goes something like this:  "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.."  I got a wonderful continuation to this....But, if life doesn't give you some water and sugar...your lemonade is gonna suck!"  Yep, thatz whut I'm talkin' 'bout today!

As Barbara, a very dear friend of mine, pointed out on Face Book this morning...another wonderful adage...TGIF!  Yes, thank goodness it is Friday. The work week slows down for a couple of days and lets us do something more fun...like clean house, do laundry, shop, cook, uh-huh..fun stuff, you know what I mean.... perhaps go to the movie, have dinner out at a nice place, go to the beach and get a bathing suit full of sand...hhmmm..work days may not be all that bad....oh, well---we all love Fridays because it is the gateway to the much beloved weekend---So, TGIF--but that was last week's blog!

I had a friend many years ago..he has since passed on...that used cliches quite a bit in his conversations. I think of him occasionally and wonder why he was not more creative and spontaneous in his speech. He was a college educated...in English, nonetheless....man and was, otherwise, quite pleasant. I suppose everybody feeds from the "RUT" to some extent, but many times I am struck by the over use of such mundane, overly-worked expressions. Such lack of originality makes us mediocre. I, for years, have contended that mediocrity is the bane of existence when one becomes content with it. When we become content with mediocrity, we pretty much are a slave to common, mundane, average, a quality of life that is adequate but not very good. So, why would any of us want that? Okay, if we accept that throughout our lives...what will we being willing to settle for throughout eternity?  Somewhere between outer darkness to dwell with Satan and his legions and heaven in the presence of our God, our Father in Heaven....okay, now, given these choices...which one would you prefer?  Eternity is an awful long time....mediocrity is without texture or accomplishment...a failure to excel...to realize our divine potential as offspring of God...and besides it just ain't much fun! Mankind exists that they might have joy....in this life and the life to come....common isn't joyful, mediocrity has no felicity, and so-so just plain causes a vacuum in our brains. (See, were I one who tended to use cliches, I would have said so-so sucks!) Having a vacuum in our brains disallows anything but trash and dust to collect, like a really good Hoover...no joy, no fun. Success and genuine happiness is seldom serendipitous. It is something most of us must learn and earn as we go...excellence is an antonym for mediocrity..so at the risk of being cliche, I will strive for excellence.

Now, adages and cliches are not necessarily the same...my mother was an avid adage adapter, she was not so much a claimer of cliches.  Her attempts to convey her message many times were accentuated with what we may refer to as parables, she used stories and adages to help the listener..even if not a willing listener such as a child that may have gone astray or stepped outside her acceptable parameters...get her point.   My mother would tell you what she expected of you, then she would tell you a story about someone who did not do what they were told and the consequences to which they fell victim. Most of the time she would then tell another story about someone who did as they were told and the reward they experienced by being obedient...much like the scriptures we read....yep, my Mother was well honed in ministering her brand of scripture...which by the way, was never in conflict with those in biblical or latter-day scripture.  She was also quite adept at instilling those messages into your mind with a good smack it she felt it was deserved...I think sometimes those smacks were administered as a result of her intuitive notion that even if we didn't deserve them right then, we would more than likely deserved them some where down the road...a very short distance.

Hot as heck...common.  Quick like a bunny....unimaginative. Is it hot enough for you?  Disturbingly irritating....
Age before beauty, Bite the dust, Bury the hatchet, Call a spade a spade, to fall for someone, and keep up with the Joneses are reported to be the six most used cliches....I suppose they all, initially, worked well.  Now, they are "old hat" and work as well as an "old dish rag."  Throw them out--like the "baby with the bath water;" do not continue to "beat a dead horse."  Go "upward and onward," "shoot for the stars,"  "lengthen you stride," and remember "the buck stops here (with you)."  "Be all that you can be," and make your life fun. You will be "happy as a clam."  Now, that brings us to another question:  Just how happy is a clam and have you ever heard one laugh? (A future blog?)

When life deals lemons....while lemonade is quite good..when made with sugar and water...go ahead and be bold...make lemon pie! All the world will love you for it.

Am I hearing Jingle Bells in the offing?

Disclaimer: I have been told, by those who don't know, that I tend to be a bit "preachy."  You will notice there is no preaching of any kind contained herein, nor is there any hellfire and damnation scorching the page disguised as love and concern. You know I would not want to do anything that is offensive....ah, then, maybe hell is freezing over---and it is not even the season for freezin'!

Have you thought about this year is almost half over and it was only a week or so ago (--or so it seems!) we were ringing in the new year?   It will be Christmas in a few short weeks (or so it will seem!), and we will once again be wondering aloud to ourselves and those who will dare to get within ear shot...where the time went. How did it go so quickly?  

Are you ready?  Have you ordered your Christmas Cards yet? Made a shopping list? Made a mail order or online order for those special people on your gift list?  If you haven't, you are going to be rushing around trying to get everything ready for Santa's big night at the last minute! Trust me on this one--now, is the time to begin the preliminary work for the holiday season.

I have designed my Christmas letter/card, made a list of each gift to each person on my list, and am perfectly ready for Christmas!  My tree sits on the ready to be pulled down from its storage place. It will gracefully accept the ornamentation I have planned for it and will shine brightly for all the passing world to admire. My Christmas Eve Dinner is planned right down to the homemade pickles that will be served with the Shrimp Scampi, Clam Chowder, Salad, and Cheesecake. Friends and family will be invited to share.  Christmas Day Luncheon will consist of roasted goose and wild rice with pecans stuffing--wouldn't be Christmas without stuffing. A wondrous array of vegetables and salads will accompany the entree. The smell of fresh-baked pastry and yeast rolls will tantalize the sense of smell and the appetite. The desserts will make the sideboard creak because of the sheer number and weight of them all.

By 3:00 P.M. Christmas Day, all who have partaken of the Yuletide feast will be groaning and moaning because they have eaten too much. The discarded gift wrap will have made its way to the trash, the gifts that have to be returned will be piled in the foyer, some of the guys will be starting to nod off in front of the TV...most of the gifts that require "some assembly" will already be partially assembled, and someone will be asking if anyone is ready for dessert yet...but,..... Ah, the joy of Christmas.

Now, would you like to hear the truth?  I have, indeed, decided what to give to each person on my list and that all will be easily wrapped and distributed. I may or may not send a holiday greeting this year, and my tree will probably not see the light of day in 2010. BECAUSE, if I have my way this year, I will send my children and my grandchildren their gifts in November...maybe early part of December, and I will be booked into a snuggly mountain cabin for the holidays. I will eat dinner at a nice restaurant and settle down to watch old Christmas movies being warmed by a lively fire in a wood-burning fireplace and have some really good snacks to nibble..and Santa can do his thing somewhere else. I love the bearded ol' elf, but the best thing he can allow me for Christmas is a few days when I am not rushing around, shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, cooking, baking, singing, cooking and worrying about if I have done an adequate enough job of choosing gifts.

Take me from the cabin right into an evening of merriment in ringing in 2011...when I do not have to do dishes, I do not have to cook one mouthful of food, and I can sleep as late as I want on New Year's Day.
January 2nd is time enough to work and worry what the next day brings....because soon enough it will be April 15th...and we all know what that brings....one thing about tax day....I am not required to cook anything but the books, I do not have to clean anything but my bank account, no one wants to have a party--who can afford one?---no one but the IRS expects me to give them a gift, and most of all----drum roll please..... it is a month or more before I have to start planning for Christmas again! Isn't it a wonderful time of the year?

Note: For all of those to whom I would otherwise be sending a note of Merry Christmas....please except my premature, but nonetheless sincere, wishes for a most excellent Yuletide season, and a very prosperous new year!