Monday, December 17, 2007

Christmas Time Is FINALLY Here

It's been a little rough trying to get into the Christmas spirit down here in New Orleans this year. I've tried everything. I've bought crap loads of presents, submerged myself in Christmas songs, surrounded the house in Christmas lights, baked cookies, watched all the specials, but it just doesn't happen when it's 85 degrees outside. Well this weekend temperatures finally dropped down here and I'm happy to announce that I awoke this morning to a temperature of 41 degrees! Yes I know that many of you are laughing hysterically now, but that's freezing down here :p Literally, my teeth were chattering in the car, lol. So, with that being said, it feels like Christmas now with still a week to enjoy it!

And Santa passed for me this weekend disguised as Carl! Well Carl didn't actually come over, but a package came! As you all know, Carl has to be one of the most kind and giving people out there. He's a genuinely good guy and he's taken care of me as far as reading material over the past year. So I mailed him a gift of my favorite book, Speaker for the Dead, for Christmas as well as a little cigarette case thingy with the cover of one of his favorite books, The Stainless Steel Rat, on the front of it. In preparation for Speaker for the Dead, he finished Ender's Game which sparked a discussion of how it reminded him somewhat of John Scalzi's Old Man's War which I immediately added to my wish list! Well, a few days later, I get Old Man's War in my mailbox wrapped in some of the coolest wrapping paper I've ever seen (I should've taken pictures). He also included a card that made me laugh that showed that he pays close attention to my blog. As I opened it, it began singing "I've been dreaming of a white Christmas" to me :p Thanks Carl!

And finally, it's not Christmas without football, and if you hate football, you can stop reading now! Drew Brees has been wonderful to us New Orleanians and Carl this weekend! Now if he can only take us to the Super Bowl like he has done with Carl. Stephanie will be my best friend tonight as I will be cheering on the Bears to beat the Vikings. In order for us to make it into the playoffs we need to win both of our last games and the Vikings need to lose one of their next two. So Go Bears!!! Of course, in two weeks, you'll be my worst enemy Steph ;)

23 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Glad it arrived safe and sound. I've been holding on to that wrapping paper for a couple of years now, figured it was about time I used some of it! I think you'll enjoy it.

I think its great how N.O. has come back and is actually in the hunt after that horrible start! I'm pulling for them. Brees needs to do me right next weekend, but not throw the ball to Colston!!! :)

Glad that the weather has finally brought Christmas to N.O.! Yay!!!

heather (errantdreams) said...

I used to live in New Hampshire, and I have to admit, since moving to Maryland I really miss blizzards and three-foot snowfalls!

DesLily said...

Well, I'm glad to hear that you finally feel a bit Christmasy! It's 31 here with wind gusts up to 49 mph!..it feels way colder than it is! We do have a little snow on the ground, but now it's in the form of ice! Thankfully the roads are fairly clear though.

wow, Carol found Old Man's War for you?! I had heard that was hard to find now.. I can see where you would be thrilled! I like John Scalzi, but as you know I don't care reading sci fi.. I've tried, and if I could I'd be reading John's books.. I am really glad he's turned into such a good writer!

Afraid I don't follow football anymore.. been some time now. But I surely don't hate football! I hope who you want to win.. wins!

chrisa511 said...

Carl, I'm going to pass on the wrapping paper to Megan! She loves to decoupage/collage things, so I figured she'd love that paper. It was too cool to just throw away ;) And I'm really looking forward to reading the book! I've been wanting to read some Scalzi for awhile now! I hope to God that we play decent in these last 2 games of the season! After coming back after that horrible start it would be such a downer to lose against the Eagles and the Bears. At first I had no idea why you wouldn't want the ball thrown to Colston but then I saw on your blog that Jeff has him on his fantasy team! Ha! You've got me split on that one...afraid I can't cheer you on there ;)

Heather, I'd imagine that if you have those heavy snowfalls at Christmas time and then move away from them it's just never the same. I hope you get some snow this year! I guess that's one good thing about living down here. Any snow at all would be nice for me!

Deslily, Damn that's cold! 49 MPH wind gusts??? Brrr. Stay inside! I think Old Man's War is pretty easy to find now. You can order it from Amazon in a really nice sized trade paperback form. So you know John Scalzi too?! Is there anyone you don't know?? LOL. Stay warm up there!!

Ladytink_534 said...

This Mississippi weather is driving me nuts! It's 44 degrees now and it was even colder last night. I'm going to be in for a shock when I get to Georgia Thursday. I feel cold just thinking about it!

Carl V. Anderson said...

Deslily: Carol?!?!? ;)

I was thinking of you today while I was out getting lunch. It was 36 degrees out but the sun is shining brightly and it was coming right in my window and was so hot that I was driving with my window down! Thought you'd enjoy the irony of that.

chrisa511 said...

Ladytink, At least it'll feel very Christmas-y ;) The cold in the south is just so much colder than the cold in the north, huh? The 40's down here is just down right cold! And you can forget about the 30's!

Carl, Don't you just love that phenomenon? I had the same thing happen today on my way home from work. I'm wearing a fleece jacket and freezing walking to my car and then sweating five minutes into the ride home! I love the feel of the windows down during those times though.

Debi said...

Hooray for that old Christmas-y feeling! Glad it finally grabbed you! We haven't seen the grass in a couple weeks now...blankets of white definitely help for me.

I'm glad your football woes managed to turn themselves around. About halfway through the season, I decided I was now cheering for a perfect losing season to bookend their perfect winning season. Damn Dolphins just had to go and even ruin that one for me. All I can say at this point is thank God for the NHL!

DesLily said...

carl: I was having a senior typing moment, what else can I say? lol lol

Chris: No I don't know John Personally.. just have "known him on the computer" since I started my journal w/ aol Oct. 2005. But I've always liked him..aol is a fool letting him go, but hopefully his writing career will just keep climbing for him!

Debi said...

Sorry, I got disrupted by burning kielbasa, and didn't get to finish my comment. Just had to ditto your comments on Carl! That guy is one in a billion, isn't he? I definitely think that stumbling across his Once Upon a Time Challenge was one of the best things that happened to me all year! Not only did Annie and I get to "meet" Carl, but from there, also people like you!

Stephanie said...

Oh to be loved!! Hey, I'm right there with you on the Bears tonight! It would certainly be a coup to a rather dismal season filled with so many injuries. Who knows though. Orton could be the man....he DID break a lot of Brees' records at Purdue, so he's certainly capable!!

Since Mike has Colston in his fantasy league (and now picked up Stecker since Bush is out), he'll probably be cheering more for the Saints than the Bears. BAD MAN!!

Stephanie said...

BTW....we are STILL digging out from the snow storm this weekend. Close to 8 inches of the dreaded white stuff!!

chrisa511 said...

Debi, You're teasing me with all that snow! ;) We've seen nothing but grass here for a few years now! Some white stuff would be nice! Maybe we'll have a Christmas miracle...yeah right :p And we know nothing about the NHL down here! Seriously, I don't know the slightest thing about hockey! All I have to rely on is my football team, so if they let me down, that's it! But I hope your Hockey team does better than your football team! And I ditto your comments about the Once Upon a Time Challenge! I was so glad to meet you and Annie as well :) That Carl knows how to create a wonderful sense of community and he's just a great all around guy!

Deslily, Well Carl has shown us in pictures lately that he would make a nice Carol, hasn't he? LOL! Scalzi seems to be doing pretty well, so I don't think he'll have too big of a problem. Subterannean Press likes him a lot. They've been doing some really nice editions of his books lately. Well, I haven't seen them, but everything they do is nice and they've taken on a few of his titles!

Stephanie, GO BEARS!!!! For now. And um...Mike might be my new best friend ;) It'll be fun to see who he's cheering on in that last game. I'd love to be in the room with y'all during that game! And I've gotta tell you, we're scared to death of the snow in Chicago! We keep thinking of that for the last game this season. It game down to us and the Bears last season and now it's us and the Bears again this season...We're going to have heart attacks together if this keeps up!

Bookfool said...

I hate football, so I skipped the last paragraph. Ahh, so sweet of Carl and you are really easy to give to, fella. I've got to do some laminating, but somewhere I've got a poppet bookmark just waiting to be made for you.

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, I'm glad someone heeded my warning of skipping the football part! It was put to good use ;) Ah, the poppet bookmark!! I forgot about that :D It'll be very well used, I promise! I got a little green poppet in the mail today and I love it. Did yours come yet? (I think I remember you saying you ordered one) Megan's getting a little green poppet for Christmas too and her mom is getting a little red one! She'll probably think I'm nuts :p

CJ said...

Glad the ho-ho-ho finally found you. It's still lagging here but getting better by the day.

Oh, and the other day, with the wind chill, the temp here was 3. Most of the day.

cjh

chrisa511 said...

CJ, 3! LOL! That's nuts! Well with that kind of weather, I think my Christmas cheer may just freeze up. I hope yours continues to grow stronger :)

Bookfool said...

Yep, got my green poppet! I haven't named her, yet. I accidentally took an extra purple poppet (intended to be held to give away) with me on vacation, last week, so I had to name her and keep her. It's just the rules. If you have a poppet handy, it must be named and posed. LOL So, I have 5, now. Yeeks. And, yeah, everyone thinks I'm nuts but I have such fun with those crazy poppets. :) I'll try to get to that bookmark, soon. I left my eldest son in charge of the teenager while on vacation, last week, and ohmygosh. I think they used every dish in the kitchen (and didn't wash them). I found a cup in a drawer. How weird is that??

chrisa511 said...

Bookfool, A cup in a drawer! HA! That's classic. I don't think I've ever named a poppet before. I've got 11 of them sitting here just waiting for names, the poor little things...I suspect they'll go forever unnamed. They're just "the red one" or "the one with the skeleton face"...how sad...lol

Carl V. Anderson said...

I haven't named any of my Poppets either, with the exception of the limited edition Alien poppet that came with a note explaining that it was 'one of six'. Being the sci fi geek I am I saw the similarity between the name 'Seven of Nine' and thus he was dubbed "One of Six"!!!

Carl V. Anderson said...

And no worries, Deslily. I get mail for Carol Anderson all the time!

Ana S. said...

Reading you post reminded me that last light I dreamed I was snowing. It was a cool dream :P Not much of a chance of that happening here, but I am still feeling very Christmas-y. I'm glad you are too!

That is a great gift from Carl :)

chrisa511 said...

Nymeth, Snow would be nice, wouldn't it?! I hope that you get a Christmas miracle and that it does snow over there :)