Merry Christmas! 

This Christmas Memory is short and sweet for me.  I can't go through a Christmas morning without remembering that Christmas Day, was the last day my dad was ever home when I was a kid.  And I am so glad we could make it happen.

I was 16, my brother 21, and we went and picked up my dad from Southwest General Hospital. We got him in the car and brought him home for the day.  His future was a forgone conclusion as cancer was well advanced, and had been for a few months, but we got him home.  I'll be honest, I don't remember much about that whole day, other than the fact he was home with us, such as he was.  And I think that was good enough for us.

After a few hours, we drove him back, and I think he was ready to go back, as he needed care that we were not capable of handling. A couple weeks later, he moved to a nursing home.  A few weeks after that he forgot where he was, and a few weeks after that he forgot who I was. Then he passed at 53.  Too young.  Yeah I miss him, but it's been so long ago, I can't imagine my life with him. He was a good guy.

But, I am always thankful for that last visit to the house. The one my mom still lives in, the one on a 2 acre wooded lot. The one they bought in 1959 and agonized over how they would afford a $147 a month mortgage.  He was home one last time, and that is a Christmas memory I will never, ever forget.

Merry Christmas!! 

I've been writing this week about Christmas Memories, and I have to tell you about Hazel Marie.  Hazel Marie was married to my moms father. We called him Grandpa Doc, as he was a Doctor, and Hazel Marie worked in his home office where he treated local people in Lakewood.  My actual grandmother, Stella died before I was born.  So I only knew Hazel Marie.

I guess we liked Hazel, although this woman was absent from any kind of real decorum or good taste.  If something was totally free, or exceedingly cheap, she was all about it. She laughed way too loud, was a terrible driver and made her living by playing the harp at funerals.  She wore tons of fake fur, and knitted 23 hours a day. Plus, she had one of those short, plastic white Christmas trees that spun with a light that also spun and had three different colors on it.  She was an interesting soul for sure.

But what really solidified in our memories was Hazel Marie's feeble attempt at Christmas gift giving.  Making it clear, they had money, she was just - well -  cheap!  One year she crocheted two hangers together in various colors and gave them to us as gifts. (They were sturdy, I gotta admit).  One year for all the girls, (including the 50 year olds) colorful, adhesive contact paper wrapped around paper clips as necklaces and bracelets. But the grand finale was the following.

One year Hazel Marie crocheted all of the boys, (including the 50 year olds) colorful jockstraps!  Why? No one on this planet will never really know.  Probably saw it in some rouge knitting magazine in 1972 and went with it.  Few bucks for yarn and she was good to go.  I was young, maybe ten, and I didn't get it for a lot of reasons. Now, I'm way older, I still don't get it for every reason. But we all took them and thanked her for her effort.

As silly as all of that was and is, we have laughed about it for decades after. All of her tacky gifts that were designed with us, and her inheritance clearly in mind. Every family has a Hazel Marie in some regard.  She outlived Doc and I'm sure enjoyed the fruits of his labor for the time she had left.  We still laugh about her and those silly Christmases that were so long ago.

BTW -  I still have the hanger, it's in Baldwin-Wallace Colors, so it must have been my moms as she was teaching there then.  But the jockstrap?   

NO!

Merry Christmas!

Last night was the "Great Conjunction" where Jupiter and Saturn aligned to make a double planet. Bad news, it was too cloudy to get a good look, good news, we'll still be able to see the two planets the rest of this month, they just won't be so close together. More good news, there are a lot of pictures available from those who were able to see it. Click here for a gallery from CNN. There's also plenty of video of the event, here is one from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ: 

Christmas is this week of course, and this time of year we all think back on some of our best Christmas Memories. We take if for granted we can, are lucky to do so.  Here's a short story, maybe you are going through something similar.

My mom turned 93 this year and for the most part has enjoyed good physical health for virtually all her life.  But my mom seemingly is outliving the good health, as her memory is failing and it's getting worse rapidly. Every day. Lucky, she is still in her 167 year-old farm house that she's owned, designed, updated and added on to many times since 1959. There is a qualified someone with her there 24 hours to take care of most everything now.  We are blessed for that.  It's the home she loves and the house we all grew up in.

My mom calls me many times per day these days, and recently has been asking about Christmas over and over.  She knows it's that season as she has her tree up (that she decorated wonderfully) , but I'm not so sure she knows it's this Friday, or even this week.  That is a difficult reality for all of us in our small family. But it is our reality.  I had to take her car away a year ago after 76 years of driving.  Reality really changed for all of us then, and it continues.

My mom was a 35-year college professor where she spent most of that time teaching young people how to speak well and proper in front of other people effectively and without fear. She also consulted high powered executives at big companies in Cleveland how to give a speech, and communicate more openly with other execs, and employees.

She was 91 when this was taken

She was an actor for about 25 years and starred in tons of plays and musicals in Northeast Ohio for most of my childhood and young adulthood. She was an artist and spent decades painting pictures and breathing new life back into old furniture, and selling a lot of it. She had talent in that regard none of knew she had until she was about 65.  She also taught singing lessons for many years as students came to the house, mostly in the summertime, and my mom used the piano to teach people how to hit the notes properly, and with power.

I have much of her furniture that she painted, this is terrific!

That is the most difficult thing for us to see here.  I feel badly for her, not for me.  I feel badly that for someone who spent their entire life teaching, performing and using their immensely creative brain every second of most every day, that it's come to this.  But it has. I think she deserves better after dedicating her life to others education.  But this is where we are.  If I had a Christmas wish, it would be that she could enjoy Christmas this year and have that memory to hold on to for the time she still has to go. Not so much of anything fancy or extravagant, just a memory of the day itself.

I think my siblings and I have digested that this could be her last Christmas, but you never know.  I'm a big boy, and I get what's going on, especially on days where I get 12 or 15 calls from her.  I don't feel badly about it, as it is as much of life as anything.  But I do feel badly for her, and her memory that is aged and is letting her down.

One of her many multi-media paintings

Here's to a Christmas wish, and hoping to make a Christmas Memory, not for me or my memory,  but for a woman who could use just one more memory to hold on to that's good  -  and accurate.  If you've been here, bless you, and I hope you are well in every way.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas this week and we are all getting ready for it.  I think most of us think to Christmases past and remember things we only think about this time of year.

I remember when I was about 20, it was before I got my big break working in Columbus, and I was living where I grew up in Berea still.  My mom asked me to go get a Christmas tree for the family.  So I did, and I went out to a tree farm that doesn't exist anymore to cut one down and bring it back home.

The problem was, I was too busy looking at the trees height, fullness, and color, and it has nice.  So I sawed it down, and loaded it in my car, and drove home.  It was close to Christmas so we decided to put it up that day.  So me, my mom and brother started to put it up, and it proved challenging - to say the least.  The trunk was crooked and not by a little.  The tree holder was an older one, and the afternoon was spent trying to get it straight and not getting the lights on it.  Sheesh!  This thing was so indredibly wrong we needed an engineer to figure this out!

Books under the base, guide wires tired to a doorknob and the piano which was right next to it.  It fell a few times, and after a ton of time, we were no closer to getting it right than we were from the get-go.  At first,  I was mad and embarrassed, but after about an hour, it became laughable, and three of us had a big laugh over it.  Somehow the tree stayed upright all holiday season long and all was fine.   Although I think we had to reinforce it a few times. 

Now, we all have artificial trees and we are better for it, as it takes all the excitement out of the live three thing.  But it must be a good memory, because all these decades later, I still remember, and it still make me laugh.   I have no pictures of it, but sometimes I wish I did!  This was long before we had camera phones,

Merry Christmas!

A tradition for many is driving around and looking at Christmas light displays, and this map is super helpful. It tells you where displays are in your area, including those set to music and ones that you can drive through. It is always being updated so make sure to check it again before you head out! Click here for a list by county and the map from Northeast Ohio Family Fun! 

Keith Urban and P!nk sang their duet "One Too Many" the other night on The Voice series finale part 2. Take a look at the performance... 

Wynn's Weekend Watch -  This Date  -  1999 This Amazing Movie Came Out!

Whoopi Goldberg - Will reprise her role as Deloris in Sister Act 3!  (Story) 

Disney - Announced an Enchanted sequel starring Amy Adams called  Disenchanted  (Story) 

New Today In Theaters - This looks great!   Fatale    Hilary Swank and Michael Ealy

Jeff Bridges - Is battling cancer – He has Lymphoma (Story)

If You Love Kelly Clarkson - Her show has been renewed through 2023  (Story)

Peacock - The Office  - is coming back to that streaming service on New Years Day (Story) 

Box Office - The movies had their worst year in 40 years. In 2019 they brought in 11.3 BILLION this year 2.1 BILLION. (438 movies this year  -  last year 910)  (Story)

Garth and Trisha Live! - A Holiday Concert Event   will air Sunday at 8:30 CBS. From their home studio, and we'll see a bit more of the couple's home  (Story) 

Christmas Day Movies - Wonder Woman 1984 /  News Of The World / Promising Young Woman / Pinocchio

Wonder Woman 1984  - Opening Scene Released This Week! 

Wonder Woman 1984 - Was filmed on – FILM not digital – IMAX as well

Recap – Of My Articles This Week - Sad Passing Of Charley Pride / Know Your Dog Better  /  Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Garth

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane (link)

Donate To Help LOCAL Military Families Through NEOPAT HERE - Thank YOU!

This could be fun on Sunday!

Garth and Trisha performing from their house, and they promise to let you see a bunch of it, not just Studio G!

Sunday Night Christmas Special - CBS

Coaches (and engaged couple) Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani sang their duet "Happy Anywhere" during Part 1 of the season finale of The Voice last night. Watch below: