Christmas Cards, Oh, Christmas Cards...

Does anyone really want to receive season's greetings via snail mail anymore? Have we really ever liked the whole idea of sending and receiving Christmas cards? Well, I guess I do, or did. In recent years, the few I find in the mailbox during the holidays do put a smile on my face. But, I'm still not exactly sure if I'm just going to end up doing this again. But just for kicks, let's go back in time, to another blog, and...

Take A Letter
(An excerpt.)

In the olden days, you know, back in the 20th century, December 10th was the day I mailed hand signed & addressed Christmas cards.  When we moved out of state, and our kids were still little, I did the ol' holiday letter with photos thing. Well, today is the 10th and no cards... I haven't even bought any, plus I only have about 5 postage stamps.  These days we're within a few miles from both sides of our family, so a letter seems a bit much.  Anyway, what do you write that hasn't been communicated via text or Facebook on a near daily basis.  Hmmm, what to do for 2014 2015.

Okay, here's a quick set-up:

1. Begin with gorgeous/elegant/whimsical/comical/sparkly seasonal stationary w/ matching envelopes.  And, don't forget special holiday themed postage stamps.
2. Next decide on a font.  Comic Sans where have you been all my life! Oh, wait... there's a curly-cuey elf style font?  Let me at it!
3. Greeting:  [Greeting? Greeting?  How do I open this thing?  Must be catchy.  Must say, "Read ME!"]  "Hey," sounds about right, yes?
4. Body:  [Flashy update of 2014 goings on at The Place... dogs included.  Maybe include story about neighbor/raccoon absurdity.* Keep it clean & funny.]
5. Closing: [Jolly... SOMETHING JOLLY, FOR GOD'S SAKE!]

Here we go!  Oh, pretend it's on snazzy stationary and in clever font style.

*****

Greetings!

ICYMI... 2014 a la Carilo!

The Hubs? He's juuust greaat. No really. Consumed by handcrafted holiday ornament making for several weeks now, so try not to bother him.

The Typist, aka Driver? She finds herself way behind on her dvr watching. Commercials on some programming still have Halloween theme! Near tears on weeknights trying to come to terms with Colbert Report ending and Craig Ferguson leaving The Late Late Show.

Bookstore Boy? Twenty-two years later, still hasn't lost the ability to talk and talk and talk and talk his mom's ears off! Also, right there with mom, behind on favorite t.v. shows.

College Girl? It snowed today!! Lucky.

Miss Creativity? [Please, no questions.]

And so it goes. This letter would arrive at your mailbox in a festive greeting card - see above. Of course, I could e-mail it, but sorry, not much time for that as I am busy watching last night's @CraigyFerg. So, here it is in the old blog. Ho, Ho, Ho!

Have a Happy New Year!

The Carilos... but mostly Lil

PS Shadow and Sombra say, "WOOF!"

I took this photo.  It's from where we lived before
moving to southern California desert;
it makes me homesick.

PPS Decided not to "go there" about the neighbors, 'tis not the season for such unpleasantries.

*****

* Oh, and you can bet your sweet bippy that I'll be telling you the "story about neighbor/raccoon absurdity." Maybe I'll write about it tomorrow.

Let Me Start By Saying...

... I'm no expert. No, really. There is nothing that I could honestly say that I'm an expert at. I'm okay with that; there are plenty of brilliant minds, accomplished, and creative people out there to fill that bill: Expert   insert expertise here  . Nope, not me. I'm more of a, "Let's see what I can come up with in a pinch."

One thing I will admit is that I am a tryer. (That's not a word, me.) Oh, an even better way of putting it... I'm a failure! A big one. For example: Once attempted to make a layered German chocolate cake from scratch for my husband's birthday; it ended up a tort... a cement tort.

One time, I tried to make delicious bbq ribs... Oh. My. God! I got nowhere near anything consumable, Instructions were, "First, boil ribs." What I didn't do was have a pot large enough to accommodate the segments of ribs I had plans of turning into bbq feast main event. Everything was super tight in the, what I thought was a more than adequate, pot. That pot was filled with water to the brim, ribs where tightly packed in it and lid placed to seal in all the goodness. Thing is, there was no such goodness to be had... the moment I lifted that lid, barbecue over before it began.

The smell in the house was horrible, the burnt-stuck-to-the-bottom-of-the-pot segment of ribs... they never had a chance. I had never seen or smelled anything like it. How does stuff burn while boiling!? I seemed to have nailed that. I was worried I'd never be able to get the stench out of the house. My kids were positive that would never be possible. Way to go with the encouragement, children o' mine.

See, I try. But boy can I fail.