Why I Oughta...

That's solid advice to follow for NYE.  You can take that to mean that it's just fine to think about going to bed well before the Eastern Time Zone Midnight ball drop as I usually do.

A good friend of ours is running for re-election as the West District Councilman in Wheaton, Illinois.  His name is Todd Scalzo and you can find out more about him and his campaign here on his site . Todd was first elected back in 2009 and has served the West District in Wheaton well over the past 8 years.  He's been endorsed by a strong and diverse set of stakeholders in Wheaton including the Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk, many of his fellow Councilman and even members of the local school board.   You can review the full list of endorsements for Todd Scalzo here . I first met Todd Scalzo back in the Spring of 1997 and have gotten to know him well over the past 20 years.  (Yikes!  I just realized that I have known Todd for more than half of my life!)  Some of you know that I too, spent time serving my local government as both a Village of Frankfort Trustee and as a Commissioner on the Frankfort Park District Board of Commissioners.  I know what it t...

Behold, the hard-to-find 2016 Anchor Christmas Ale !  Nat's brothers are *really* into this stuff and they have a big to-do every Christmastime when one of them comes home from LA and the other one migrates to the Suburbs from the city.  And, I have to tell you...when it comes to traditions, this is one of the good ones! Each year, the fine folks at Anchor Steam come up with a new ale and tree on the label.  From their Christmas Ale page: It is sold only from early November to mid–January. The Ale's recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. With a heavily guarded, secret recipe, Christmas Ale is a highly anticipated seasonal delight, complex and full in flavor with a velvety texture and alluring, yet subtle, spiced aroma. I've covered ...

And in with the new?  Well...maybe?  Who knows at this point.  And,  just like I posted in March , these bands are going to go in the circular file as I don't quite understand any reason what-so-ever to keep them around?   But same thing holds true - just like in March:  We're still not talking about any new ones. The band above features Mary Poppins and Bert (or a reasonable, yet legally-conforming to a generic-enough-version-of-the-characters-so-the-creator-doesn't-get-sued) that I wore on my band on a trip earlier this fall.  I really liked this one and just like the other ones, this too came from MyFantasyBands.com . A peek through the archives show that I wore a Chewbacca one back l ast year.  I had a monorail one in the Spring of this year .    And there are more magicband posts on the tag page from over the years here .

Hard to believe that the Babe has hit seven years of age.  Went by in a blink.

There is ONE upside to this whole being out of our place because the owners of the house are home for Christmas stuff: I don't have to remove the tree.  My post-Christmas funk starts in earnest today, but the house construction will give me something to focus on for the next few months.

Like normal people, we're off opening presents in our matching pajamas followed by stuffing our pieholes with too much food.  Hope you get to spend today with the ones you love.  That's what I'm doing and I am grateful for every minute of today.  I love Christmas and with this being the last Christmas that we're celebrating NOT in our own house, this one - like they all are - is special in it's own way. Our kids are growing up (The Babe) and just getting started (The King of the Ball Tossers) and Christmastime with them is so meaningful, despite their un-ending thirst for MORE PRESENTS!   I'm even hoping for a good haul, which of course, I'll share here on the blog. Oh, and that's a Storm Trooper Christmas Disney pin that I'll be wearing all day today!