This might have been our Christmas card for 2023... and STILL might be if we ever get it together... had the last quarter or so of 2023 played out a bit easier, and less problematic. No sooner did "Our Crime Story" come to a long-awaited end, than... not one but TWO more whammies hit us in short order (don't ask), effectively ending our 2023 on the downside.
We are still well, by and large, and moving in the right direction - but far more war-weary than we ought to be, given the good, and overall conventional way we conduct our lives. But, it's best we start counting down to 2024 right away - 'cause it can't come too soon for us!
For now, please join Averi, Cici, Logan, Esther, and Joe in the spirit of "the mo-osst won-der-ful tiiime of the yeeear"! We send all of you our best wishes for a joyous holiday season!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! Your good wishes, and those three li'l angels up top, will make it happy and merry for us!
BIG BOXING DAY UPDATE!!!
Guess what? On Christmas Day, those "three li'l angles" DID indeed make everything happy, merry, and bright!
10 comments:
Merry Christmas, Joe, to you and your family! Thank you for sharing that beautiful picture as a powerful reminder of what Christmas is all about.
I am so sorry that problems have been piling up. May the celebration of the season soon smooth things over and bring a festive spirit to your home.
My Christmas Eve viewing was "The Homecoming," a classic that shows the spirit of Christmas in action. Soon I will be immersing myself in my Christmas Day reading of "Christmas in Duckburg" and other classic Disney stories. Of course, as I am a pastor, the Gospel accounts of the Holy Birth are also foundational reading at this time of year.
I truly wish the best to you and yours and also to the other frequenters of this Blog--may it be a joyous and uplifting time for all! And my special good wishes to you and Esther, and to Avery, Cici, and Logan!
Merry Christmas, Joe! Sorry to hear that, once again, all is not well in your neck of the woods.
The end of the year has not been kind to me either. The magic of the Christmas season has been my only consolation.
Whatever happens, try not to let it ruin the season for you.
What a lovely Christmas card! At least you can still share it via your blog.
Dear Joe, and all fellow readers of this Blog,
There is a reason for which we don't celebrate this holiday - the most beautiful one in the entire year - on the longest day of the year but rather near the shortest one, when the dark starts to recede and the days begin to get longer.
This is to remind us that this is the time of hope - and that, as Christmas shows, even amidst the gloomiest darkness and the unhappiest time, there is always a chance for an event that will change everything for the better and bring us more joy than we could have dreamed of.
And this is what I wish you, Joe, in light of your recent "less-than-optimal" events... and what I wish every one of us, especially those who are now undergoing any kind of hardship.
And, of course, I wish you plenty of joy, blessings, health and happiness, and lots of wonderful comics, and many a great moment spent on their enjoyable reading!
Merry Christmas to all of you and your families! And here's a little holiday scene with Tintin to celebrate this season :)
https://cdn001.tintin.com/public/tintin/img/news/journal/589/JTT%201958%2012%2017_cv.jpg
Merry Christmas Joe! Hope things start looking up for you guys in the new year.
THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL, FOR THESE WONDERFUL WISHES AND COMMENTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT!
We are almost “out the other end” with our two additional whammies (one of them being exclusively mine and, thankfully, exempting Esther – and that’s the one that should be wrapped up by the end of the week). In fact, things are even pointing to a good end to a rotten fourth quarter of 2023.
Being born and bred New Yorkers, filled with the heartiness that comes with that particular territory, we’re not overly given to lamenting our lot (…It would be bad for our image, and maybe we’d have to move to New Jersey, or sumpthin’), but this was a most unusual “one-thing-piled-atop-another-and-another-and-another--and-another” situation to the point where we were fighting too many fires at the same time.
Throw in a slew of unhappy, if not outright dangerous, world and national events to consider on top of our own issues and something (someTHINGS, actually) had to give – and so they did for a short while! HINT: As bad as the fourth quarter of 2023 was, I fully expect fourth quarter of 2024 to be SO MUCH WORSE – if not directly for us, then certainly for the country as a whole! But that’s all I’ll say about THAT! This humble Blog doesn’t roll that way, but feel free to draw your own conclusions…
However, in much happier news, Christmas Day worked the magic that we’ve all come to expect, yet greatly appreciate nonetheless, providing us with a wonderful day – a photo from which I’ve added to the body of this post. If being in the middle of THAT photo doesn’t cheer a body up, I don’t know what will!
Once I release my New Year’s post, and round this year’s post total at an even 50 for 2023 (exceeding our output for 2022 and for 2021 – but 20 posts behind 2020, aka “The Year Nobody Went Anywhere and Did Anything”), we’ll get things moving again for 2024! …And, hey… 50 posts IS a pretty good number, given the voluntary and involuntary blackout periods of 2023! …Gosh, maybe I can even begin some semblance of regular personal communications once again!
Let’s address those comments with the appropriate measure of Holiday Cheer…
Scarecrow (you write): “Thank you for sharing that beautiful picture as a powerful reminder of what Christmas is all about.”
And thank YOU for saying so! I never thought I’d be one of those old people who send out lots of pictures of their grandchildren… but life DOES sometimes take you to unexpected places, doesn’t it?
And, if anyone is concerned about us and our-state-of-things (and we truly thank you for that concern) you need only look at the picture I added to the end of this post, and let it “speak its thousand words” as to our present attitude and condition!
PS: To Scarecrow:
Glad you were able to accomplish your Christmas Eve/Christmas Day viewing and reading. To people like us, and Elaine, and others, it’s an important tradition and an “anchor”.
Alas, I was not able to indulge in my annual Christmas viewing and reading this year – but the great thing about having lots of comics, books, DVDs, Blu-rays (…and now two 4K discs, “Casablanca” and “Maltese Falcon”, naturally) is that you can recreate those experiences anytime… and so I will! …Hopefully, before it hits 90 degrees!
Sergio:
Very sorry to hear that “the end of the year has not been kind to [you] either.” Hopefully that “magic of the Christmas season” can work its wonders upon you as it did for Esther and me.
And, while the onslaught of events gave it their best shot(s), nothing could ruin the season for us – three little miracles (not just “Christmas miracles”, but year-round-miracles) saw to that!
May a special something(s) in your life do the same for you! Whatever it is, we’re pulling for you!
"This is to remind us that this is the time of hope - and that, as Christmas shows, even amidst the gloomiest darkness and the unhappiest time, there is always a chance for an event that will change everything for the better and bring us more joy than we could have dreamed of."
That is such a WONDERFUL SENTIMENT, T.!
And, most especially, I thank you for your wish – which CAME TRUE on Christmas Day, in the persons of Averi, Cici, and li’l newbie Logan! ...Just as you described it above!
Let me send that wish for “plenty of joy, blessings, health and happiness, and lots of wonderful comics, and many a great moment spent on their enjoyable reading!” right back at you – and everyone else in this wonderful Blog-family!
HERE is T.’s Tintin Christmas image link! I briefly tried to come up with a joke or pun concerning Snowy looking out at the snow (and snowbird), but decided that the image was too perfect for me to intrude upon it!
Abe writes:
“Hope things start looking up for you guys in the new year.”
Thank you, but they already started looking up on Christmas morning! Let’s keep it going – for you, for us, and for everybody! ...Wheee! We’re all on a “Christmas roll”, which is better than a Christmas fruitcake! …Glad to see you ‘round here again!
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