Whatever happened to Cabbage Patch dolls?

I heard on TV yesterday that this year's hot, must have toy is something called a "Hatchamal". Not sure of the spelling but that's what it sounded like. Evidently it's a toy stuffed animal that 'hatches' out of an egg. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Over the years we've seen Tickle Me Elmo, Pet Rocks, and my all time favorite, the Cabbage Patch doll. I have a friend who was the manager of the toy department at JC Penny's the year they were most popular. He tells me it was a mad house. He still shudders at the memory. No wonder he gave up retail sales for the peaceful joys of being a Realtor. I bought a Cabbage Patch doll for my daughter that year but, thanks to an ingenious friend, I didn't need to stand n any lines. She persuaded her brother, who was living in Germany at the time, to ship home a selection of CP dolls for her and her friends. Evidently they weren't such a big deal in Germany.  Of course my daughter's doll came with adoption papers printed in German, but hey, lots of people adopt foreign babies, right?

Feeling blindsided

I joke a lot about the fact that I don't have much peripheral vision in my left eye. Because of this, I sometimes bump into walls (or sometimes people) and some times it hurts a little. But I was really blindsided today and it has nothing to do with my eyesight. Our head pastor who has been with us for five years and who I like very much told the Session last night and the entire congregation, via e-mail today, that he has accepted a position in a church north of Chicago and will be leaving us in January. While intellectually I understand his reasons - a move up the career ladder, closer to his and his wife's families and more - I still deep down am feeling bereft. How can he do this to us? I know I'll get over it and we will probably call an excellent new pastor but right now I am not at all happy about this. Not very Christian of me I know but there it is. OK, I've vented now and I already feel a little better.

smooth, very smooth..

I saw a performance by "Smooth Edge 2" at First Pres this evening. They are such an amazing a cappella  singing group. I love their blend of voices and, speaking of blends, their performance this evening was a delightful blend of fun and frivolous pieces and beautiful traditional Christmas music. On the silly side the "Christmas Can Can: and the "Reindeer Rodeo" were my favorites. On the traditional side the soloist for "Silent Night" was outstanding and the blending of voices in  "Mary Did You Know" was just blissful. All in all, a lovely evening.

A Delicious Day

I found my December apartment calendar/newsletter on my doorstep when I got home from church today. I immediately turned to the calendar page to see if today is a special day and guess what? Today is "Cookie Day!" What a great day. However the title isn't very specific. Are we supposed to be enjoying the leftover coolies from Thanksgiving or baking Christmas cookies or both? No matter how you interpret it, it seems like a fine day to me, so go eat a cookie, but only one. It's not Cookies Day.

And speaking of retirement....

I went with a friend this evening to see Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain in his famous one man show. I've heard about this show for years and was excited to see it. Sadly, while the Twain lines were, in general, as pithy and humorous as I expected, Holbrook's performance was painful to watch. He fumbled notes, repeated whole segments, was hard to understand at times and generally gave a very poor presentation. I know he's older and I know he's portraying an older Mark Twain but I think someone should tell him kindly that it's time to retire. We left at intermission and we were not alone. The high point of the evening was going to DeBrand's for hot chocolate after. Yummmm.

Pondering Gingerbread Houses

How did gingerbread houses come to be associated with Christmas?  The only story I'm familiar with that features a gingerbread house is Hansel and Gretel and that ends up (at least in the original version) with the wicked witch planning to eat the children and being killed in her own oven.  Not very Christmasie in my mind. Now gingerbread I can understand. Gingerbread is delicious to eat, fragrant to sniff while baking, but not necessarily that exciting to look at. It is fun to make into gingerbread boys or girls but then you face the dilemma of how to eat them - head first or feet first? Maybe gingerbread houses were created to give the gingerbread people a place to live, but they don't last long enough around my place for that to be a necessity. So, while I may be baking some gingerbread in the next couple of weeks, I won't be making it into a house. Does that make me a '"ginger grinch?"

Re-retired!!!

"Re-retired, re-retired!!" sung to the tune of "Alleluia", It's official, today was the last day (half day actually) of my temporary return to work.  The "couple of weeks" that I agreed to help out after the friend who had replaced me was in a car accident stretched into four months but it's all over now. I spent the morning helping to train my replacement and then I walked out. This afternoon two of my granddaughters and I decorated my Christmas tree and this evening we ate out and I got a free burger at Red Robin because my birthday is this month.  So, altogether a great day and a fine way to start December.