CHRISTMAS FRIDAY FUNNIES

Did Bad Santa come to your house last night?

Were there any cookies left for him? Or did your dogs get them?

This next one is especially for Lori Down the Street.

I'm embarassed to tell you how long it took me to figure out the next one.

That's all I've got, Gentle Readers.

Weather Report: it's cold and windy here in the Arizona Central Highlands today. There was some rain again during the night and there's just the tiniest trace of snow here and there. But a white Christmas we shall not have.

I hope your holiday is filled with joy and the year ahead finds a lot of mirth. And not just in the Friday Funnies.

Merry Christmas!

BONUS POST ON A FOGGY DAY

Some views around my neighborhood.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Pictures from Christmases past.

SWMBO (My beloved Judy) and I at the Fiesta Americana hotel Christmas Party in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1987.

The sombrero was a gag hat taken around to place on the head of intoxicated gringos for their idiot picture.

But coupled with that beard I look like I should have ridden with Zapata, don't you think?

A few years later. 1990 and another Christmas party in Guadalajara.

My very dear and late friend Walter Nixon (father of Cynthia) and my beautiful wife. (I think SHE looks like a movie star.)

To one and all we wish you the very, very best of the holidays on this Christmas Eve.

And, as Sergeant Esterhazy used to say on Hill Street Blues, let's be careful out there. (Lots of holiday cheer will be consumed tonight.)

A TRAIN IN THE GINGERBREAD VILLAGE

In the lobby of a large hotel on the Yavapai Apache Indian Reservation a few miles from us there is a Christmas wonder.

Every year the tribe invites schools and businesses and organizations to build and display gingerbread houses.

The constructions range from the simple to the fantastic and it's always a treat of the season for youngsters and oldsters (like me) to view them.

However for me the biggest excitement comes from watching the model train that winds its way through the village and through a couple of tunnels, round and round all day.

Oldster I am but when it comes to trains I guess I'm just a kid at heart.

TUESDAY TRAVELS

Back in the day when I was living in Austin, SWMBO and I took a little road trip one day and wound up down at the end of an unmarked* road in . .

At that time Luckenbach consisted of a very cluttered bar and a fair sized dance hall, as I recall.

We didn't see Hondo Crouch but we did have a beer and look around the place made famous by Waylon and Willie.

It's a good song and Luckenbach is a good place to forget about the outside world for awhile.

*"Unmarked", so the story goes, because fans keep on stealing the road signs that point to Luckenbach.

CHO-CO-LOT!

To a heathen like myself, the holiday season surrounding Christmas and New Year's Day means just one thing: food!

Particularly sweet treats like cookies and cakes and candy and such.

So, armed with a recipe I copied off the Interwebs a couple of weeks ago, to the kitchen I headed. (Is that Yoda speak?)

The cookies I built yesterday are called The Browniest Cookies by their creator, Deb Perelman of the Smitten Kitchen.

They combine a sizeable amount of butter and sugars with three kinds of chocolate to make a cookie with a fudgy interior.

As I commented to Deb's blog yesterday judging by the sounds coming from SWMBO after she had downed two of them I can only describe the cookies as "orgasmic".

I thought they were pretty darned good too.

You can try them yourselves, if you like.

Here is the recipe.

Happy Holidays!

SURPRISE!

It occurred between 6 and 7 this morning.

A sudden snowfall that moved quickly through our area.

As regular readers of this blog know, there is a town down there. But it's obscured in a strange weather phenomenom called snow fog this morning.

Judging from my look-see around the neighborhood I don't think I'll need to use the garden hose for awhile.

This snowfall appears to be a very wet one, piling up on shrubs and bushes.

The Russian Rocketman Sage is covered nicely.

The white sun face appears to be enjoying it. I'm not sure about the other fellow.

Since we don't have a fireplace with a tall chimney on our house, Santa will just have to walk through the snow to the back door I guess.