From me and mine to you and yours:  May your 2015 be better than your 2014, or 1988, or 2001.   Whatever those “years” may be for you.

I’m optimistic about the future.   There comes a point, that it seems like all your shit in life accumulates and becomes a lesson that you’ve learned, and then it becomes a springboard to better things.    After a few years of digging out, I feel like shit is starting to shape up and I like where it’s going.   Fruit is starting to bear.   I like being older, and a bit wiser.    My old man was a pilot, and he used to say “there’s nothing more useless than the runway behind you”.

Oh hell, just have a happy new year!

Its bound to happen, at least up here.    Maybe I’m in denial, because I haven’t covered the bike yet and hooked up the battery tender for the winter.   Christmas morning, it finally came.    We might get a break and and maybe I can ride it later.   Yeah, I’m probably in denial.

My only concession I’ll give winter is I do love plowing snow.   I don’t know why.   There’s something therapeutic about pushing snow around, at least behind a set of handle bars.     I put a snow plow behind the 4 wheeler a few years ago, and its kind of fun clearing neighbors driveways, the kids way to the bus stop, and the streets.    I seem to end up with plates of cookies on the doorstep, and an occasional six pack of beer when I do it.   Thats not why I do it though, I just like doing it.   I’m Like Forrest Gump  mowing lawns, I figger.   Beer and cookies are just a bonus 🙂

Bought me a car for Christmas.  A Dodge Dart.   I guess I’ll always be a mopar guy.    She gets 40 mpg highway on a 4 banger, and has some cool little tech features that I was a sucker for.     Shopped around and did some haggling, and brought her home.   Life is good.

My youngest woke me up at 4 AM this morning.    She’s 11, and to be honest I’m not quite sure if she’s dismissed the idea of Santa Claus.    She’s a pretty bright kid with a pretty good bullshit detector, but on this one I’m not sure.   Maybe she’s just playing her odds, and I can respect that.   Missus Zip thinks so.

Last night we ate some killer Clam Chowder, played card games, watched 24 hours of the Christmas story in the background, Stuffed some stockings, enjoyed each others company and wrapped some last minute presents.   Hard to beat.

We had a good Christmas.   Maybe the last, with the family all together.   My oldest daughter is getting married, and her fiance crashed here and woke up with us.   It was kinda nice, to be honest.     Everyone got what they wanted I think and seemed  happy.

But now I’m over it.   I’m ready for work and life to go on.   That may be premature, given today is still the 25th, but I’m ready.   I bought a car on Christmas eve and my wife didn’t even get mad at me.    Thats rewarding bad behavior I feel.    I’m going to run with it.

I love the Holidays.

I got this  in my email yesterday.   Thanks Hironan from the UK, across the pond. Thanks for the picture!  You got the gift…

To my New Jersey Brother Pete, and his wife Linda, who is slightly cooler than he is.   Hope you guys enjoy Bob Seger tonight Brotha!   Hope to ride together again someday 🙂

Honestly, not too many holidays fire me up.   The 4th of July and Christmas eve maybe.      I know some people who get fired up about everything from Arbor day to Valentines day but most of those seem a bit commercial and mostly dumb.   I can appreciate a good tree, and I’ve always loved my wife, so what the fuck.     Groundhog day is also kind of cool, but mostly because I like Bill Murray Movies.

I’m looking forward to Christmas Eve.   The older I get, the better it seems to me.

I remember building trampolines incorrectly in the dark in the freezing cold.   Assembling bikes with Chinese instructions, when I really don’t read instructions to begin with.   Not sleeping all night, because I was more excited to get my kids what they’d asked for than they were.    Having a daughter wake me up at midnight, because she swore she heard Santa come already, and we were good to go (yeah, I woke us all up and folded pretty hard on that one).   The day off.   Family stopping by.    Big baskets of whatever on the counter, from people who just wanted to reach out.

It’s just a good night.   My family is getting older now, my oldest daughter is engaged to be married to a stud of a guy and things are starting to change.    Really, in a good way.  The others are starting to find their way in life, and its cool to see.    You work at marriage and a family for a lotta  years to get to this point, and I do appreciate that.   Some people don’t get an un-interrupted chance chance at that, and it’s not lost on me.

Christmas eve dinner is a sacred deal at our house. Usually a ham, that green bean casserole with the crunchy onion dealios on top, our best china (with the real fancy “dixie” logo on the bottom sometimes) and the family is together and enjoying each others company.   Maybe a bottle of wine with the missus.   All with 24 hours of a Christmas story playing in the background (thanks TBS).

I do love Christmas Eve.   I think my kids do too.

Merry Christmas to you biker pricks out there!

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy the other night with the family.    Fairly good flick, but the music was epic methinks.

May you prepare for the ones closest to you, and may you have a Merry Christmas this year.    Ready or not, here it comes.

Somewhere in November, I smoked 10 pounds of really good cheese for a few hours, wrapped em  to mellow for a month, and I just bought 5 pounds of raw almonds yesterday.   The Almonds will roast in my dutch oven  and go in the smoker the day after.   My oldest is baking cookies, and we’ll wrap it up and give it to those most important to us.

I gotta admit, I do love Christmas.    Merry Christmas!

Testing, Testing 123.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxiHuIKmWy4

Screwing around with a new site design on a practice site, and being all safe and all.    I just got tired of practicing, so I made it live.    I’ll figure it out in the next week or so.     Please excuse the mess.

Life is going good.

This is a test video: