God Bless Us Every One
Posted at 6:00 AM on December 25, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(20 Comments)
Merry Christmas!
Here's your Christmas Angel - courtesy of Donna. She described this beautiful tree topper in the blog last week - the original electric lights in her hands were "too brilliant", says Donna, so when they stopped working she simply removed them and continued to use the ornament. Donna's son Eric felt it was important for the empty space to be filled -so he provided the glass fish. Perfect.
Radio Heartland rolls along thanks to JASPER, our faithful computer, our MPR tech department, where a living, breathing person is always on duty to monitor the flashing lights that keep the various stations and services on the air, along with Mike Pengra, who pulled JASPER'S strings to make sure everything is properly set for a day of programming.
God bless them every one!
Nancy and I will have a house full of people as we celebrate with family.
We have already spent the week cleaning so we can give our relatives the false impression that we are always tidy and neat. It is our Christmas fantasy. Nobody needs to know the truth of how things are day-to-day, because this is a time to focus on the very best aspects of our shared humanity - love, faith, loyalty - that sort of thing.
The pile of stuff that was on the kitchen counter can obscure these larger truths, so it has been moved armload by armload into the laundry room, where only the dog will see it today.
Where do you stash the clutter when company comes?
Comments (20)
oh, perfect Angel! thank you Donna and Dale
Steve is the cleaner when folks are coming to visit. i always say that he makes it look like no one lives here, it's so uncluttered. the stuff goes away and sometimes never gets put back. then someday i'll be looking for something in a closet or in the garage and i come upon something i thought was gone forever. it's like finding hidden treasure.
hope you all are safe and warm
Merry Christmas Morning to All,
That is a lovely ornement, Donna.
I get to help make sure the house is clean for guests because I'm retired and usually home all day. There usually isn't too much clutter to move, but if there is any it goes in the basement which always has plenty of clutter, any way.
When I was a student, I thought that it wasn't necessary to clean for visitors, and didn't clean for a visit from my parents. However, later I decided that should have at least done some cleaning for them.
It is a big problem getting ready for guests that haven't visited us very often and are relatives that we want to impress. Then there is fixing up to do as well as cleaning. An open house for a high school graduate is the worst for getting the house ready and can include some redecorating.
Angel Donna puts on high, holding fish to catch the eye. And all bloggers do reply, she is quite the funny thihg.
Not as much snow here (by Sleepy Eye) as elsewhere I gather. Clutter in our house these days appears with the grandkids, one of whom, Lily, is 7 today. Since my wife is so handicapped, I do most of the cleaning.
thanks for the verse, Clyde - pretty funny indeed. and Jim, i agree. my kitchen never looked dirtier (or more needing an update) as when we were having a crowd over and i looked at things thru their eyes. oh well. :-)
happy birthday to Lily!
we probably got another 6 yo 7 inches overnight - very wet and heavy. high winds. trying to decide if we will venture out. think not.
Dream is in heat. freaks me out that she came in on Christmas Day last year, also. sorry, i always, somehow turn the topic to goats, don't i? ha, ha
merry christmas
over and out
Heathen's Greetings..........
My sister out in Las Vegas says that salutation is on a single billboard out there, and there is much hew and cry about it!
I kinda like it.
Thanks Dale and crew for the opportunity to hear decent tunes---my Xmas morning request.
Carry on!
Sheila from Ada
Hello and Merry Christmas...enjoying this song again!
Donna the Angel is wonderful and it would be a real hit here-fish are a central theme here year around. thanks for sharing.
Lots of slush and snow and rain outside here in SE MN, our plans have changed and we will stay here. Will miss extended family but enjoy neighbors and each other.
Merry Christmas Morning, Heartlanders,
The excess clutter gets transferred to my bedroom. First I stuff as much as I can under the bed, then I pile it into the closet, and after that I stack it ceiling-high on my dressers. Then I put a sign on the door that says, "Asbestos Removal Site - Keep Out!"
I'm so glad you like the fish! Thanks for the poem Clyde - how did you know I have funny thighs?? When Dale sent an email to let me know she'd be on the blog Christmas Day, he called her "Angler Angel" - now THAT'S perfect!
Merry Christmas everyone! I'm running out of clutter hiding places. If I have company, it goes into corners behind/next to end tables, couches or just put on beds in bedrooms until they're gone. I might cover it with something pretty to disguise it. Bedrooms are no visitor zones anyway.
Only teenage boys have stayed overnight and they're used to our mess -- they revel in it. But I have a plan -- very soon I'll be getting one of those roll-off dumpsters parked in my driveway and a major purge will happen! Have a great day everyone. Trying to decide if we'll make the trip to Burnsville for family gathering.
great topper donna the fish makes it special. we have a topper anfd the thing is the size of a football and the tree needs to be selected to accomadate the topper. if it is not there the little ones have a hissy fit ( they will have a hissy fit over something over the holidays regardless)
the cleaning at our house is a a "watch out what you wish for" deal. i always wanted to be allowed to have other priorities rather than cleaning so i married a clean freak and my coffee cup disappears half finished into the dishwasher. the white paint in the kitchen is worn through on the edges form cleaning. the extra clutter goes on shelves in cupboards and is incorporated into everyday life until we have the give away sessions where the collected non used goes away to those who may use it correctly. i have a garage attached where short term emergency mass quantities will hide out until the quests show up and the turkey/ham/pan of chili/ vegetable platter can come back into the room, but as for clothes on the floor, kids activities in the living room, xbox in front of the tv. love it or leave it is the only way we can do it.
great holidays all
aw, cute angler angel!!
i'm a cluttery sort of person, i'm afraid, but i come by it honestly---both parents were terrible clutterers themselves...
i don't even try to hide it anymore; just try to stack it up more neatly....
and only invite over people who are equally random housekeepers :-)
merry christmas, all!
I'm with Kay - my Christmas Eve house guests are equally random housekeepers (or at least folks who I know won't think less of me because of the stuff all over the place...which is part me, and part of having a 5 year old in the house). We do move some clutter - like the piles of stuff that gathers on the dining room table - onto the back porch (enclosed, but cold enough to discourage visitors) and the kitchen nook (where it can be hidden by cooking and dinner prep detritus).
Love the Angler Angel! (And Donna, I bet a few of us have funny thighs...)
Donna's misreading of my typo of THING has given me Angler Angel angst.
Sheila, thanks for the Heathens Greetings. I wishes every one a Merry Christmas and Heathens Greetings to the heathens.
At first glance I was certain that angel was a Dale Photoshop Creation! Are you sure?..
I make stacks and hide the rest on the back porch, but it can only take so much because a shelf out there becomes the Second Refrigerator for the food people bring. Today tho' is quiet, we had planned to be in Iowa (will on Monday), so we'll just be glad we only got a couple of inches instead of 6 more... guess you must have got our's, Barb.
Clyde, from yesterday - did the service you were preparing for happen or not? Love the irony...
Hi everyone!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you bloggers... always so much fun to read; the wit is so encouraging!
I wonder if I could get away with a fish in our tree? Not sure... We just learned about the Christmas pickle ornament a couple years ago and my son had to remind about it this morning.
Might have a few favorite nieces and nephews and their spouses over this afternoon... if I get the driveway cleaned out. (Mile long driveway out in the boonies) And then bigger gathering on Sunday. So, yep; moving our piles to the laundry room too!
Enjoy the day all; stay safe!
Merry Christmas, Heartlanders! We stash stuff in the closet in the spare bedroom. Donna, we have that same fish ornament! Today is my parents' 67th wedding anniversary. They are snowed-in in SW Minnesota and couldn't be happier. We are having a blizzard and the windchill is -20. Keep safe and warm, everybody. I am grateful that all my family members are safe and happy today.
No angst allowed on Christmas, Clyde. It says so in the bible.
Barbara--services were cancelled. Both churches sit on the prairie, as do almost all those who would attend. Just too risky.
We had a wonderful time actually having a family Christmas Eve. Been hard to do in ths family for 25 years. And today our daughter, husband, two kids are out in the snow--snowman, tunnels, sliding, etc.
Donna: Well, that's great!! Now I have to have angst about having angst!!
Barbara--services were cancelled. Both churches sit on the prairie, as do almost all those who would attend. Just too risky.
We had a wonderful time actually having a family Christmas Eve. Been hard to do in ths family for 25 years. And today our daughter, husband, two kids are out in the snow--snowman, tunnels, sliding, etc.
Donna: Well, that's great!! Now I have to have angst about having angst!!
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