A Christmas Whine with That Cheese... Ho Ho Ho

I stopped at the grocery store to get the ingredients to make a hawaiian cheeseball to take over to the girls house for Christmas.... here's how it broke down:

Philadelphia Pineapple Cream Cheese... $2.89
Philadelphia Chive and Onion Cheese.... $2.89
1 Can of Cashews (halves and peices).... $2.79

Oh, and a couple of last minute gift cards for the nephews....

Final Cost.... TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! (WHAT??)

Merry Christmas everybody... May the Good Lord bless and keep you as we celebrate His birthday. Without HIM, there is no Christmas!

Steering In A Better Direction...

Feeling grateful,
Yeah, that seems to be a recurring theme with me these days. Gratitude. Yep, I can't shake it. I got home from Battle Creek on Sunday in the middle of the snow/ice storm and saw multiple cars spin out and end up in ditches. I got up on monday morning heading into work and spun out trying to turn on the entrance ramp of the highway. I stayed on the road though so I was grateful for that. Then as I'm cruising at a slow speed on the highway, two cars directly in front of me, both spin out at the same time. One sticks it in the median rail to my left, and the one on the right sticks it into a ditch. Man, talk about white knuckling it on the way to work. Once I got there, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and gave thanks. The ride home was much smoother, but boy did I ever take it slow. Of course I've got like 9 days to shop for Christmas, and I haven't even started yet!! My gal pal thinks of me as a "typical man" because of my pension for procrastination. Thankfully, they're having a book fair (which includes more than just books) so I can finally get started. I've got mostly nephews and such to get for... I'll spoil the gal pal because her birthday is the day after Christmas. So I'll make sure to do things right. I won't be dropping to a knee just yet, but she already knows that. And she knows that one day, I will. In the mean time, I get to spoil her like crazy and love her like only a crazy man can!

It's the Most Wonderful Time Of the YEARRRRR...

Well,
It's getting mighty close to Jesus's birthday and I for one, am getting giddy. I think it's because I have learned to really appreciate that life is might precious and should not be taken for granted. I see my sisters working to make it. They used to avoid talking about their ages because that meant that they were getting older. Not anymore. They have come to appreciate every birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and everything else. I can't blame them at all. It's taught me a whole lot about having an attitude of gratitude.
While I'm grateful for life, I am FREEZING my butt off... My gal pal likes to refer to the area I live as "Siberia" and right now it's with good reason. We are in the 20's for highs and in the single digits for lows and wind chills below zero. Granted, I don't live in Alaska. Those folks know what cold is much more than we do. But I'll be the first to tell you, I like cold. BUT it has to be at least 30 degrees for cryin' out loud. I do sound like I'm whining. But that's becasue I'M COLD. I hope to stay warm while we are in the middle of a deep freeze. So I'm thinking about Christmas. Of course that means a whole different set of issues. Most notably, I don't know what the heck to buy my family for Christmas!!! Do you have anyone that you have a tough time buying for? Me, I got a bunch of them! Who are your toughest ones to buy for?