The Month of December, in Bullet Points

It's been one busy month. Here is my synopsis, in bullet points:

• Show Us Your Goods 2nd Annual December Shopstravaganza was a rousing success. Thank you, Brad Womack, for hosting us at Molotov Lounge. We raised cash & took in a sizeable amount of clothing donations for our local Dress For Success affiliate.
• The baby is getting bigger. At my monthly weigh in, I found I've gained 14lbs over all. Ryder is a little over 2lbs of that. If his movements are any indication, we'll be raising either the next Baryshnikov or Neil Peart.
• I didn't finish my Christmas shopping until the 24th. Ehh, what's new?
• We were able to move into our new house, although not all the renovations are complete. Our friend & contractor, Keith, rocks! He is my 2nd favorite man in South ATX.
• I missed yet another Red Dress Pub Run. I have a great excuse with Ryder but I was planning on being at one or two bars to snap pics. Kim was flying in that day but her plane was delayed due to weather so instead of gathering blackmail material I was at a late dinner with the family. I really wanted Kim to see the crazy Austin Duathletes decked out in their holiday hooker red. Next year!
• We had a "future in-laws meet & greet" with Jaime's family and mine. Everyone had a great time and ignored the unpacked boxes, bags and partial flooring. We were gifted with black metal hoop firewood racks, a set of wooden tv trays and a family photo album with the family tree and copies of very old pictures of Jaime's relatives dating back to the late 1800's. Nifty!!
• My sister scrubbed the nasty guest bathroom before the in-law soiree. To give you an idea of how dirty it was (including construction dust & grime), the next day she had sore abs, arms & glutes. I cheered her on and retired to the kitchen, barefoot & pregnant, to make several pans of enchiladas. Danny & Kela had dropped in so they were pressed into kitchen duty as well. Thanks!
• The San Antonio familia threw a surprise baby shower for me. I was completely unaware that planning had been going on for months. It was awesome! And Jaime got to meet a little more of my family.
• Santa brought Jaime a big, flat screen HDTV. I gave him a Wii. He's a happy boy, err, man. I scored huge with shiny & sharp knives for the kitchen, a new comforter set and front loading washer & dryer. Jaime also has a new Craftsman three tiered tool storage cabinet. On wheels. How cool is that? There's much more giftwise, but these were the large prezzies. We were spoiled this year, big time.
• Jaime went hunting with my father today. I was worried this would be a "two go out but only one comes back" scenario but luckily my Dad likes Jaime a lot. Sadly, no bambi was killed today. They'll try again Friday morning to fill our freezer with future meals.

And now you're up to date. What's going on in your busy lives?

Editorial note: For whatever reason, the bullet points don't show up. Oh well. It's December in paragraphs instead.

Rush Right Out & Buy These Christmas CD's!

Here's a list of Christmas music that is guaranteed to be much more interesting than the Muzak stylings so often heard during the holiday season. Better yet, I've linked them to their Amazon site for easy purchasing.

1. "Codependent Christmas" by Austin's own Therapy Sisters. Sweetly irreverent.
2. "Monster Ballads XMAS" is a perfect blend of Queensryche, Dokken, Twisted Sister and much more, an 80's hair band extravaganza of carols.
3. "Christmas Island" is Jimmy Buffett's take on holiday sound. Make a pitcher of margaritas and listen to this as you trim the tree.
4. Or if martinis, not ritas are your thing, give a listen to "Christmas With the Rat Pack".
5. "Christmas A Go Go" is on my 'must buy' list. This disc has Keith Richards singing "Run Rudolph Run"...that alone makes me want it. With artists from Brian Setzer to Soupy Sales and even the Ramones, you can't find a better mix.
6. "The Christmas Album" by Air Supply. Shut up, you know you love them.
7. "Ho Ho Ho" by Rupaul. His version of "All I Want For Christmas" is hysterical.
8. Cyndi Lauper's "Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life!" is sheer genius. Buy it.
9. "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics". Degenerate but for South Park fans, it's a no brainer for what to play as background music while you're wrapping presents.
10. "Christmas Gumbo" will satisfy you with what you're craving, if what you're craving is a bluesy, zydeco and jazzed up Christmas. Among others, it has Art & Aaron Neville and Beausoleil...need I say more?

The Alphabet Meme

All I have to do is pick my favorite film for each letter of the alphabet. Sounds easy enough!

Here are the rules according to Blog Cabins:

(Oh, real quick, rule 3 seems a bit tricky, but once you figure out not to use any films from the Star Wars, LOTR, Indiana Jones, or the Narnia series, you’ll be fine).

The Rules
1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet.

2. The letter “A” and the word “The” do not count as the beginning of a film’s title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don’t know of any films with those titles.

3. Return of the Jedi belongs under “R,” not “S” as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi. This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with “S.” Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under “R,” not “I” as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under “L” and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under “C,” as that’s what those filmmakers called their films from the start. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Use your better judgement to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number’s word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under “T.”

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type “alphabet meme” into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.

6. If you’re selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

Okay, let's see if I can make a list of 26 movies that I heart...
Amadeus
Breakfast Club, The
Color Purple, The
De-Lovely
Empire Strikes Back, The is a tie with Exorcist, The
Footloose
Gone With the Wind
Home at the End of the World, A
If Lucy Fell
Jesus Christ Superstar
King Kong (1976)
Lady & the Tramp, The
Maria Full of Grace
Nine to Five
Omen, The (original one, not the tatty 2006 remake)
Princess Bride, The
Quinceañera
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars ties with Silence of the Lambs, The
Ten Commandments, The (because God has to look just like Charlton Heston)
Under the Tuscan Sun
V for Vendetta
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
xXx
Young Frankenstein
Zodiac (with Jake Gyllenhaal)

Wow! Not all of those are exactly my utmost favorite. I just couldn't think of another movie name starting with a "V" or an "X". But I have to say, they're all movies I'll watch again and again.

I'm tagging everyone. Hah!

Questionable Christmas Decoration

The American Family Association has an interesting Christmas decoration up for sale at their site. The AFA is a Tupelo, Mississippi based non-profit conservative Christian organization that fights against immorality in entertainment (they say Disney has pro-homosexual images in their animated movies) and against gay rights, among other things. Their website's store has much of their propaganda up for sale including this interesting outdoor decoration. Hmmmm. Looks more like a purchase you'd make from the KKK's website. Burning cross, anyone? For the love of Liberace, what were they thinking??!