Point of order

 24 Dec- 2355- for the first time ever at Midnight Church, we had all three kids awake, ke-5 and jct-8 in their pjs.

All five of us with candles, in the balcony, singing 'Silent Night' in the darkened church. Lit only by a thousand candles.

Priceless!

25 Dec- 0415- jct-8 says to hk-12 'I think we could beat Daddy if we work together.' The board game had been our battleground since returning from Midnight Church.

25 Dec- 0455- ak-42 wiped off the board.

Unconditional Surrender offered, accepted, and the lights went off as the 0500 news came on NPR.

All three of us snored up a storm for a bit. We slept only a few hours Christmas Eve, but it was an awesome time for all.

31 Dec 1645- ak-42 claiming back the sovereign territory of the garage of 211 Culdass. My man cave is now complete with (reasonably) comfy chair, end table, sudoku book, and sonic screwdriver. A place for everything, and everything in it's place. Also, found a undercharged fire extinguisher. Had to fully deplete it to recharge it properly. Seemed like a good idea, but local FBI agent saw the copious yellow billowing clouds of discharge and came by for short discussion.

Nice.

01 Jan 0015- Another New Year's Eve pyrotechnical near disaster averted by milliseconds. The preacher's fault this time- he brought the big stuff, but there is something compelling about fireworks fired haphazardly on a extremely cold night. Wish I had brought socks and a (undepleted) fire extinguisher.

02 Jan 1615 - hk-12 playing the electric guitar on the front porch on his birthday, then taking a few moments break to fire off a few bursts from the new airsoft gun. Not sure why that delights me so much, but there is something compelling about guitars and machine gun fire. Dr. Hunter S.Thompson lives on, at least in spirit. He said, 'This has been the most fun day of my life!'

breakthrough on giving gifts-

based on a real conversation..... 'What's on your new iPod?'

'Oh, nothing yet, been busy with other stuff, ya know.'

'Give it here, then, I will load it up with a bunch of things you will like.'

So it played out, the gift of the little iPod, a week after giving, still bare of data. It was the right gift, and is now loaded chock full o' great stuff.

Now, that is a much better conversation than the, 'So what did you use your gift card for?' conversation I have been much too often a participant in.

I will fix dat in 2009.  'loaded up with things you will like' is to be my mantra for 2009.

And I will help you put them into use if needed.

For example- those of you who got flags? Call me, and I will bring the mobile installation kit right over.

As the good doctor would say, 'Have sonic screwdriver, will travel.'

Dr. Who, that is.

My only 2009 New Year's Resolution is to be a better giver to all those around me.

Searching high and low for the PERFECT gifts for all my friendsandrelations- 'soon to be loaded chock full o great stuff.'

 Ultimately, the greatest gift of all is of our time and talents-

Duchess got this feedback the other day about her photography site- http://suchislifephotography.com-

'I wanted to let you know that I just found your website for you photography.What a beautiful website it is! I found tears rolling down my face as I watched the slideshows. You do fabulous work! I had no idea you did so much..... Again, your photos are wonderful and your site is terrific.'

That is what we are going to work on in 2009- creating those moments, personally and in our businesses.

So, I heartily apologize to all of you who have gotten re gifted books about Spam, ill fitting Elton John style sunglasses, and the darn beagle beer stein, circa 1989.

That jive is over.

2009 is your lucky year, colleagues, and I am now focused like a laser beam on finding the perfect gift- no more gift cards, but a perfect mix of time, talent, and our treasure, which is not really ours anyway. Officially, the gift card is dead to me, but feel free to give them to me, as I am a greedy little pig.

But, touch wood,you will be getting the mind blower this year from 211 Culdass- the eticket, a live wire. Stand by.

Keeping Christmas all year long in 2009, 'God bless us all.'