131 thoughts on “God Bless Us, Every One!”

  1. Aaah… A Christmas Carol. This is one of my favorite stories – such a marvelous story of hope and redemption. I have many, many on DVD/VHS and Alistair Simms is one of the best!

    One of my best surprises was my mother’s 75th birthday party. I arranged the surprise party from here (my mom lives in St. Louis) for a week after her birthday. The teenager was actually there already on her annual “week with Nonny”. I drove down on a Friday and stayed w/ my sister overnight. When we got my mom to the party room at her condo, I was there. When she saw me, she actually staggered back a little from the surprise. An excellent day.

    And hopefully today will be excellent for all of my baboon friends. All kinds of best wishes and blessings from my home to yours!

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    1. My sisters and I did something similar for my dad a few years ago, Sherrilee, but for Christmas. He arrived to spend Christmas with my Ohio sister and the two of us stepped out from behind the tree. It was great fun!

      Peace to all of you Baboons.

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    2. Love birthday surprises. Last year we surprised my mom for her 75th – she’s just a mile away, but her birthday is right before Christmas. Told her that Daughter and I would come on a specific Sunday afternoon to help decorate her tree…and invited 30+ of her friends to join us. Everyone was instructed to bring a stem or two of fresh flowers and we made a ginormous bouquet of them. She didn’t even suspect anything was up when her sister showed up from Brainerd (ahead of the other guests). Seemed perfectly normal for her sister to drive 2 1/2 hours to drop by for the afternoon I guess…she just keep chortling and laughing all afternoon as more guests arrived. Fun for us kids, too, to see some of the family friends we hadn’t seen in a long time.

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      7. I will warn you tim only avaible in French, with sub-titles of course. It would be a sacrilige to dub it. It would make my very short list of movies I would take to an island. And as great as the story is . . . ah, those eyes. You will fall in love with her eyes. The old painter with the delicate bones is someone who will strike your painterly background in interesting ways. A babooners movie, indeed.

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      10. another one of those true wonders of the universe. when you are watching a movie in subtitles you start out having to make an effort but by the end of the movie i feels like you are hearing the english words with the french accent. completely effortless, you dont even notice there is an issue unless someone walks by and cuts off your view of the subtitles. like getting used to barbara streisands nose by the end of the movie.

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  2. thanks, Dale – great clip.
    we watched “A Christmas Story” last night – Darren McGavin and Peter Billingsley – a nice surprise in that one also.
    enjoy your day – travel safely.
    loved the letters to santa from last night

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    2. i am in a non turner cable tv modality and can not get the christmas story. i have spent past christmas’ watching it 5 or 6 times while wrapping and assemblying on route to christmas morning. i love that movie. 1 of the 10 id take to the desert islad

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      2. and only for the 24 period from christmas eve to christmas night. no commercials just 12 times one after the other. teds xmas present to the world

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      3. I think I probably saw it three times this year if you patch together all the little bits here and there that we had turned on!

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      1. the photo was taken while Dodger was giving birth to Artful and Tammy Waynette. T was in the pen next door (we hadn’t readied the Gentlemen’s Club yet) and he kept sticking his head thru the fence to check out the action while i’m trying to catch kids, dry them off, etc. we couldn’t keep his nose out of the way (that was when his head was small enough to fit thru the fence holes). so Steve took a picture of the “nosey” guy. so T was up to no good, indeed. it wasn’t his kids being born but i think he thinks they are ALL his kids.

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  3. Ahh, Christmas morning! God bless us one and all. Let’s all chip in for an operation for tiny tim because he needs a new heart before he can go back to Kansas and learn how it has gone to hell in his absence because every life counts and meanwhile some bungling angel needs his wings, dammit. Or am I confused with overload from all the holiday shows I’ve been seeing?

    I brought off a surprise once that will take a bit of explaining. One year I gave Kathe a lame birthday present and took off on a sharptail grouse hunt. Well, when I came back the frost was about an inch thick on everything in the house, and she made it clear I was the worst husband she had ever married. When the next birthday came around I decided to err in the other direction. I got her several cool presents. Then I called every friend of hers in the world (many living abroad) and urged them to phone her on her birthday, not mentioning my involvement. The phone rang all day. Then I served up a big party with a cake.

    But the fun thing was I invited George HW Bush and Barbara to the party. I sent ’em a nice note. Several weeks before the party I got a phone call from a lady with a patrician accent who identified herself as Cynthia Hemphill from the White House Protocol Office. She had my invitation for the President and First Lady and wasn’t sure what to do with it. I explained how I’d screwed up on Kathe’s birthday last year and this year I was aiming a little higher. I thought the Bushes would lend a little class to our party so Kathe wouldn’t think I was taking her for granted.

    “That’s very generous of you, Mr. Grooms. But you surely understand that the President and First Lady are very busy people.”

    “Oh, boy, you got that right! The President’s out there defending the Free World and Barbara–I mean, Missus Bush–just finished writing that book with Millie. I sort of knew they might not be free on the particular day of the party. They’d probably be the only Republicans here, anyway. But I thought ‘no harm in asking!’ and I figured that if they sent their regrets, I could give that note to Kathe!”

    “I, uh, think I understand, Mr. Grooms.” And the lady was good to her word. I still have the note we got from the Bushes expressing their regrets and their good wishes for Kathe’s birthday.

    So that was a good surprise, and the Bushes didn’t ruin things by showing up.

    Merry New Year! Happy Christmas! Isn’t it a wonderful life, and there’s no place like home for the holidays!

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      2. Hi Tim,

        No acting gigs this year, Summer has to recoup her losses on the last one first, but I suspect she is thinking and plotting for another.

        Happy Christmas!

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  4. I was surprised last nite by my son calling to say he was coming for Christmas even though he had been incommunicado since Thanksgiving. Two hours for preparation seemed a little daunting, but true to form he stopped elsewhere along the way and arrived after midnight. I am the person who’d rather surprise than be surprised, but I’m working on it.
    Wishing all the baboons the best holiday possible!

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  5. Merry Christmas to all you babooners. You are a very special collection of folks and I’m glad you’re out there because otherwise I’d be left believing that pettiness, unkindness and self-absorption was rampant. Too many hours on the Strib letters board, I guess?

    A special memory for me a couple of years back is making a NY’s decision to start 2009 off “right”. I took one hundred dollars to give away by approaching some folks in town. I found a very old lady sitting alone in the corner of a near-empty restaurant and asked her if I could buy her meal for her. I explained that this was a way to stir up some unexpected positive energy on the first day of the year. I sat with her, listened to her life story, and walked out transformed. Next, I went to the grocery store and waited for my intuition to choose the next recipient. While there, I picked up some supplies. In the checkout line, I noticed a depressed, unkempt-looking young man behind me with a basket full of stuff. He left the cart momentarily to get some forgotten item, so I told the cashier I wanted to pay for all his items. When he pulled out his wallet to pay her, she said “This lady already paid your tab”. He was literally speechless at first, then managed to tearfully utter, “No one has EVER done anything so nice for me.” Tears rolled down his cheeks. Next, I found a young couple eating out and said I’d like to pay for their meal. What an opportunity for me to talk about the “real meaning” of this life!!

    I did request something in return: that each one “pay it forward” by gifting another person in some small way. I came home filled with a smile and the feeling that the ripple effect of my New Year’s Day action would continue far beyond that hundred dollar bill.

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    3. When I was senior in college in the last summer session before I started teaching, my wife and I wanted to do something for our anniversary but were very broke. We dug up pennies, took some nickels out of a coin album my wife had, which we had raided before. We managed enough money to go over a new smorgasbord restaurant. Remember that chain? Not sure of the name, but they were around for awhile. It cost about $1.75 per person to eat there. We walked in with our coins ready to pay when we got through the buffet, a little embarrassed to pay with all those coins. When we got to the cashier, she told us our meal had been paid for but she would not explain. We wondered if we looked that poor. Shortly after we sat down, here came the manage of the restaurant, a classmate of mine, who was one of the many bullies in my class, with whom I had never gotten along. He had seen us and talked to the cashier. We had a great meal and sat and talked to him and turned a sour relationship into a positive one.

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  6. I’m a very predictable person – I don’t think I have surprises in me. Life tends to provide enough surprises, anyway.

    Have a wonderful day, everyone. Find your hour of peacefulness where you can.

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  7. My wife’s 70th birthday tea party last August, some of you might remember, and the diamond ring I gave my wife on our 25th anniversary when she thought she was getting a cheap ring.
    An d then all those surprise quizzes–actually not. Never gave a surprise quiz in my whole career. Always tried not to do to kids what I did not like teachers doing to me.

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    1. My daughter uses shutterfly to make nice surprise gifts. A wonderful cookbook for our new daughter-in-law full of our family recipes with pictures of the recipes in progress plus old family pix. A book for my wife of the 70th birthday tea.

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  8. in line w/ Crystalbay’s note – one early morning in Duluth i was sitting in traffic on E. third st., about a half block from the famous “Positively Third St.” bakery. a lithe figure darted out from the bakery and ran into the traffic lane. handed a cookie to a driver (i bet a thunder cookie – yum) and ran back into the bakery.
    i’m sure those things spread joy and future kind acts.

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      2. Have to remember that when we go up there. Hopefully we can do it in a couple months. What a memory to have forgotten!! My sister lived a half a block from it for four years in college, but it was not there of course.

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  9. I’m a fan of surprises – my pal Steph will tell you I have a high need to celebrate (it’s true…). Along with the surprise we pulled for my mom last year (see above), I have ordered penguins for the front lawn of a pal for her 40th birthday (her birthday is in January and it had snowed the night before – the birds looked for all the world like they were at a very chilly cocktail party), arranged with another friend’s mom to drive up from Illinois for her birthday brunch (that friend knew about the brunch, but not Mom…she doesn’t trust us anymore – the same friend was the recipient of her mother’s red velvet cake, via me, a phone call, and a borrowed recipe for a prior birthday), had friends send 40 postcards of various sorts to my now husband signed by various “authors” for his birthday (never mind that Oscar Wilde is long since deceased – he can still send a postcard), and told Husband on a different birthday, using pieces from the previous week’s comics, that we should get married (we had had a year long discussion about it…no straight up proposal…but the proverbial ball was in my court as they say…). Also sent my big brother a copy of “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” during a period when work was being especially crabby-making for him – he kept that at his office for a looooong time (and it made him laugh – which was the point).

    Happy Christmas to all – and may the days be full of good surprises.

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  10. our little community has varied political views (as an election judge, i couldn’t talk about stuff like that but boy, do the voters like to unload their views!), different philosophies, religions, and environmental leanings. but they are accepting and kind people. we agree to disagree about lots of things. one of my favorite neighbors loves goat milk, so i often give him a gallon during the summer – and he LOVES cajeta “barb, celery is GREAT dipped in it!” so i often give him that also. last week he brought over some eggs for me to sell in town. he also brought us two dozen to keep for ourselves. each and every egg of those two dozen is a double-yolker. he didn’t tell me that – just let me discover it on my own. nice surprise.

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    1. Being in the house on Christmas Eve of a rural/small town pastor on the prairie is fun. They get some of the pastor stuff and gifts of money. But they get boxes of fresh frozen beef, homemade butter (surprised anyone does it anymore), canned salsa, special bake treats, fresh eggs. etc.

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      2. remember those days well, Clyde. Growing up amongst the Danes of western Iowa the baked goods were also amazing (on top of my mom’s wonderful productions).

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      4. I grew up in Coon Rapids (we always thought it was funny that there was a Coon Rapids, MN-the one in Iowa refers to a stretch of the Racoon River, not sure why the one in MN is called that).

        Clyde, didn’t you once say here you had ancestors or family in Lanesboro? I feel like we knew people there (but I was also at Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, MN for a show, so maybe I am confused. Will have to consult with the parents on this one)

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      5. I knew I had asked before but could not remember. Yes, I have relatives buried in Lanesboro, IA. Not many folks living in Lanesboro period. But my family comes from all over that region and still have relatives scattered around west central. Many of the towns of family ancestry are barely alive as towns, such as Grey. Wetters, Readasels, Millers, Schmidts, and Coombs. And my daughter did her internship in Elkhorn and Audobon. Lanesboro IA is a mockery compared to Lanesboro, MN, but then I am a biker. Commonweal was once full of my daughter’s Luther friends, but all have moved on.

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  11. One of my colleagues for several years used to get post cards from Kilgore Trout from all over the world. Finally, after more than 20 years, the former student who did it confessed. That was cool. My son gave my a Vonnegut book today. (That’s a hint for those of you who do not know who Mr. Trout is, one of Vonnegut’s very “Cleaver” creations.)
    I am on here right now because the daughter and family are all playing with all their electronic gifts. I am in deep envy of the ipad which my son and wife, who works at Apple, gave them.
    A heads-up for down the road, babooners: my wife’s and my gift to each other is a trip to Silicon Valley to visit our son and see friends along the way. So, if my wife stays stable, we will take off in mid January. All her doctors say to go ahead and do it. I ordered a laptop for the trip for among other reasons to stay in contact here, as well as keep an eye on weather, book motels, etc.

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    1. enjoy. and best wishes . i hope she stays stable and is able to enjoy it. sounds wonderful. entering the laptop on the road version of life may be easier today than it was in years gone by but be ready for a bump in the road on the way to electronic sycronisity. you can download your tunes onto it if you think avbout it ahead of time. then you need a way to plug it into the car radio and listen to your music instead of that great plains/mountain version of radio on the way.
      glad to hear things are looking good enough to start the plans.

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    3. i have 2 vonnegut books on my bedside table to get to for pleasure reading. enjoy. he is my favorite. a post card form kilgore trout would be a nice surprise.

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  12. fatherhood is full of getting to give the good surprises. thats the good news. faherhood is full of getting to cuuishion the bad surprises. thats the bad news. ive gotten to watch the faces on kids and parents as we announced, began, experienced and recapped cross country car trips, cruises, alaskan treks, picked up new dogs and cats, had surprise parties, lucky enough to be able to sneak in unthinkable gifts to our lives and pull it off (so far) save the bad news stories for another day or skip that altogether, huh? merry christmas all.
    the munchkins had that christmas morning that we all hope for. good smiles and sleepy wrappping paper removal with squeals of delight that ring in your ears and heart for the rest of your life. it makes it all worth while. i learned somewhere along the way that you need to pay attention. these are the moments that we all live life for. don’t miss it, savor it and file it away for later reference. life can be simple.

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    2. Fatherhood surprises are great, tim. My daughter had a friend who was fascinated by the Loch Ness Monster. Once, in a surprise birthday gift, her dad took her to Loch Ness for a little vacation tour. I don’t think they spotted Nessie, but that sounds like a relationship that had a lot going for it.

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      1. to go to loch ness is the easy way to do it, find the way to share the enthusiasm without going to loch ness and you’ve got something

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  13. Merry Christmas morning to all,

    I have a little trouble keeping secrets and should have kept a secret about a gift I gave this year and didn’t. I did manage to not spill the beans about a gift given a few years ago which was greatly appreciated. It was a a big Kitchen Aid Mixer which I bought right before Christmas in a last minute effort to come up with a good Christmas gift.

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      1. Tim,
        Sinc3e on your way here, I’ll be sure to have the mixer waiting for you under the tree. IT’s the bix ox wrapped in baboon print paper šŸ™‚

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    2. Ha… you just reminded me of a surprise that my dad gave my mom many years ago. Her old Mixmaster had finally given up the ghost so my Dad plied me with cash and sent me to the store to buy “the best mixer they had”. The people at the store sold me a KitchenAid, which I happily carted home and wrapped up. Well, it was certainly a surprise, but the biggest surprise was that my mom didn’t like it, since the bowl didn’t turn like her Mixmaster. It went in the attic; when my middle sister moved out, she took it with her. But she didn’t like it either, so back to the attic it went. That’s where I found it and rescued it. My hands-down favorite kitchen appliance of all time. It’s 30 years later and I still have it and it’s still working!

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    3. Tim, I also think the Kitchen Aid mixers are a little too expensive. They are very good mixers which makes it a little easier to pay out the big bucks for one.

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  14. Just checking in on the Trail while the s&h is busily constructing the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in Legos before we head out for a day of indulgence snacking, chatting and mostly doing nothing after a very busy Christmas Eve.

    Obviously need to go back and check up on yesterday.

    The s&h was a total and complete surprise in a lot of ways, being born a week after Christmas Eve being one of them (was supposed to be a Super Bowl baby). Rather stressful at the time, but ended up being a wonderful surprise.

    Hope to check back in tonight.

    Bless us everyone indeed!

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  16. Afternoon everyone–
    Merry Christmas!
    We’ve had a nice morning and now have all sort of separated into our own things… which for me was chicken chores and going out to blow snow again… Will have Mom in law here for supper and still some cleaning to do before tomorrow.

    There have been surprises big and small along the way. Random flowers or cards, notes under the windshield wiper, finding lost friends… I’m not a big fan of surprises I don’t think… I have ‘control’ issues. Hah!
    I did once send an ‘Easy Button’ to some friends that were feeling overwhelmed; they appreciated that.

    Enjoy the day everyone!

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  17. A comment on “Christmas Carol.” I recommend a careful read of it every couple of years. It is not all that long. But mostly to pick up the handful of wonderful things never put in the movies. One of the finest portrayals of depression is in the story, never in a movie. As a former sufferer of depression, I recognize that Scrooge suffers from depression. The images of light and darkness in the story relate to depression.

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    1. This is the end of his encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Past:
      He turned upon the Ghost, and seeing that it looked upon him with a face, in which in some strange way there were fragments of all the faces it had shown him, wrestled with it.
      “Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer!”
      In the struggle, if that can be called a struggle in which the Ghost with no visible resistance on its own part was undisturbed by any effort of its adversary, Scrooge observed that its light was burning high and bright; and dimly connecting that with its influence over him, he seized the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down upon its head.
      The Spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole form; but though Scrooge pressed it down with all his force, he could not hide the light, which streamed from under it, in an unbroken flood upon the ground.
      He was conscious of being exhausted, and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness . . .
      I have never seen this in any movie and to me it is the image of how depression fights the light, resists hope and happiness and exhausts the sufferer in the fight to stay in the darkness of depression.

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    2. I had an interesting literary revelation a few days ago that might be pertinent here, as I was watching a film version of Truman Capote’s moving “A Christmas Memory.” That film was a huge favorite for my daughter and me. We always cried while watching it! The Truman Capote character and his aunt are terrified of the local moonshiner, an Indian named HaHa, but they have to buy booze from him to make fruitcakes. He turns out to be a sweetie.

      Watching the movie the other day, I had a funny feeling I’d encountered that story line before. And then it hit me: HaHa is Boo Radley, the terrifying menace who turns out to be a gentle friend. Of course! Truman Capote’s best friend as a child was Harper Lee, who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. She wrote one version of the story and Capote wrote his, but the idea is the same: don’t fear and despise those you don’t really know.

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    3. i had someone recommend the hound and the baskervilles for with the same enthusiasm for the reason of technical writing amazement. i will read the christmas carol as i never have up until now and see what the moments are. the excerpt you give us here is wonderful.

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    4. Clyde… I believe the “Christmas Carol” that has Patrick Stewart and Joel Grey does that scene… Scrooge all but extinguishing the light. And I completely agree about reading the original. No matter how good a film, there’s usually a few nuggets in a book that get lost. I’ve always thought it interesting that some versions of “Christmas Carol” have different names for Fan and Belle.

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    1. Dale has been off by an hour for awhile – I figured that Blevins was ignoring the daylight savings time change…(or he’s feeling “very east coast”).

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      1. Actually I don’t know why I’ve been off an hour for a while. I did notice a difference around the time we turned the clocks back an hour and I expected the WordPress settings to adjust themselves automatically but they didn’t and I lost interest in trying to fix it.
        But now that I know it is an issue for you, Dear Baboons, I have resolved to face the problem.
        After a short investigation, I think I figured out a fix. We’ll know it worked if this comment is identified as posting shortly after 8pm.

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      1. My grand-daughter Lily was born 12/25. Their second child was due right at Easter. They flirted with naming that child Holloy if a girl because they like the name. Then they would have had a Christmas Lily and an Easter Holly. But they name “her” Jonah instead.

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  19. I started out life as a big surprise. After a bout of serious illness when she was in her late 20″s, my mother was told she would never have children. Boy, was she surprised when I came along when she was 35!

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  20. A surprise party that no one is ever expecting is one on the 33-1/3 (third of a century)birthday. I believe I invented it and have given a couple although I seem to think it’s cleaverer than any one else does. For my sister’s, I melted old LP records in the oven to make serving bowls and made 1/3 of a birthday cake. I think I should be able to sell the idea to Hallmark, but I guess it takes a baboonesque mind to really appreciate the concept.

    Merry Christmas to all.

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    1. Was just this minute reading about the Buddha in “Sacred Roads: adventures form the pilgramage trail” by Nicholas Shrady. He makes pilgramages for several religions. Decent but not all that inspired a book. But retaught me some basic things about Buddhism, the religion born in India that no Indian practices.

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      1. interesting study, give me a boiled sdown version (or a long one) from your take on it. i enjoy busshism in general and am not sure why (i have not studued it but have listened to and read some of the dahlia lama stuff

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      2. The religion, you mean, not the book?
        Lots of similarities to Christianity; for one thing both as formal religions have lost much of the teachings of the Masters of each; both Masters emphasized practice and the inner journey over any formulas but the forms have taken over; both emphasized humility and charity, more often lost in Christianity but often lost there too; both religions lost from their homeland; but the monkish aspect of Buddhism would put me off. Buddhims is a much more Eastern world view with its deeper fatalism. Christianity whether by accident or the Western environment encourages a richer artistic and aesthetic expression. But I admit a bias I cannot overcome as a believe in Christ.

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      3. If you haven’t yet read it, I would highly recommend, “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” by Christopher Moore. Irreverent, more than a little sacrilegious, and very funny. Also does a pretty good job of pointing out, in a sort of backhanded way, the connections between Christianity and other religions, including Buddhism.

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      4. thanks clyde, nice summary. the premise is simple its life that complicates things a bit. actually not life but us the ones living life isn’t it. anna, lamb is a book i have started 3 times and laughed my head off in the first 50 pages at the wit and insight but have not gotten it finished. i bought it so i would not have to keep renewing it at the library but have not gotten to it yet. thanks for the reminder

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  22. It is alittle late for Rise and Shine:

    Just got back from the Christmas event. Played a fun game that was full of surprises: Telestrations. What a riot.

    Hope you all had a lovely day!

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    1. my 9 year old was so excited last night and again tonight to play charades. it was a riot. my family is great everyone else sucks (my mom and my wifes family). but the laughter and commoraderie is great. (we got dragnet as a tv show , 1 word, 2 sylables…with no clues. just guessed.) my son got sex in the city before a clue was given because my 9 year old looked so uncomfortable ( she drew that one) and he figured that must be why she is so uncomfortable. great fun

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  23. Daughter just wrote a 2 page thank you note to Santa – no prompting on my part, just sat down to write it after she got her pajamas on. (Even thanked the elf we told her had helped bring the note to Santa asking for a bag of broccoli…). What a fabulous surprise.

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      1. In her words (including the unique spelling of a six-year-old), “Dere Santa I lik ol the presins you gave me…I like the big candy cane. I tride to lik ol the red of. But it wusint esye. I rily lik ol the oragome. I im rily gud at folding…tank you for the brokaly ken you say thank you to ivin elf level 2 for me ples.” (“Ivan, Elf Level 2” picked up a note we had left for Santa on the mantel and said he would be sure to pass along her request for “a big bag of broccoli.”)

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  24. I have never felt so techo-adept. I have been on here many times today, but have been fully involved with the family all day, too. (Excedpt of rht 95 minute nap.)

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    2. my wife was laughing at my 17 year old. he has successfully taken his first nap sitting in his chair. only 5 minutes but he is a chip off the old block

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