Okay, I lied. I did go back to the grocery store once already and am going back today, too. ACK!!! I knew it would happen. Seems I forgot to check the coffee supplies and we are very low on creamer, well, and coffee, and seems I forgot to buy more maple syrup. Now, you can't have proper Christmas waffles if you don't have enough maple syrup. Right? Sigh, so I better be off to the store now while Bill is gone, too. Kip won't get here till sometime after dark anyway.
Oh, I gotta show you this. Dusky has taken to lying under the Christmas tree at times. What a Sweetie!(tm). Probably reminds him of the good-ole-days back in Jackson when he lived up on the hill in the tiny forest back of our yard. These cats are mature enough to leave the tree alone, otherwise. I've only found one ornament lying on the floor. Then the next day it was a candy cane. Occasionally, we'll see Dusky drinking out of the Christmas stand, rust and all. Of course! Cats don't like being in water but they have an affinity for different tasting water. He's also gotten quite used to me taking his picture. A year ago he couldn't take me pointing this thing at him longer than thirty seconds. He had too many things pointed at him and thrown at him in Jackson to feel safe in front of the camera but he seems to have gotten over that. You'll notice him giving me the eye though and watching my every move to make sure I don't do anything but point at him.
Before I get too far away from yesterday's entry about Christmas not being about the birth of Jesus, here's another thought for you. Have you ever had anyone get upset with you for saying Xmas instead of Christmas. They mistakenly think that by putting the X there you are trying to censor Christ out of Christmas to make the holiday the merchandising masterpiece that it really is. BUT...that's a bunch of hogwash, to quote my friend and faithful reader of my webpage Eva. I wish I had known this when a long-time girlfriend of mine got upset with me when I wrote Happy Xmas to her in a letter. The letter was long and I was squeezing in the goodbyes on the very last fragment of paper so Xmas fit in there better than Christmas.
To quote Eva further, who studied medieval history as an undergrad and graduate, "There is a long tradition stretching back to the first century AD where 'Christ' is shortened to 'X'. The 'X' is actually the Greek 'chi' (pronounced 'ky' to rhyme with 'eye'), which makes a K sound, and is the first letter in the Greek word, 'Christos'. So, shortening the word 'Christ' to 'X' is a time-honoured tradition practiced by the earliest Xians, and sanctioned by both the Eastern (Greek) and Western (Papal Roman) churches.
"You'll see an 'XP' on Greek icons next to paintings of Christ. The 'P' is actually a 'rho' (pronounced 'roe'), which is the Greek R sound. So, the 'XP' is actually the first two sounds of the word 'Christos'." You'll have to forgive her spelling, she's in Canada remember, :-).
Anyway, Xmas is quite proper.
It's getting close! Can't you feel it? No, I don't mean Kippy. Here it is 8:00 p.m. and I'm getting ready to close the computer shop down for the night and shoot this entry up the tubes to my server. He hasn't sent me an e-mail or a phone call to let me know if he's on his way yet so I don't know if he's forgotten to do that or he just isn't on his way. Oh, well. No, what I mean about what's getting close is Xmas. Can't you feel it?
One more Eva quote for the day, "Happy Saturnalia!"