MERRY CHRISTMAS!  ENJOY!

I got home today to discover the package I ordered from Target had arrived!  Yeah!  Just in time for Christmas.  But wait… what was this?  ANOTHER package?  I didn’t recall ordering anything else from anywhere…

I opened the other package to discover a Coldplay CD/DVD delivered to me from Target.  The kicker is, they mailed it to me but I never ordered it.  Yet the name on the package was MINE!  Inside was a mailing label made out to the poor people who are probably desperately awaiting their Coldplay CD/DVD!  Poor Pat & Ana in Bloomington, IL!

Now what to do…well, on Target’s web site it offers two choices for returns:  you’re turning it because you ordered it and don’t want it or your got it as a gift.  Well, um, neither of those choices applied to me.

So I called Target and spoke with a very helpful, friendly customer service rep who told me I should go back on to Target and do like I had received it as a gift (in a way, I had, hadn’t I?  Too bad I don’t really like Coldplay!).  So I did all that, printed off the mailing labels to mail back to Target and at least it isn’t going to cost me anything but time going to the post office tomorrow to send it back. 

Yet I feel bad for Pat & Ana.  I wish I could call them to tell them my Target Tale and I hope they discovered their package was wanded in at the UPS in MA instead of IL like it should have been.  I hope they’re not waiting for this CD/DVD and went and bought it elsewhere.

And I’m jglad my package wasn’t sent to IL!

it’s for adult “kids” too.

I recently had the priviledge of spending an afternoon at a holiday party for some very special “kids”.  By kids I mean adults who will never grow up.  These are men and women from their 20’s well into their 60’s who suffer from some kind of mental disability–mainly autism or severe brain damage.

Some could not walk.  Some could not talk.  Many could not chew solid food and needed their meals pureed for them.  But when that fat jolly old man in the red suit entered the room, every single one of their faces lit up!  He certainly speaks the Universal Language of All People, doesn’t He?

There’s nothing more joyful than seeing a young man running around holding his gift from Santa declaring “He knew just what I wanted!”.  I have no idea what this guy got from Santa but it sure made his day–and mine.

And what better gift than to witness a young woman carry a HUGE box to her table, rip off the paper and find just what she loves inside–a basketball, a pair of sunglasses and a bag of M & M’s.  Life is good.  And my heart is full of love for these “kids” who don’t ask for much, who are easy to please and find love in the simple things in life. 

Maybe if we all stopped what we were doing and spent a little more time enjoying the simpler things in life ourselves, the world would be a better place.

Ah, what a fine ending to a fine Christmas movie…

Of course I’m talking about the classic “A Christmas Story”.  If you haven’t seen the movie, then you’ve been living under a rock for the past 25 years.  Get with the program.

I’m talking about Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB Gun who is bound and determined to “shoot his eye out” with the damn thing.  Now who doesn’t love this movie?

Apparently some old biddy twit in Rhode Island doesn’t because she called the radio station the other day to complain about it!  OMG!  How can you NOT love “A Christmas Story”?  You may as well say you can’t stand “It’s A Wonderful Life” because George Bailey runs through town yelling “Hello Bedford Falls!”. 

From the opening credits when the kids are all standing oohing and aahing over the toys in the store window (and when we first are exposed to the Red Ryder BB Gun) to Ralphie’s little “fudge” scene to the end when the turkey is destroyed by the Bumpus’ dogs and the family is forced to have “Chinese turkey”–farr rah rah rah rah, rah rah rah rah!  There isn’t a part of the movie I DON’T like!  I have even seen the play!  And the play was just as good as the movie!  I would love to own a leg lamp (although I wouldn’t put it in my window) and I wouldn’t mind a pair of fuzzy pink bunny jammies (although I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them)!  But those are just some of the many precious moments that make this movie a classic.  Which is why it is shown for 24 hours on Christmas Eve.  I could watch it for 24 hours too!

So to that old biddy twit in Rhode Island who apparently has nothing better to complain about, I say “Bah Humbug” to you, be sure to drink your Ovaltine and make sure you don’t shoot your eye out!

1.  “The Little Drummer Boy” – Bowie & Bing

2.  “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” – Rod Stewart & Dolly Parton

3.  “White Christmas” – Bing & Frank

4.  Any song done with Elvis and another artist.  The King sings ALONE!

5.  “Do You Hear What I Hear” – Elmo & Rosie O’Donnell

6.  Any duet including Cyndi Lauper

The Zhu Zhu pet, that cute, yet ugly, rodent-like toy that costs tons of money (just for the “hamster”) and is hard to find.  Then you have to buy all the accessories that go with it.  More money down the toilet.

And only a week after Black Friday, reports come out that–GASP!  the Zhu Zhus have toxic levels of a chemical called antimony.  Of course this comes out now after tons of these rodents have been sold.  But hold on!  Now the government is clearing the Zhus saying they are safe and that an alleged “less accurate” method of testing had been used. 

I’m still weary of the Zhus (and wisely did not buy any, not that anyone wanted any!).  They are made in China (and we know what has happened with other toys made in China, don’t we?) and I have a feeling that the “clearing” by the government just came a little too quickly and probably just in time to ease the minds of parents who purchased these for their kids for Christmas.

I have a feeling that after the holidays it’s going to be holy recall hell for the Zhus which will definitely make them the most sought after worst toy of the year.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that his life has come to this.  What’s new?  I’m beginning to think that if you are a celebrity of any kind (even the lesser known-washed-up-former-rock-star-old-fart-type), that you believe that you can mess around and not have any consequences for it.  Wrong! 

What happens is your messing around messes up many lives–your own, the other floosies who screwed with you and your family.  The ones who really get hurt are the children who never asked to be here in the first place!

It’ll only be another day or so before we hear something new about someone else in the limelight and we will once again discover that they all have shoes made of clay.

Aretha was all done up in style for tonight’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.  And the thing on her head made the Inauguration Hat look tame.  Tonight’s head gear looked like she had a bear wrapped around her head!

I figured she must’ve been the highlight of the show (other than the actual tree being lit) so I didn’t stick around to watch Barry, Rod or the Muppets and switched to “Rudolph” instead.  Funny, Rudy had the same outcome it always does…:)