Boo

Three traditional classics from Nat King Cole...

About time to fire up the smoker. I'm smoking a turkey tonight and a ham first thing in the morning. Finally decided on apple wood pellets for the turkey. Keeping it simple with the ham, maple wood pellets and a brown sugar glaze. Sugar Britches laughs at me for how much internal debate I have with myself over choosing the right wood flavors. Speaking of the better-half, she will be making deviled eggs tonight....that woman makes a damn good deviled egg. Merry Christmas folks.

55 degrees and sunny here. Temperatures are forecasted to reach 70 degrees on Christmas day. Nice weather, but any semblance of a white Christmas is going to require a trip to the hardware store.

Welcome aboard Sal. Good call on giving up the smokes. You get past the cravings by going through the cravings. There's no other way. Cravings are temporary. With the right commitment you can ride out any craving. Buckle up, knuckle down, and drive on.

The right reverend introduces us to psychobilly Santa...

I've come around on this song. In my younger days I vowed I would never listen to it again. It was part of a Christmas program at school that I didn't even volunteer for, I was drafted. The music teacher was wound tight and fond of the saying: "NO! We'll take it from the top!" In hindsight, that lady was in charge of the Christmas show and managing to get about fifty middle school kids on the same page...she had a lot on her. Anyways...back to the music.

This post has me speechless...and that rarely happens. I can't really take much credit here, I just post songs I like. However, I am glad that something I posted here brought you some joy. Music is the universal language. Best wishes to you and yours this Christmas Kris.

Christmas shout out to the guys I work with. Our company takes part in the Toys for Tots program every December. We had a record haul this year, filled up an entire box truck. All donations were greatly appreciated. Bear, one of our fabricators, reworked four old bicycles. Did some welding on a couple. Primed, sanded, and painted them. Chromed them out. Put new wheels and seats on them...four lucky kids in the Chattanooga area are getting a sweet bike for Christmas this year. The true spirit of Christmas isn't always found where you thought it would be.

Great job Kenzie. The weight gain comes and goes, but the freedom from cigarettes lasts forever.

Runfree, aka Daisy, aka Bigfoot...A cool chick by any name. Top-shelf quit.

Nice work Kris. Congratulations.

Welcome aboard Tony. Good call on giving up the smokes. You already have two weeks under your belt so you know how to quit. Just keep going. Quitting is simple. Challenging, but simple.

I've been listening to James McMurtry's "The Horses and the Hounds" a lot recently. One of my favorite albums of 2021. James is the son of legendary author Larry McMurtry. One thing leads to another and I've decided to re-read the Lonesome Dove series in chronological order. I'm about halfway through "Dead Man's Walk" and I remember why I liked those books so much in the first place.

It was cool and rainy here. We didn't have anything pressing. So, just hung out at the house all day. The most excitement we had was letting our one-year old daughter paint a wooden Christmas ornament. Exciting in that giving a toddler access to paint always involves a level of risk. She painted Santa Claus. Didn't go with the traditional red suit. She had eight colors and used them all. Now we have a tie-dye Santa...he looks like he used to follow the Grateful Dead. Lazy days are good from time-to-time.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas going out to all who ride the Train.

Great job Gus. Congratulations.

And speaking of the ladies...Special dedication going out to Sugar Britches, this is one of her favorites.

My mom and dad bought Maddie a snowman that plays "Frosty the Snowman" when you squeeze his belly. So...this song was played on a consecutive loop last night at the Casa de Boo.

Juggling is one of many skills we're gonna need here at Boo Acres. Sugar Britches was talking the other night and said: "We're going to have two under two." Some parts of parenting can be planned for, the rest is all on-the-job training.