Christmas Shopping & Christmas Decorations

When it comes to when is the correct time to start putting up Christmas decorations, I am a traditionalist more or less. I think no one should sell or put up anything specifically to do with Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. Then after Christmas, sale items like Christmas wrapping paper should only be sold up until the end of January. That was the tradition when I was young. 

 

The neighborhood I lived in always put up Christmas lights over the main avenue; while they were put up a few days ahead of time, they were never lit up until the day after Thanksgiving (which was known then as "the day after Thanksgiving - not as Black Friday). On that Friday, all the retailers started to put out items for Christmas, run Christmas sales, the big stores like Macy's and Gimble's had Santa Claus in their stores for pictures with children (in fact those two stores essentially had Santa competitions on their window displays and Santa would appear in each of their windows on a schedule), Xmas tree vendors could be found hawking their trees curbside just about anywhere, the huge tree would be turned on at Rockefeller Center, and Salvation Army bell ringers would be out in any weather ringing the bell to collect donations outside of busy stores. Of course, the memories from my young years through my twenties and then again later in my thirties up until 5 years ago, were formed in NY City and on Long Island. New York City may be a slime hole and be a crime ridden den of thieves, muggers, rapist and murderers but at Christmas time it can also be magnificent and a trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral and to the observation deck of the Empire State Building were almost always things I would do. Dinner in Chinatown often followed. Yes Christmas traditions are a good thing and of course, spending Christmas with family and was the best thing.

 

I think one of the reasons the country is so screwed is because of the loss of tradition. That in my estimation is caused by spoiled brats who have ruined everything by insisting on everything being their way, and they cannot stand traditions or at least good traditions. Once they start whining, it seems retailers follow their lead on just about anything that they can sell (just look at the store with a name akin to Bullseye, they were selling all that LGBTQ type children's stuff when the LGBTQ crowd and the democrats were whining last year about transgender rights and holding transvestite shows in grammar schools (I am also for the tradition of tarring & feathering miscreants😂). Of course, retailers also sell early to make the big bucks before their competitors, again regardless of tradition.

 

As for me this year, I am thinking of getting a small live tree and decorating it. I'll probably do that soon after Thanksgiving (once the Christmas buying frenzy dies down a bit after Black Friday). I hope it to be something my son will replant in his backyard to remember me after I am gone; hopefully I won't be gone for many years yet to come. I also hope the tree, like our memories, will have grown nicely and be a joy to behold for my son's future Christmas celebrations. By the way, he already planted the one I gave him last year (or maybe it was two years ago).

 

As far as Christmas shopping goes, I have not always been that traditional. I have been known to start shopping for Christmas, in August, but not for anything specifically geared toward Christmas. I started that many years ago after watching Crazy Eddy commercials. Crazy Eddie was a NYC electronics retailer with some great a bit of off the wall commercials that just got me going out early ad doing some of my Christmas shopping in August. Mostly though, I wait until after Thanksgiving and it is a rare Christmas Eve that I do not go shopping for at least one present at the last minute. I may have misssed one or two shopping sprees on Christmas Eve over all my years since I have been around 12 years old (probably younger) but shopping on Chistmas Eve is a tradition I hope never to stop for as long as I live.

 

 

 

  

   

 

All the best,

Glenn  B

Incredibly Problematic

Incredibly Problemtic is how a retired U.S. Lt. Colonel describes the result of Biden allowing Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russia. What do you think he means by that! 

 

 

 

I only watched that video shortly after I entered my last blog post immediately prior to this one. I guess the colonel and I kind of, sort of, almost think alike about this issue.

 

My great grandfather seems to have been right when he in sum and substance told me if you want to go to war, elect a democrat.

 

Praying for peace but preparing for war may be the way to go

 

All the best,

Glenn B 

Did Biden Just Start WWIII...

 ...or was his decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S. made missiles deep into the heart of Russia (more at the source) exactly the type of brinkmanship needed to end that war. Honestly, if Ukraine launches a succesful, and thus a destructive, missile attack deep within Russia, I will be amazed if it does not trigger direct military retaliation against the Unites States or a tactical nuke strike on Ukraine or both. 

Another trip to buy canned food, bottled water and such may be in order. I hope Biden finally got something right but with his track record, I doubt it.

 

Then there is that nagging conspiracy theory in my head trying to convince me, this is part of a plan to nuke Trump's presidency by leaving him a war to fight. Yet, I find it hard to believe that Democrats would be as unAmerican and as stupid to start WWIII for political advantage, that mainly because with the devastation of our military readiness under Biden the odds are stacked high against us winning.

All the best,

Glenn B

Something Must Be Right At Least With My Credit

American Express sent me an email to let me know my credit score went down. So, I checked it. I do not know what it was before today but I can say it must have been excellent. Today it is 832 out of 850. It is nice to know that at least something in my life is going right financally.  

 

 They also said this:

 "Kudos! Your score is too high for an improvement plan.'

 

All I do is pay my bills on time. I guess I am good at that even when I go overboard a bit on spending like this current credit card cycle. I bought a decent amount of ammo in case Trump lost; the price of that plus the sofa and a couple of other things brought my score down. Anyhow, I am happy he won and that my son's and daughter's ammo inheritance has grown.

 

Now if only I could get good news from  FedEx on a sofa that I put on my Amex card. Two deliveries to date had to be returned because FedEx damaged them. They were supposed to deliver a third yesterday but sent me an email saying it would be delivered today instead. Well a FedEx truck pulled up outside my place a little while ago and the driver asked me what I had for her to pick up. She said there was no sofa in her truck and she double checked and said again she was sent here for a pick up. Oh well, business as usual with FedEx they stink in my opinion.

All the best,

Glenn B

 

 

 

 

Happy Veterans' Day

 To all who have served honorably in our military services, I hope your special day is a good one. You deserve more than just one day especially if you were disabled during your service.

All the best,

Glenn B

My Dentist Of Years Ago

 

  

Those are two memorable scenes, at least and especially for me, from the movie Marathon Man, starring Dustin Hoffman. The second one always gets to me when you think there really were monsters like that guy torturing children in similar (as in the first video) and much worse ways during WWII in the concentration camps. In fact there were monsters, anyway at least one, post WWII who did likewise years after the war's end.

Over the years I have met several people who were in those camps including one of my dentists. When I was a kid to young adult - he loved using the pick to enlarge cavities (or maybe even create them in a healthy tooth), then the drill likewise - according to him to get the filling in there really well. He told me that with glee and a smile on his face as he dug the pick into my tooth or went at it with the drill, the high pitched whine of it making me clench the arms of the chair and hold on for life while anticipating the pain.

 

 After I turned 24, when on a visit back home in NYC, I visited him for a check-up. I had one cavity (real or maybe created by his pick). Before going in with the drill, he told me he remembered I did not like pain (yes all of my previous cavities were drilled & filled by him without any pain medication at all) and he gave my my first injections of novocaine. The shots hurt like hell, going into the roof of my mouth and my gum too but I admit the subsequent drilling, which would have been terribly worse without the novocaine, was relatively painless.

 

It was during that visit that I, for the very first time, saw the numerical tattoo on his arm. Until then, his sleeves were always down but not that day. That day he had rolled them up. Before then I had never imagined that he had been imprisoned in a concentration camp and even if I had seen the tattoo before then, I may not have relized the significance - but I knew what it meant by then. Damn, my mother used to tell him how wonderful was Germany and how beautiful life was there (she was of German and Gottschee blood); he would go along with her babble, making as if he was a good little German who loved the old country. 

 

I am guessing that talk by my mom only went to fuel his hatred, that was born as a result of being in the camps. I feel for him considering his time in the camps; nonetheless, I see his time in the camps as no excuse for what he did to me and probably many other kids, as the neighborhood was made up of primarily ethnic Germans. It was nothing more or less than torture. I despise his treatments of me still today and will until the day I die; the bastard had tortured me in that manner several times always making me think it was normal to be in pain like that while at the dentist. Damn I hate the noise of the drill all these years later; it still sends shivers down my spine and to every extremity even though today I know it will not hurt because there is no way my dentist today will drill my teeth without a painkiller.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Trump Cleaning Up - Such A Nice Photo That I Could Not Resist Posting It

 

 

All the best,

GB

Oh Happy Days Yet To Come

Yes happy days ares soon to come now that President Trump has been reelected for a second but nonconsecutive term in office. He is only the second president in U.S history to have been reelected to a nonconsecutive term. The first was Grover Cleveland. He was a democrat but essentially nothing to very little like those of today as he was a fiscal conservative and had several other conservative ideals. He was more of a Trump than a Biden but still unlike either very much I suppose.

 

My congratulations to President Elect Donald Trump and to VP Elect J.D. Vance. Now all they need to do is avoid being assassinated by leftist loonies or Iranian assassins and my bet is attempts on at least Trump's life are yet to come. If they make it through their term unscathed over its four year duration, plus from now until the inauguration in January, the USA should start getting back on track as the greatest nation on this earth. I wish them only well, the same I wish for our country.

 

I guess it is also proper for me to congratulate all of you in our country who, like me, voted for President Trump and for me to say thank you to all of you. Together we have given our nation a chance at becoming not only great again but the greatest nation on the planet. I give my thanks to you because I cannot imagine having to spend four years under the thumb of that cackling hyena like she-devil of a wannabe tyrant Kamala Harris, that wussy-like twit of a VP Tim Walz and their constitutional republic destroying minion.

 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I Hope...

 ...that Fox News is not wrong again. In fact I have prayed they did not call the race too soon. Going back to bed soon, got up to walk Skye then sat down to watch election results and just saw Trump's speech. Let's face it, last time the slimeball left pulled votes out of nowhere at the last minute to beat him by hook or by crook. Let's hope it does not happen again.

All the best,

Glenn B

Slow At The Show

I have been manning two tables at a local, to my place, gun show since 0845 or so this morning. Show opened at 0900. So, I have been trying to sell guns, ammo and some other stuff for about 3 hours 45 minutes. So far my gross intake has been $90.00. 

 

I Would have thought, in fact I did think - with hunting season upon us and what with the possibility of an anti rights, especially an anti RKBA,  she-devil possibly winning the election in 3 days - that folks would be hedging their futures by buying ammo today. Truth is, the other dealers to whom I have spoken are not selling much either.  Oh well, I wasted $130.00 on two tables and anothe $20.00 on a raffle ticket and can only hope tomorrow is going to bring many more sales to my tables.

All the best,

Glenn B