White Christmas
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
Early on a beautiful Sunday morning 81 years ago, the world changed.
At 7:55 a.m local. December 7, 1941 the attack begins.
Pearl Harbor Attack
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to remove what it saw as a threat to the empire’s southern expansion. The Pearl Harbor attack hurt us badly, but it also hardened our resolve and brought us fully into WWII.
Snopes has some photos that were purported to be found in an old Brownie camera years after the attack. The story was untrue, but the photos are archival and genuine.
The U.S. Navy has a Pearl Harbor site with more photos.
Chris at A Large Regular has linked to this National Geographic Pearl Harbor site in the past. It has a multimedia timeline, survivor stories, a kid’s section, and more.
Joy to the World
Joy to the World
The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart
Prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and heaven and nature sing
Joy to the world
The Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
He rules the world
With truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders of His love
We Three Kings
Hugh Jackman! (Wolverine….), David Hobson, Peter Cousen
We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.
Refrain
O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.
Refrain
Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.
Refrain
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
Refrain
Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.
Refrain
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly sounding o’er the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ whose birth the angels sing
Come adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the newborn King!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
See Him in the manger laid
Whom the choirs of angels praise;
Mary, Joseph lend your aid,
While our hearts in love we raise
Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Armistice Day, Veterans’ Day, Remembrance Day
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)
There’s been much made of Nazi stuff and the N-word on Twitter now. Mostly, I think, because people are testing limits, but whatever.
I haven’t seen any.
Because I don’t follow those people.
And I don’t go searching out those terms to see who is using them so I can scream about it.
Because my time is worth more than that.
If such were to cross my timeline, I’d consider the context, then consider whether or not to unfollow the person so as to not see that sh*t on my timeline.
Because I have the choice over whether or not I want to see it.
I don’t need other people to do that for me.
The WORX MAKERX Crafting Tool Deluxe Combo Kit* is a cordless (the cord goes to the battery – not to the wall) rotary tool, angle grinder, airbrush, wood burner, and heat gun that all run off the same battery system. And it’s on sale with Prime Early Access!
This is a great set that I personally own and use. It comes with accessories and a nice bag to store everything in.
Being a battery-powered set is great because you’re not tied to the wall outlet. You can take it outside to work, work out in the driveway, and don’t need extension cords. Especially when using the wood burning tool, you don’t have to get the odors of burned wood in the house – or accidentally set off the smoke alarms!
*I may receive a commission if items are purchased through the links on this blog.
I got to meet my cosplay role model, Yaya Han, at DragonCon this weekend. I can only aspire to be just a fraction as good as she is in making costumes and props. She is an inspiration.
It’s hard to tell from the photo because of the masks, but it is her. I also got an autographed photo of her as Jessica Rabbit. She’s very sweet and took time to speak with everyone in her line.
Thanks Yaya!
Sometime after Christmas of 2020, we moved a small flat-screen TV we had into the living room and put it on the mantle so my husband could have the news on while he was working. He’d moved his office there in March when my son and daughter-in-law moved from Illinois to be with us here in Tennessee.
After Thanksgiving of 2021, we had a decision to make: Mount the small TV so there would be room for our Christmas decorations or buy a better TV to mount and move the small one to the basement gym which was a plan for the small one before the kids moved in and we put it on the mantle. We just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
I did some looking around online to see which TV might work best and found out that Samsung was having a sale on the Frame TVs at the time. We’d looked at them at Best Buy a few years ago just to see what they looked like and we were impressed by their slimness and that you could put up art or photos and not have a big black rectangle on the wall if you weren’t watching television.
So we ordered a 43-inch Samsung Frame TV. All the Frames come with mounting brackets and they mount flush to the wall, just like a picture frame. Ours also came with feet so we could, if we wanted, set it on a TV stand or other piece of furniture. You can also buy an easel to put the Frame on.
Mounting was really easy. There’s a template, tape it to the wall, make sure it’s level, drill through and then mount the brackets per the instructions. Plug the “invisible” cord into the back of the TV and hang it on the wall. The other end of the “invisible” cord plugs into the box that runs everything and can be 15 feet away from the TV. This is plugged into the power outlet and your cable, DVD/BluRay/Game System/Sound System are all plugged into this box.
We are really pleased with our Frame purchase. It looks elegant above the fireplace when not in use (and even when in use). We have a rotating set of artwork appearing on the screen.
Near the center, you can see the “invisible” cord. It’s pretty transparent and really does disappear into the background. The cord can also come out from either side of the Frame if wanted. The little bump on the bottom right contains the motion sensor which will turn the screen back on if someone comes into the room.
You can see here just how close to the wall the Frame hangs.
This is the box that controls everything. Our little cable box is just beyond it. You can just see the “invisible cord coming from behind Santa’s chair and swagging over to the brown cabinet.
If you’re looking for a TV that doesn’t look like a TV when it’s not in use I’d highly recommend the Samsung Frame TV.
