Many of us will be giving and getting surprises in the upcoming days and I hope they are all pleasant ones. No surprise that I've been busy with my family this week and having an absolutely wonderful time.
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| Christmas tree with presents (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Besides running around doing fun things, my wife and I are enjoying a busy houseful of grandkids getting into things and being cute and sweet. It's nice having some of our daughters and their husbands with us as well. After everybody leaves next week this place sure will be quiet.
Are you having guests over or are you traveling this holiday season? Do you have any special plans for this busy time? What is the best Christmas surprise you've ever had?
Actually I wasn't totally sure what to expect from my Battle that featured the song "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar so in some ways the result was not an overly big surprise. What surprised me most pleasantly was finding the clip by former Spice Girl Melanie C where she sang the song in a beautiful traditional manner and discovering the unique take of the song by Sinead O'Connor.
Usually I'm not much of a fan of Sinead, but I liked the emotion that she injected into her version and especially the Celtic musical style of the instrumental backing. I thought both versions of the song were nicely done, but O'Connor's version was more captivating and more interesting to me. I vote for Sinead O'Connor on this round.
Final Vote Tally
Melanie C 12
Sinead O'Connor 15
Next Battle on Sunday January 1, 2017
Hopefully I'll be able to get up the post promised for Monday December 26th--the next installment of my President Trump Acclimation Series--but if I don't it's because I've been kept too busy with Christmas activities. In any case, barring anything out of the ordinary happening, I'll be back on the first day of 2017 with another Battle of the Bands installment.
Have a very Merry Christmas!
Sounds like a great Christmas is being had already at your pad as the grandkids run about. Close one this time too.
ReplyDeletePat, it will be a quiet as a tomb in winter snow after everyone leaves. For now though our house is like pandemonium.
DeleteLee
Merry Christmas! Sounds like a houseful. Our Christmas is usually just my wife and I, but we like it that way. Best Christmas surprise - a guitar!
ReplyDeleteAlex, my wife and I almost always have our quiet time together so right now it's kind of fun.
DeleteLee
Hope you have a great Christmas weekend!
ReplyDeleteNasreen, Thank you so much and hope all has been well for you.
DeleteLee
Sounds like you're having a fabulous time already, Lee! Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hubby and I will be on on own (no relatives here) with a houseful of other peoples' dogs. We actually enjoy that and do a Christmas movie marathon, in between dog duties. We have an Italian-style seafood feast on the 24th and as per German tradition, open our gifts then, too.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not a huge Sinead fan, I'm glad she won. Her version was more interesting. At least this was a close battle. I got another blowout! One more post, then I'm off until 2017, so Happy New Year as well. Cheers!
Debbie D, I was glad Sinead came out ahead as I thought her version was very unique from any other and it was a special cover. Sounds like you and your husband have some nice days ahead. Here's to the greatest year ever in 2017.
DeleteLee
Merry Christmas, Arlee! It's always nice to have the grandkids around. I don't get that luxury, as I've never had children, but I will be spending my holiday with family members.
ReplyDelete~Mary
Mary, being with any family can be nice. I will miss seeing my siblings in Tennessee, but this time with daughters and their families is so much fun.
DeleteLee
Merry Christmas to you too, Arlee. Enjoy those grandkids. We are having our Christmas all together this year, something we haven't had in 3 years since my husband has had to be with his mom in Oregon.
ReplyDeleteJanet, I miss having Christmas with my mom, but those times will always be cherished in my memory. Now we're making new memories for the next generations.
DeleteLee
That surprised me Lee.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful Christmas and likewise New Year from a dear friend.
Yvonne.
Yvonne, I really didn't know which way this Battle would go, but since Sinead isn't the most popular with many people I half expected her to end up behind Sporty Spice.
DeleteLee
Sounds like you have a full house! Christmas morning will be exciting! We're hosting my stepkids and their partners (total of 6 including us). We're making deli platters and I'm baking up a storm. Best Christmas surprise? Probably the stereo I got when I was 13 in 1977. I never asked for one....I didn't dare ask for a big ticket item like that. So I'd known my mom hid a new raincoat for my dad in the office closet. That morning she told me to go in the office to get his last gift. The stereo was sitting on the desk with a big bow. I didn't utter a sound. I didn't dare hope it was for me. I returned with the raincoat and my parents were like, "uh.....didn't you notice anything in the office?" I said, 'The stereo? I saw it. I assumed it was for dad or something.' But it was for me. Then I did a happy dance. lol
ReplyDeleteJoJo, The stereo story is a good one. The unexpected surprises are the truest and best surprises of all. Have a great time with all your family this Christmas.
DeleteLee
Nice close battle. I'm glad Sinead O'Connor won. I really enjoyed her version of the song.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having a wonderful time with your family! Good to hear! It's just me and the dogs (a lot of them!) this year. I'm planning on ordering Chinese food on Christmas Eve so that's my big splurge. And a Mod Squad marathon on Christmas day :)
Merry Christmas to you and yours! Enjoy all that family love!
Michele at Angels Bark
Michele, nothing like a great Chinese Christmas dinner! Reminds me of A Christmas Story when the family ends up in the Chinese restaurant. I guess Chinese food at Christmas is a traditional meals for many Jews from what I've heard since many restaurants are closed that day but not Chinese. In fact I recall sometime in the late 70's going to a Chinese restaurant in Richmond, VA on Christmas day with my wife at the time because that was the only place we found open. I wasn't disappointed.
DeleteMerry Christmas to you and great things in the coming year.
Lee
Glad to hear your family is coming to visit, I know you and your wife are enjoying it. Have a Merry Christmas Lee.
ReplyDeleteAnn, thank you and all the best to you and yours.
DeleteLee
Enjoy the festive season Arlee! Also How do you join Battle of the Bands? Is there a sign up list?
ReplyDeleteSheena-kay, we'd love to have you join us for Battle of the Bands. Let Stephen T. McCarthy know since he keeps the master list or just tell me that you're going to join us and I'll let him know.
DeleteIt would be great to have your insights on music.
You have a great Christmas and New Year.
Lee
Have a Merry Christmas! We'll be having family over on Christmas Eve, then enjoying just the four of us on Christmas Day.
ReplyDeleteShannon, have as much fun with your family as I'm having with mine!
DeleteLee
Happy Christmas to you and your family! I celebrated Christmas for the first eighteen years of my life, though the last few were very emotionally difficult, since I knew I was going to start converting to Judaism as soon as I turned eighteen. My parents didn't give me or my little brother any religion, so we could choose our own as adult, but I consider myself to have been raised as a secular unbaptized Catholic. My paternal grandma, who's in the other world now, said I was the best Christmas present she ever got, since I was her first (of only two) grandchildren, and I was born on the 18th of December.
ReplyDeleteEvery girl in my first grade class wanted the talking doll Cricket for Christmas or Chanukah 1986. I was never really into dolls, except for collectibles not meant for playing with, but even I wanted that doll. My parents couldn't afford Cricket, but that year, I got an atlas and globe from my uncle. The globe fell apart years ago, but I still use the atlas all the time, even though some of the names and borders are really outdated. It's lasted me a lot longer than Cricket would've, and it's really special to see my uncle's handwritten inscription, since he passed away on St. Patrick's Day 1988.
Carrie-Anne--Your grandmother said the right thing in telling you about being a Christmas present. One of my granddaughters has her birthday on 12/21 so I could say the same thing about her.
DeleteI like the atlas and globe present. My parents gave me a globe when I was a kid and I loved it while it lasted.
Lee
LEE ~
ReplyDeleteBOTB is interesting in that it seems to move in strange ways, with a life and rhythm of its own.
In the previous round, there were a lot of blowouts, and Robin and I seemed to have the only two relatively close Battles. But this time, there were several Battles decided by only three votes, and yet I had one of the biggest blowouts I've ever had. It seems BOTB will always be full of surprising twists and turns.
You put together some really nice Battles for us this year, and it was a lot of fun. We'll keep it going in 2017, McBuddy.
I've got one planned for February which is absolutely, positively going to be a massive blowout -- no question about it -- and yet I think it's the neatest BOTB concept I've ever conjured up. I can hardly wait to get to that one!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with too, in the era of Trump. YAY!! (I think if Hellary had won, I'd have shut everything down and headed for the hills with a shotgun and a hound dog. Ha!)
Have a fun and safe Christmas / New Year's celebration and we'll catch up next year... unless you get that next Trump post up on the 26th.
~ D-FensDogG
"The King Of Hostility"
STMcC--Not sure I'll manage that next Trump post on the 26th with so much going on at my house. If I don't then I'll get back to it after things slow down at my house.
DeleteI'll likely continue to continue my blog focus on BOTB posts after I finish my Trump series. Or maybe I'll find another topic to focus on--or not.
Lee
Enjoy every minute with those grandkids, Lee. I'm trying to deal with this being our last Christmas for a while with our eldest grandson (he's enlisted in the Marines, leaves right after graduation) and the eldest granddaughter is heading off to college. Second generation empty nest. Sigh. Have a very merry Christmas.
ReplyDelete