There are certain movies that when you happen upon them on telly you just have to sit and watch them all the way through, no matter how many times you’ve seen them. Christmas Vacation is one of those movies for me.

My job is 65% event planning, so my concept of time is a bit skewed these days, as I’m already planning next year, and I break for the holidays in just over three weeks so that time of year is fast approaching for me. Usually after the American Thanksgiving you start to see the flood of holiday movies fill the television listings, and I saw and advert for Christmas Vacation last night and I couldn’t help but think how my life would be made if I was able to get my hands on these moose mugs.

I joke that my father is Clarke Griswold, and in all seriousness, it’s true. John Hughes hit the nail on the head when creating that character and Chevy Chase’s delivery is spot on. I’m sure I’m not the only one who identifies with the Griswold family, it’s part of the charm of the movies, and what makes them classics.

I remember last year around this time when I dug out my DVDs and announced to the Boy it was time to watch Christmas Vacation, and he admitted to never having seen any of them. After I picked my jaw up off the ground I told him if he was going to survive my family it was good to know a few things – that the Griswold’s are the best fictional representation of my family and you will at some point hear this speech from my father:

Well, I’ll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation! It’s a quest! It’s a quest for fun. I’m going to have fun and you’re going to have fun. We’re all going to have so much fucking fun, we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles. You’ll be whistling zippity-doo-dah out of your assholes!

I felt it only fair to prepare the fellow for what he’s about to step into. When I’m back east next we’re going away on a short mini break with the parentals. I expect stories to come from that. As my family has one switch (go!) and the Boy operates on more of a laid back level. At the very least it will make for good blog talk.

What films can you watch year after year?

I’ve been trying to formulate my weekend into thoughts, and further into sentences, but alas my brain is just not working. I am exhausted, but in the best possible way. Filled with good food, great musical listening and shining memories of dear friend visits over too soon.

So instead of rambling, some music…

p.s. Seeing Billy Bragg last night at the Commodore in Vancouver was brilliant. He is the perfect combination of storytelling and tenacity you want in a folk singer. A superb concert all-around, and well worth price of admission.

I just blogged for work. On Blogger, which I haven’t logged onto in over two years.

It felt odd. Like I was accessing a past Interweb-self, even though I wasn’t blogging as myself (well technically, I was blogging as my real name, but not for myself…ah, usernames you can be so very confusing).  Anyway, I used to lament the fact that I deleted my old blog, but having logged on today I was kind of glad to have erased that digital footprint as I very  much like this space here, and feel it reflects a lot more of me than the other one did.  And I will not be deleting this one (and please feel free to remind me of this if I ever decide to in the future). I’ve been blogging for just over four years now and it’s interesting to see how your relationships change – with your blog itself, with your readers and ultimately your own relationship with the Internet.

Lately, I will admit I’ve been somewhat disinterested in what is going on online. I hardly spend any time online, and if I do, its one of about a half a dozen sites, so in this regard I feel like the Internet is well, getting boring. Although to be fair, it really hasn’t changed, I’ve just outgrown certain parts of it.  The same things don’t keep my interest, but I suspect that to will change as things continue to evolve and it’s nice to have this space to come  back to share treasures found online or to just update everyone with what’s happening. And the one thing that has kept me blogging for over four years, is really the comments from you, the readers, and the dialogues created from those comments away from this space. Who knew that was possible? So I must thank-you for that.

Do you think blogs will exist 5, 10 or even15 years from now?

On a completely unrelated note, I found this photo while searching for a something for a work event. Look at those chubby arms!

p.s. Did you see this years word of the year? *insert fist shake*

I don’t think  last years house even compares to this one.

Not completely finished, due to time constraints the polar bear will have to be added at a later date. As every little gingerbread house needs a bit of chaos to make the magic come to life. Although we got the ball rolling here with the gingerbread men climbing the roof.

Next year, we’re going for a two-story.

Materials used:

Roof – pretzels

House Siding – fondant (blue) and buttercream icing

House Front – chocolate pebbles and buttercream icing

Tree – gumpaste and fondant

Pathway – satin hard candies and candy corn

Pond and bridge – icing, pretzels and chocolate pebbles