Two Wally’s Weeks of Holiday Fun!

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I hate to be a spoiler of movie plotlines, but this one for the new “Avengers; Endgame” movie was just too good to pass up! (You know, in MY world, THIS is exactly what would happen!)

And then…

During my recent trip to my TMJ doctor’s office to diagnose my issues, I snapped this picture of my X-rays. (Say it in Spicoli’s voice… “It’s my SKULL!”)

I was singing this song all throughout the Christmas week. It sounds a lot like a kid’s record I would have had as a child. It’s called “Santa Claus’ Party” by Les Baxter. (Why can I envision Andy Kaufman lip synching this song in his act?)

And then…

Nothing like a little B.B. King to bring in a New Year! Will “Bringing in a Brand New Year” be the new “Auld Lang Syne?” That would be REALLY cool! I love this song’s energy! (We might even take a trip to Mars? COOL!)

Monday the 17th – BOOKKEEPING BLAHS! – I did some work around the house to start the day, made some calls, and then put on my good walking shoes and walked over to the post office to drop off some eBay stuff. I strolled over to the pharmacy to pick up a few items, got a few grocery items at the grocery store, and then headed back home. It was a gorgeous day and a wonderful walk! My neighbor needed some assistance with a repairman, since she wasn’t home, so I made myself available to help. I stayed with him for a while as he worked away on her oven, but he couldn’t get authorization to do the work needed from the owner of the house (my neighbor rents her unit instead of owns) so he had to leave without finishing the work. My neighbor was furious. So I went back to my house and did a few auditions. Later my pal Brittney came by so we could stop by the Christmas House in Burbank and eat dinner at the Coral Café. I came back home to relax, take a short nap, and when I got up later I had to attend to a ton of year-end bookkeeping. I dread this time of year for this very reason. I’d rather eat ground glass than go through this aggravating insanity, but it must be done. When I finished I needed to decompress a bit, so I took Roxy for a long late-night walk while I enjoyed a nice cigar. Then I came back inside, completely mentally wiped, and hit the hay.

Tuesday the 18th – REPAIRMAN – TAKE 2! – In the afternoon I assisted my neighbor with the repairman fiasco again. He arrived at her place to finish the work (which had been authorized to be completed) but his office forgot to call me so I could go let him in. So he took off. His office called and apologized, said he went to another job, but he would be back in about an hour. So I figured I’d continue to wait. But I told them I was only a few doors down from her unit and I could be there at a moment’s notice. So later they called and said he’d be there in 20 minutes. I went to her house to wait and pet her Greyhound named Abbie. By the time the repairman had arrived, however, my neighbor’s roommate had returned home and she took it from there. I went back to my house to record some auditions, but I had acquired another TMJ headache. So I laid down to nap for a while. I got up to write Wally’s Week, fed the pets, did some prep work for Wednesday, made some lasagna, and watched a few more episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie” from the third season box set.

Wednesday the 19th – A VERY LURIE CHRISTMAS! – Toward the end of the day I went to my TMJ doctor’s office for a follow-up appointment. He looked over my X-rays and diagnosis materials from my previous visit, and he said he would like to fit me with a specially-made orthodontic appliance that will correct my problem. He said I’d have to wear it 16 hours a day. I told him that wasn’t likely to happen, given my career choice. After receiving all the information from him, I decided to wait until after my tooth implant was in and then go from there. I’m kind of hoping that once I’m chewing regularly on both sides of my mouth again, the problem may correct itself. That’s my hope anyway. But since I have to take everything one step at a time, I think that’s the best plan of action. And now that I’m aware of the imbalance of my jaw (which creates the TMJ pain and other symptoms) I can do a bit of self-correcting to mitigate the issues I’m having. But first I need to get my implant installed on January 4th, let that heal, and then get my crown on in March. After that, we’ll see how everything goes. It can all be confusing, but I think that’s the most logical way to proceed. I got home and took a short nap, and then got up to head over to my friend Edi and Elliot’s Christmas party. They have a great house in the Hollywood Hills and it’s the first time I’ve seen it. A lot of our friends were there and it was a wonderful night! We sang songs, listened to Elliot play, had great food, and then I came back home to do some auditions. I took all night “Christmas Nappies” on The Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe. (To find out what “Christmas Nappies” are, please refer to previous Wally’s Weeks) I was so comfortable, in fact, I slept in until 10am on Thursday morning!!

Thursday the 20th – SANTA SERVES SHIRLEY! – Since I was up at 10, and had slept through the night, I called my friend Edi to see if she wanted to meet for lunch. We met at Jerry’s Famous Deli at noon for a bite, and then I headed over to the post office to drop off some more eBay shipments. In my end-of-year quest to purge my residence of some of the clutter that’s complicating my life, I figured eBay would be the best venue for some of my items, while the donation bins at Goodwill would be a better option. I’m pleasantly surprised that some of my items are selling quite well on eBay. Some of the items I bought years ago and simply never got around to using! I gassed up my car, picked up a few groceries, chatted with my friend Aaron at the grocery store, and then went back home to put the groceries away and do some work. I recorded a few auditions, and then my friend Sara came over so we could go to dinner. But on the way to go eat, I decided to stop by Bed, Bath and Beyond and pick up a small microwave oven for my “adopted grandma” Shirley. She had been complaining that the food service at her residence was pretty lousy, and while the breakfasts in the morning were hot, the lunches and dinners were cold. So I met up with Santa Claus at the store and we picked out a nice microwave for her. Santa asked that I deliver it to her on his behalf, since he was really swamped this time of year, so I told him I’d be glad to. Sara and I ran it over to her residence and left it with the girl at the front desk for delivery. Santa had already written Shirley’s name on it and signed his own name. Good ol’ Santa. Now Shirley will have hot food, and can even make some popcorn or reheat her food from the previous night’s outing. Sara and I weren’t in the mood to fight the holiday crowds at the restaurants, so we got Taco Bell drive thru and headed to my house to eat it. After she left I took a nap, got up later to do some work around the house, walked Roxy, and hit the hay.

Friday the 21st – A COLD MOON ON THE LONGEST NIGHT! – This time of year features my favorite day. No, not Christmas, but rather ‘The Longest Night.’ It’s that one day of the year when you have more night-time hours than day-time hours in a 24 hour period. The equinox; the first day of winter. To make it even more special, we were expecting a big, bright full moon later to help us through ‘The Longest Night.’ Tonight would be that night. My day started with a meeting at Jerry’s Famous Deli with my pal Joe Garner. On the way in I noticed Jon Voight sitting at a booth drinking coffee, waiting for a friend. Since he wasn’t eating, and was by himself, I took the opportunity to shake his hand and tell him how much I enjoyed his work. We chatted for a bit and I told him I was a Voice Actor. Nice guy! But as soon as I got seated with Joe I started telling him whom I had just met. Just then Mr. Voight walked up to our table and asked for my card. He said if he heard of any Voice-Over work he would let me know. What a cool guy!!! He didn’t need to do that, but he did. And it was amazing! They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore! On my way home I fought the crowded parking lot and went to The Gap. They were in their final few weeks of business, as they’d be closing that location on the 26th. I had gotten several pair of really nice jeans there a few weeks ago for 70% off, so I wanted to pick up a few more. Unfortunately all the jeans my size were already gone, but I did pick up three pair of black pants that totaled to less than $3 a pair! Unbelievable! The wait in line was considerable (about 20 minutes) but I had nowhere else to be just then, so the savings were totally worth it! I went back home, did some work, and grabbed some evening “Christmas Nappies.” When I got up later that night I did some eBay stuff in my improvised garage “eBay studio” and listened to the radio while I worked. I was going to make the most of this year’s ‘Longest Night.’ I finished up, fed and walked Roxy, and then headed off to Denny’s to get some food. Since I had finished the third season DVD set of “I Dream of Jeannie” I started in on the final four discs in my “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” DVD set. The shows are now into the late 80’s period, right around the time I moved to Los Angeles. Great shows! Very entertaining. Today’s late-night hosts should be “Clockwork Oranged”; forced to sit through weeks of Carson reruns with their eyes pried open with metal prongs. Maybe then they would understand how to perform REAL comedy in a late-night setting. Good Lord how I miss Carson. Good Lord how I miss Jay Leno!

Saturday the 22nd – eBay, GOODWILL, OR CENTRAL? THAT IS THE QUESTION! – Later in the afternoon I woke up, worked around the house, listed the eBay stuff that I had taken pictures of the previous night in my improvised garage “eBay studio,” and prepared for that evening’s movie night. We watched a screener of “Green Book,” and when everyone left I took some “Christmas Nappies.” Later I started making a list of all my “purged” items, and categorized them into items that I would be selling on eBay, donating to Goodwill, or donating to my old high school’s theater department. I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad and watched an episode of “SNL” from 1977. It featured Andy Kaufman doing his famous bongo/foreign emcee act. Hilarious!

Sunday the 23rd – WI-FI WTF!? – Late in the afternoon I got up in time for evening church. On the way to dinner, Shirley and I stopped by my seamstress’ house to pick up my Rowlf the Dog puppet we had been working on. She had the fur cut for the head portion, and it was pinned on so I could start forming the foam body pieces. I didn’t want to risk creating the foam understructure pieces without having the head present to use for scale. Shirley and I grabbed sandwiches at Jersey Mike’s, I dropped her off at her clubhouse, and then I came home to enjoy some “Christmas Nappies.” Knowing that my favorite 12 hour Christmas radio show “Christmas Across the Lands” wouldn’t be airing this year in the Los Angeles market, (due to programming stupidity at the area radio stations) I figured out a way to hear it via streaming through various websites belonging to stations around the country that would be airing it. My main entertainment unit downstairs in the theater is wired to play audio all through the house; the Chaney Room, the Puppet Room, and the Tranquility Zone. When I moved into this unit in 2000 it was my wish that my central unit would feed audio to all the rooms in the house, so I could enjoy music or programming regardless of where I was in the house. So I had my A/V guy run wiring throughout the house for that very purpose. I don’t often use it, but when I need it, it’s nice to have. An additional amplifier in my system takes a feed from the main receiver and through several speaker ports on the back, shoots the audio to each set of speakers. One of the components in my system is my iPod. It consists simply of a cable with a male mini plug on one end, and dual RCA jacks on the other end. I plug the mini plug into the iPod’s headphone jack, and plug the RCA jacks into the auxiliary in ports on the front of my receiver. It works terrific! Since I have so much music on my iPod, it’s a lot like radio WALLY broadcast all through the house. So my idea was, if I could get my tablet or iPad to steam the stations carrying the show through my home wi-fi, I could integrate it into my home system and hear the show all throughout the house all night long on Christmas Eve. So tonight was my dry run. It all started out very well, but for some reason the tablet and iPad would shut down after about 15 minutes. I think the units thought I was no longer using them, even though a stream of programming was coming through. So I had to go into my settings and try and defeat the auto shut-off mechanisms. Then I figured out a great plan. While I napped, or was away at church, I could RECORD the stream on a VHS tape (set at the 6 hour speed) so I wouldn’t miss any of the show. This meant going down to the garage, digging through boxes to find suitable VHS tapes, and dusting them off for use. In theory, everything seemed to be working fine, especially since I had somehow defeated the “sleep” setting on the iPad and tablet so they would keep the stream going, even when I wasn’t home. But then I had trouble keeping the stream going. Apparently the wi-fi in my house isn’t too good. Something about exceeded bandwidth or something. (The things I have to go through just to hear my favorite Christmas radio show every year!) I know that some of the stations airing “Christmas Across the Lands” would begin airing the show at 9am Eastern time on Christmas Eve day, which meant at 6am my time I could start recording the show for playback Monday night/Tuesday morning. It was a very VERY foggy Christmas Eve morning (would Rudolph be needed this year?) and it was simply gorgeous! I did some work until about 11am and then went to bed.

Monday the 24th – MAGICAL CHRISTMAS EVE! – Every year my Christmas Eve tradition is the same. Roxy and I go to my church’s “Living Nativity” display before the evening service, then I nap, get up for the midnight candlelight service at 11pm, come home and do something creative around the house while listening to “Christmas Across the Lands,” make a Chef Boyardee pizza, and go to bed to enjoy my dinner with a fun video. It’s the same every year, and I don’t like any deviation from that tradition, being the OCD person I am. But this year, there were issues. My church’s “Living Nativity” happens just before the Christmas Eve family service at 5:30pm. I always like to take Roxy over there so she can see the sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys, chickens and bunnies. Just as we were leaving, my young neighbor kid Ben and his mom were outside goofing around. I asked them to come along and see the animals. So we all walked over to the church as the sun began to set. About a block away from the church Roxy pointed her nose in the air and started sniffing. She could smell the animals from that distance! She started to get excited. I honestly think something kicks on in her DNA as a herding dog when she smells farm animals like that. Roxy walked around the pen, stuck her nose through the slats and sniffed and kissed all the animals; paying particular attention to the smaller animals. Once everyone got their pictures, they went inside for the service. But Roxy and I stayed outside with the animals and talked to several people. As the service ended, and people began to stream out of the church, Roxy decided she wanted to be a part of the Living Nativity. She climbed up on the hay bales (without ANY urging from me; this was all her doing!) that were set up behind the kids portraying Mary and Joseph in the manger, and laid down as if she were on display too. People were coming out of the church laughing and snapping pictures saying, “Look at that dog! Was Lassie present at the birth of Jesus?” I’m not sure what goes through Roxy’s mind during times like these, but she makes me laugh. It was a great night and everybody had a fun time. We walked home and I checked on my VHS recording of the streaming iPad. The tape was running fine (good ol’ analog) but it was the stream on the iPad that had dumped. RATS! I was furious! Now I’ll have all sorts of empty space on my tape and I won’t be able to enjoy the playback later during my annual Christmas Eve tradition. I got the stream back on my iPad, restarted the tape, and walked all through the house to make sure everything was coming in loud and clear. But when I got upstairs to the Tranquility Zone, I noticed I had no right channel. NOW WHAT?! Good grief, Charlie Brown! So I went into the Puppet Room and Chaney Room to see if it was just a problem isolated to the Tranquility Zone, but it was an issue in all three rooms. I went to the auxiliary amplifier and checked all the speaker connections. All were sound. I checked the feed coming in from the main receiver. It was sound. So I turned down the sound in the theatre and turned up the speakers in the Chaney Room full blast. That way if the right channel came back on I would hear it easily. I wiggled wires and nothing. I turned the balance knob on the auxiliary amplifier all the way to the right. Nothing. Then I upped the volume on the auxiliary amplifier. CRACKLE! SPUTTER! CRACKLE! CRACK! POP! The audio popped on. It was as simple as a dirty balance knob! I worked out the cobwebs by panning left to right, and back again, and we were back in business! I turned on the radio station (who shall remain nameless) that usually runs “Christmas Across the Lands” in L.A., and (get this!) they were running repeats of political talk shows!!! What?! Really? Since when did the Grinch become a radio station Program Director? Who wants to listen to political talk shows on Christmas Eve?! Give me a break! Their idiocy knows no bounds. In fact, I even Tweeted the station my disgust, but I doubt they’ll read it. Even if they do, I doubt they’ll care. But I needed to get a short nap before the candlelight service so I could stay up all night doing my usual Christmas Eve tradition. So far the wi-fi was holding strong, so I napped until 10:30. The candlelight service from 11 to midnight was gorgeous as always. While I napped it had rained a little bit, so our Christmas Eve featured moist, beautiful streets that reflected all of the lights on the neighborhood houses. I got back home to start my annual Christmas Eve tradition. Of course, when I checked the iPad, my wi-fi had dumped. So I re-established the stream and listened to a few hours of the show streamed live from a station in New Ulm, Minnesota. The taping-to-VHS thing was a total bust because of spotty wi-fi service in my house. But the charming thing about listening to the show on that station, were the station breaks. It’s a very small market station, and the radio personalities all had that homey, small-town kind of sound that I would have heard on the radio when I was a kid. I started working on cutting foam pieces for the understructure of my Rowlf the Dog puppet, having a great time listening to “Christmas Across the Lands” and relaxing. But at 2am the station in New Ulm went into regular programming. I still had several hours of work to do, and I didn’t want to go searching around to find another stream. Luckily, earlier in the day, Santa had gifted me with mp3 files of the entire show to listen to at my leisure. So I broke out the files and listened to them that way. Whew! THANKS SANTA!!! It was a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve, and when I finished with the pieces to Rowlf’s body, I started my traditional Chef Boy Aredee pizza, got ready for bed, and watched an episode of “SNL” from their second season in 1977. It was their Christmas episode from that year that featured the winner of their “Anyone Can Host” contest. It was the next episode in line to be watched during my regular “SNL” cycle anyway, so I just decided to move it up a few days and watch it then. Perfect timing!

Tuesday the 25th – CHRISTMAS DAY! – Around 4 I woke up and during a walk with Roxy I realized that it was really windy out! I guess because we had a little bit of rain the day before, the wind kicked up, as it always does in L.A. after a rain. I picked Shirley up and we headed to the Smoke House restaurant, as is our annual tradition, with Scott and Vickie Sebring. Since Shirley had her new microwave from Santa Claus, she was excited to bring home some leftovers that she could heat up the next day for lunch. I had some leftover ham and turkey that I had saved for the pets. But when I got home I realized that Shirley and I had accidentally swapped food boxes! I got her food, and she got mine. Oh well. I took a nap and then got up to do some work around the house, and get ready for a new week, and a new year! Wow! Where did the time go?!

Wednesday the 26th – WORK? REALLY?! – Though it’s a fairly rare occurrence, occasionally I’ll be called in to work during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. But we had to make up some sessions, and since both the director and I were in town and available, we were called to Bang Zoom studios to work on the on-going digital assistant job I’ve been doing for the past 3 years. We worked from 4:30 to 7:30, and then I came home to do some work. I grabbed a nap, and when I got up I started in on a lot of projects around the house. I pulled a bunch of unused clothes from my collection in the Puppet Room which will promptly get listed on eBay. I did some more work on Rowlf the Dog, and turned in for another busy day on Thursday.

Thursday the 27th – CLOSURE! COMPLETION! – Once again at 4 I was back at Bang Zoom studios in Burbank to work several hours on the digital assistant job. Not only did we finish the script for a separate demo we needed to record, but we finished the script that had been given to us. We were all done for the year! Of course, new scripts would be coming our way after January 1st, but it was a good feeling to have completed all the tasks we were assigned. I got some groceries on the way home, put all the groceries away when I arrived at Planet Wallywood, and napped. I got up later to do some more work on the Rowlf the Dog puppet’s foam understructure. I’m really liking how this is coming together! I haven’t made a puppet in decades, and I’m finding it a very fun process. I made some spaghetti and watched a few more Johnny Carson episodes.

Friday the 28th – LUPIN THE 3rd, ON THE 28TH! – For the third day in a row I had another Voice-Over session. This time it was at Wowmax in Glendale for a show called “Lupin the Third.” One of my first Voice-Over jobs back in the late 90’s was providing the voice of the famous Japanese title character for a series of motion comics. But this time I’d be working with my pal Richard Epcar and doing several miscellaneous voices for various characters. I grabbed some Burger King on the way home, and did some work when I got home before taking a short nap. Later that night I spent several hours finessing the ear patterns for Rowlf the Dog. I studied photos of Rowlf from all different angles to get the exact shape and size. But after about three tries, I feel I nailed it! The secret is, the widest part of his ears occur at his chin level. Once I locked into that, it was a piece of cake. I just need to glue the fleece down on his face and head, and he can be returned to Shelley my seamstress for completion! I drove over to Denny’s to get some food (my usual order) but they were out of buffalo sauce for my buffalo chicken strips. It’s doubly disappointing considering that I like to use the leftover strips in my macaroni and cheese a few nights later. I watched more Johnny Carson and turned in for the night.

Saturday the 29th – DOG WASHING & DOG WASHERS! – Right at noon I got up and took Roxy over the groomer’s for a good (and much-needed bath!) Then I went to the hardware store to pick up a few washers that I would need to secure the bolts on Rowlf’s eye pieces on to the puppet’s head when it was finished. My maids came over to clean later in the afternoon, and when I went to pick up Roxy I also took my cat Spooky over to get his nails trimmed. Everyone at the groomer’s was in a festive mood and it was fun standing around chatting. Though Spook, who was sitting quietly in his travel bag, would have much rather been home warming himself by the fireplace. I got cleaned up and headed into Hollywood to pick up my pal Rob for a screening of “Stan and Ollie” at the Arclight theater. It was playing only for a limited time, and I wanted to make sure to see it on the big screen several more times before it went to DVD. Rob is one of the theater organists at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. But Rob and I go way back. I knew him when he was 18 years old, and I was 14 years old through the First United Methodist Church in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He was one of the youth leaders there, and we bonded over Laurel and Hardy. Not only did we watch it every Saturday night on a local TV station, but Rob owned prints of many of their silent films on 16mm. He would invite me over, run one of their silents, and accompany them on the organ. Those were good times indeed. I’ve always considered Rob to be my “big brother,” since I have no natural brothers. My folks consider him family. So it was very important to me to take Rob to see “Stan and Ollie” as his late birthday and Christmas gift. We started out by eating at the world-famous Musso Frank’s restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard. The only room to sit was at the counter, but sitting there amidst the brouhaha of servers, cooks and restaurant activity added to the charm of the evening. The ambience was amazing! And my steak was delicious! Then we headed to the Arclight and got our seats. He enjoyed the film as much as I did, and we went to his house to catch up on “life things.” Though we both started off in Aberdeen, South Dakota, we both ended up out in Los Angeles doing what we love doing. I noted to him that we saw the movie on a Saturday night at 9:30pm Pacific time, which would have been 11:30pm Central time. 44 years ago we would have been planted in front of our TVs AT THAT VERY MOMENT AND TIME watching Laurel and Hardy films on KABY TV! I headed home to nap, got up to feed the pets, and plopped back down on The Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe and slept until 8 in the morning! I walked Roxy and then went to bed for a few hours.

Sunday the 30th – STAN AND OLLIE: TAKE 2! – My pal Clay came over at 3:45 and we drove into Hollywood to see “Stan and Ollie” again at the Arclight. We met up with my friends Joe, his daughter Jillian, her boyfriend Aaron, my friend Aliza, and Shirley. It was my fourth time seeing the film, and I figured after having seen it so many times, it wouldn’t make me cry again. But I was wrong. It truly is a beautiful film in every sense of the word. I got back home and dropped Clay off at his car, fed the pets, walked Roxy, and then headed out to meet Shirley and Aliza at Jerry’s Famous Deli for dinner. I came home, napped, and got up later to do work around the house. I spent a few hours in the garage packaging up a ton of eBay stuff I had just sold. I knew certain places would be closing early on New Year’s Eve, so I wanted to make sure to have everything ready to ship out on Monday. This meant that I wasn’t able to stay up late and watch DVDs, so I hit the hay in a timely manner.

Monday the 31st – SO LONG 2018! – Right at noon I sprang awake, packed up all my eBay stuff, and hit the road. Luckily I had run into my local mailman on the way out, and he took all of my prepaid eBay boxes. I just had a few boxes I needed weighed and then I could join my friend Edi for lunch at Paty’s. After a great lunch I headed back home to get ready for our annual New Year’s Eve gathering at Planet Wallywood. We watched the 1965 New Year’s Eve show of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” and then followed it up with “Bohemian Rhapsody.” What a fun night! We also watched various clips from YouTube, until everyone decided it was time to call it a night (and a year!) I napped on the couch briefly, and then got up later to feed the pets and walk Roxy. It was FREEZING cold outside! The couch was calling my name again, so I laid back down and slept until 7am. Being a new year, I sprang away and started cleaning my room. After putting new sheets and a comforter on my bed, I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad (a few nights late) and watched an episode of “SNL” from January of 1978 featuring Steve Martin. Not only do I think today’s late night hosts should be “Clockwork Oranged” with a bunch of Johnny Carson episodes, I think the current crap, I mean CROP of “SNL” writers should be “Clockwork Oranged” and forced to watch the first three seasons of “SNL” so they can learn what true satire, parody, lampoon and comedy are all about. While not every sketch back then was dripping with genius, they were overall much more enjoyable shows that the current offering.

Tuesday the 1st – I DON’T ‘FEEL’ NEW! – Though it was now 2019 (I never thought I’d live this long!!) it felt like just another Sunday…but on a Tuesday. I didn’t get to bed until about 1pm, and I slept until 5:30pm. I fed the pets and started about my first task, which was compiling two weeks’ worth of Wally’s Weeks! I continued working around the house, putting finishing touches on my Rowlf the Dog puppet before he goes back to my seamstress for completion, and prepping for a brand new year. Here’s hoping that this year brings you much happiness, much health, and fulfilled dreams and wishes!

And how were YOUR holidays???!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

While at Edi and Elliot’s Christmas party, we were treated to Elliot on guitar singing Christmas favorite. He also sang his hit “Brandy,” as well as his new release with his old band Looking Glass called “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!”

I dug out my best velvet Smoking Jacket and my Santa Mickey hat just for the occasion!

The gorgeous dinner and setting…

Shirley shares stories and punch

Emily, Sara and Brittney clearly opted for the SPIKED punch!

Here’s our whole crazy gang…Connie, Mark, me, Brittney, Edi, Emily, Shirley, Elliot, Sara and Bunny

On the four days leading up to Christmas, I posted a different song we sang at the party. In case you missed it, here are all four videos for your enjoyment. Elliot’s acoustic version of “Brandy,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Blue Christmas,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Enjoy!

Here’s my candle at this year’s candlelight service at my church

And here’s what the entire sanctuary looks like. My cruddy little camera can’t capture the beauty of the moment.

Here’s our group toasting 2019 with celebratory donuts!

Though this isn’t his finished body, I wanted my seamstress to leave enough fur on the head so I could see how the understructure foam pieces would look underneath the fabric. I think Rowlf is coming along nicely!

A sad sight…the lone UNSOLD Christmas tree stands by itself in our church’s parking lot.

The “cold” moon (as they call it) on ‘The Longest Night’ was gorgeous. There was a huge Moon Dog surrounding it. What a sight!

Roxy can’t wait to get her nose up to the animals and make new friends!

Here’s when Roxy made herself at home in the Living Nativity set. I think everybody’s STILL laughing about that!

On a segment about Laurel and Hardy, and the new movie “Stan and Ollie” on the program CBS Sunday Morning, you can catch a glimpse of my “adopted grandma” Shirley and I at one of the Sons of the Desert meetings! But don’t blink!