Roll Yuletide!

Merrrrrrrrry Christmas, cartooners!  Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to every member of the TDOY faithful!  I had hoped to get back into the blogging habit by Wednesday of this week…but I’m having too much fun spending quality time with the family (both the ‘rents and sisters Kat and Debbie), so I’ve decided to extend my holiday vacation through the rest of this week.  (Plus, I’m trying to shake off a really wicked cold, an extra Christmas gift from Kat.)

The ‘rents and I joined Kat and her partner’s family for a sabbatical in a big honkin’ cabin located in beautiful downtown Lake Lure, NC.  Now…I must admit that I shed my country boy origins many years ago—but the retreat was rather sweet, and everyone ended up having a swell time.  (Particularly Mom and Dad, who don’t get out of the house much.)  The food was fantastic (we had the traditional Roast Beast, and it was amazing), the company most pleasurable…and I got the opportunity to meet-and-greet with a cousin whom I have not seen in over thirty years.  I was also amused by the antics of my nephew Davis, who plays Monopoly as if he were auditioning to be the Mini-Me version of Donald J. Trump.  (I’m not making this up.  He kept running around, holding a wad of Monopoly cash and singing out “I’m really rich!”)

We returned to Rancho Yesteryear just in time to greet sister Debbie and her family, who’ll be staying with us until Sunday; they gifted me with some Amazon gift cash that I have socked away for blank DVD-R emergencies.  I’d like to send out a special “You’re good people” to Todd, who also bestowed me with a gift card—this one of the Barnes & Noble variety (it was put to good use purchasing the third season DVD release of Lou Grant).  Sister Kat got me some goodies for a stocking, including some antique collectables of two of my personal heroes, pictured below:

I mostly received presents of the “spanking new duds” variety, but I did splurge a bit and took advantage of a couple of Blu-ray sets that were on sale at Amazon.com for one day only: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection and The Honeymooners “Classic 39” Episodes.  (I told Rick “Cultureshark” Brooks about this last one, and he, too, was able to capitalize on the sale price.  Fa la la la la la la la la…)  I feel kind of bad that I wasn’t able to mail out the traditional custom-made TDOY Christmas cards (I had a last minute medical matter that gobbled up the Shutterfly funds I had set aside for that cause) but I do want to thank everyone who sent a bit of holiday cheer in card form to the House of Yesteryear—I promise there will be cards sent out in 2017.

I hope everyone had as splendiferous a Yuletide as I did…and since this looks like the last post in 2016, I want to extend a hearty handclasp to one and all as we roll in 2017.  (I have a feeling we’re going to need all the luck that’s available.)  Auld Lang Syne, cartooners!