Holiday Highlights! Subtitle: Christmas Loot Galore!

Posted by missjunebug on Saturday December 26th, 2009

missjunebug's Christmas Loot! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug is happy to report that she got everything she wanted for Christmas…and more! A gorgeous Jennifer Miller bracelet a lá Hoda Kotb from Santa, a new pair of UGGS from TinyJB, a delightful, funny, interesting and sweet x 10 phone call with Rwandan-based Elder JB, and some funny little gadgets from Mr.JB (carabiner flashlight! extra camera battery! Chinese watercolor brushes!).

But she knows what you must be thinking. What about the nutcrackers? Did she score more? missjunebug is happy to report that Mr.JB/Santa has moved on to new Christmas decorating territory with the addition of a gold-lamé, white-furred Santa and a wine-red brocade and white lace Angel with a face, well, like an angel!

After a present-opening frenzy, the junebug family knoshed on Waffle-House style Cheesey eggs, Jimmy Dean sausage, and leftover rum cake. What a feast! Then Mr.JB headed outside to trim palm trees with his nifty new 14-foot chain-powered saw/pruner given to him by TinyJB! Wow that thing can cut up some tree! Meanwhile, TinyJB read through his new beer-making library of books (3 in all!) and missjunebug slipped into her UGGS, bagged up her loot, and began working on the evening meal (Spiral-cut ham, green bean casserole and fab pineapple stuffing).

Later in the afternoon, Mr.JB busted out his new blue-ray DVD of Quentin Tarentino’s masterpiece Inglourious Basterds, cooked up some popcorn, and gathered the junebugs to settle into the Men’s Club to watch one of the best revenge stories ever! Somehow it seemed like perfect Christmas viewing material, Jesus being a Jew and all.

After a savory Christmas dinner, Mr.JB continued reading the Uganda novel with the word eclipse in the title that ElderJB gave him for the big 6-0 while TinyJB and missjunebug duked it out over Trivial Pursuit. Sadly, missjunebug was not a winner as TinyJB edged past her with the sixth and final pie piece on a lame question: What was taken in John Godey’s novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three? Thanks to the recent remake with John Travolta, TinyJB had no trouble coming up with “a subway train.” Puhleeze.

What a family! What a celebration! What a Christmas!

A Few of missjunebug’s Favorite Christmasy Things

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday December 23rd, 2009

This one speaks for itself! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug hopes these images cheer you during the Holiday Season!

Go Santa Go! Photo by mjb2009

Wide-eyed Santa glistens! Photo by mjb2009

One of mjb's all time favs! Photo by mjb2009

A Sparkly Orange Orb! Photo by mjb2009

A Beary Merry Christmas! Photo by mjb2009

Merry Christmas! Happy Baking! Wonderful Wrapping! And Unwrapping! Delicious Eating! Thoughtful Praying! Exuberant Praising! Sincere Thanking!

Blessings to you and your family from missjunebug, Mr.JB, ElderJB, and TinyJB!

Rain! Glorious Rain!

Posted by missjunebug on Monday December 7th, 2009

missjunebug is delighting in the rain that has finally come to SoCal. Hoorah for rain! She can finally turn her sprinklers off! She can fully get into the holiday spirit thanks to the colder temperatures and gray skies. Is there anything better than cozying up to a fireplace listening to the sound of rain falling outside? Maybe cozying up to a fireplace listening to the sound of rain falling outside while drinking a hot toddy! Ha!

missjunebug would not say no to a hot-buttered rum right about now, but Mr.JB’s not here to share it with her so she better just get back to wrapping those Christmas presents that are piling up on every flat surface in missjunebug’s little house.

Cheers!

When Collections Go Wrong

Posted by missjunebug on Friday December 4th, 2009

Nutcrackers Vying for Mantle Space! Photo by mjb2009

It started out pretty innocently. Mr.JB began giving nutcrackers to missjunebug about 30 years ago give or take a few years. Year after year missjunebug would gleefully open up the beribboned rectangular boxes from “Santa” and delight in what she found inside.

Nutcrackers of every description: stalwart soldier, aproned baker, flouncy flamenco dancer, twig-broomed snowman, bun-coiffed teacher, golfer, skier, gold-trimmed Pharoah, London Beefeater, milk-bottle clutching dairy cow (missjunebug’s current fav), piano-playing musician, caroler, wise man, leiderhosen-clad beer drinker, betooled toymaker, and a whole army of red and white clad Santas complete with toy-filled Santa bags. missjunebug is sure you get the idea.

She’s got a crap-ton of nutcrackers!

Every year she turns on the Sounds of the Season on her cable tv and to the croony voice of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, she shleps down to her Christmas closet and unpacks and unwraps each and every one of these nutcrackers and places them in pretty much the same locations as she did the year before, except of course she has to find space for the new ones Mr.JB gave her the previous year! It’s a little like fighting for shelf space in the cereal aisle of the supermarket! There’s a finite supply of it and these insistent nutcrackers want to be at optimal eye level. They’re a pushy bunch.

missjunebug has a feeling this collection has gone terribly wrong. It reminds her of the origin of the nutcracker fascination, that part of the Nutcracker ballet when little Clara dreams of giant nutcrackers come to life. A little creepy if you ask missjunebug! Which brings her to the question at hand: When is a collection done?

missjunebug will continue to ponder this question as she squeezes out a little more prime mantle space for the latest nutcracker model in her collection.

She can hardly wait to see what Mr.JB (aka “Santa”) has in store for her this year!