A new life; same as the old life?

I mentioned a few days ago that we were going to go out and tour the neighbourhood to see their Christmas lights. If you have ever seen National Lampoons Christmas Vacation then you will have seen how far some people go! Some do the simple, tasteful (in Lorraine's opinion) white lights, others do a simple colourful lights scheme, whilst others go completely over the top and have everything from Bart & Home Simpson to Tin Soldiers and Snow Globes. Long time readers will remember me talking about a local place called the Cuneo Museum. Each year they turn their grounds into a Winter Wonderland, sponsored by local businesses. Some wonderful displays of lights can be seen. Check out all of the pictures here .

I am off to Vegas again in January for the Stag/Batchelor party. I always think it is great sport trying to spot the real versus fakes, although in January when they are all covered up in clothing as opposed to being in very small outfits by the pool it is quite difficult, but I am willing to give it a shot! I must look out for the sili cone stand!

A friend at work just sent me this, it is very cool, at least I think so. It is all about wanting a hippo for Christmas, apparently recorded in 1953, but I had never heard it before. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas Lyrics

No it's not the wizard of Oz. Although the concept is the same. I know that lot of you read my blog from work and this may be the last post you will see, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year. I am heading out tonight to take pictures of all the incredibly elaborate decorations on the neighbourhood houses. If you get a chance, check me out over the next few days for those.

I know I am posting this retrospectively, but I promised you one every day, and I always keep my promises, well at least I try to. I did just watch The Santa Clause 2 last night, which made me think of this one. This week has been a Christmas movietastic week. I have seen Holiday Inn, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, and The Santa Clause 2. Rock on Christmas!

Warning, pornographic image, NSFW! A friend of mine from the Cumbrian Lake District as opposed to the Great Lakes district, sent me one of those FW emails with all sorts on it, and I thought some of the pictures were really funny, so I thought I would share one with my readers each day between now and Christmas.

As most of my regulars will know, this year Lorraine and I have spent some time with the Habitat For Humanity program. We were working to complete a number of the houses on the site in time for Christmas, and although we have not been able to go for a few weeks, it is nice to see that we contributed to this great Christmas present for three lucky families. We both worked on all three of these newly dedicated houses, and Lorraine actually worked alongside Manuel, who she said was really appreciative of everyone's efforts.

Tim and Darrell came to visit this weekend past and what a fabulous time we had. I took some time off work to show them around the place and we had a full program planned. They arrived mid afternoon last Thursday, and we picked them up from O'Hare. I think it is always best to get on the right timezone asap, so we had planned not to let them sleep until much later that night. We took them to our favourite restaurant, any old excuse for Wildfire works for me. We had a number of cocktails, even Jonesy, which really surprised me, and as usual a fabulous steak dinner. Tim decided that as it was late and he was tired, he wouldn't have steak as it might be too much food and give him indigestion, so instead he order Chicken and ribs. Half a chicken and a crap load of ribs, four times the size of my steak..nice work Jones! On Friday we decided a little retail therapy was in order, although Jones wasn't too keen, being a firm "I don't like to shop" person. However he s