Now it’s Christmas.

From Christmas

A Visit from the Three T-Rexes
by Mike Boggs

Once before Christmas, a long time ago,
Three starving T-Rexes, filled with sadness and woe,
Drooled down at a sheep flock, so tasty and good.
They’d eat them in a second, if only they could.

But the shepherds watched o’r their flocks carefully.
So t’was no chance for snacking for T-Rexes three.
In the skies to the East, a wonder glowed bright
A star with a tail slipped soft through the night.

The shepherds gazed up, agog and amazed,
At the cold new-born star as it silently blazed.
They saw wise men three, upon camels and horse,
Ride toward a stable — rustic, common and coarse.

At the door, they all halted, these kings from the East,
Faced with a setting of hay, straw and beast.
They offered up frankincense, gold coins and myrrh.
They bowed down and worshipped, their treasures conferred.

From out of the stable, came a warbling cry
Of a new-babe’s complaining, his diaper not dry.
The shepherds discussed what they ought do
And they soon decided; they should go too.

So away from their sheep flocks, shepherds hurried that night
To behold in the stable that most curious sight.
And lo, they soon found in the stable nearby
Mary and Joseph and the source of the cry.

The Messiah had come, to bring hope to the world
His halo glowed bright; His great glory unfurled.
Like the Kings from the East, these men bowed and they prayed.
To the world’s newest King, in swaddling handmade.

But up on the hillside, dinos chuckled and danced,
For the absence of shepherds provided their chance.
Down from the hillside, with a most horrible screech,
The three dinos charged, grabbing each sheep in reach.

They chomped them. They bit them. They gobbled them up.
Sheep’s bleating. Good eating! A grand way to sup!
The flock tried to flee, but T-Rexes are fast.
They devoured them all, each one, to the last.

And after the last sheep’s blood did squirt,
T-Rexes looked ‘round for a tasty dessert.
O’r the hilltops, three kings rode away.
Hmmm, just the thing—three royal fillet.

With a bellow that shook the whole desert landscape,
The dinos charged forth; there’d be no escape.
The kings saw them coming and tried running away,
But hunting down kings was simple child’s play.

Melchior was munched, and Caspar gulped down;
Balthazar eaten whole (except for his crown).
T-Rexes stood grinning while spitting out jewels.
For wise men it seems, taste exactly like fools.

The dinos discussed then what they should do next,
Three well-fed and happy tyrannosaur rex.
“That babe’s been a boon to our fate here tonight.
We should thank him profusely; it’d only be right.”

“We need to bring gifts, for He too is King.”
“I think that I’ve got it! I know just the thing!”
The dinosaur ripped out a nearby pine tree,
And lickety-split, soon there were three.

Each of the T-Rexes held their trees by their stems
And covered them over with jewelry and gems,
The trees in the moonlight did sparkle and glow
Gifts for a king, theirs to bestow.

Three crowns topped the trees; silk sashes hung ‘round;
Such riches and gilt were sure to astound.
The dinos with trees made their walk to the stable.
In a story turned legend and then turned to fable.

How three starving T-Rex, on a cold winter’s night
Walked out of the darkness by a single star’s light,
How they brought trees of beauty for the newly-born child;
How they bestowed them and then went back to the wild.

One of these days, I’m getting this thing illustrated…

Traditions

Been a season of rekindling traditions, and in some cases making new ones.

Passing on the Nuts and Bolts recipe to Talia:

“I thought there was only 3 things in there!”

The annual “throw lights on the monsters” display.

And a slew of Christmas concerts and parties lined up.

I think I may have finally gotten around to settling on a recipe for toffee as well.

Though, I still say it looks like “The Blob” when it’s nearing ready on the stove.

Turkey day roundup

For the first time in quite a few years, we did not head out for the annual full contact shopping festival known as black friday.

You know. I loved the old 4 am openings. Waiting in the cold, hot chocolate at the door, doughnuts, etc of yesteryear. You can take your 6 PM Thursday crap and shove it. Give folks a chance to get their dinner down, for crying out loud.

Instead, my wife and I went to see that new Hunger Games on Friday. Theater wasn’t that crowded since everyone’s getting their sales on.

We did manage to spruce up the yard for the season though.

From Christmas
From Christmas
From Christmas
From Christmas
From Christmas

Christmas roundup

Crazy week of Christmas fun.

First we had Kyle’s Choir concert.

Who still has a tendency to look like he’s attacking the song more than he’s singing.

Beginning with the ever popular 3 wise Trex.

We continued on through our list of annual treats…

And even managed to FINALLY perfect the Toffee recipe, and hope to get an updated one on here soon. I’ve also decided the peanut brittle needs a little bit of an adjustment as well.

Then it was off to Alec’s concert.

Waiting for it to begin, we appeared to have great seats…

Then, they all stood up, and we couldn’t see him at all.

So, I got up and walked back and around to the other side standing only to get pics…Which really troubled Alec, who saw me get up, but not where I went, so he spent half the time staring at my empty seat.

“Oh, that’s where you went.” Deathstare.

Just in time for the final song.

Then we made it down for our annual trip to see “the Christmas Ghosts” as Talia has dubbed it when a local graveyard decorates their graves with luminaries.

VERY dark out, bitterly cold, and I wandered off through the graveyard to see if they had the bas-relief lit up. Glad I did.

More photography fun

Went down to the local Christmas village with the kids. Took the opportunity to play with my new lens in a challenging lighting environment.

Mom, remember all those pics of various displays at museums and whatnot inside display cases we had so much trouble with because of poor lighting and flash reflecting, and all that jazz. (course pre-digital so really hard to trial/error our way through as well) Well, I think I have those problems licked now.

So, ya know, next time you need some help documenting things…

Of course we took the lens to get pics of US.

It can’t keep kids from making faces…

I had lots of trouble getting the light meter to where I needed it with all the backlighting, but we eventually did. Unfortunately I didn’t get Talia to hold still for a good shot. She was loving the displays. When not making us run around trying to find the bathroom.

Kyle even got to snap a shot after we got the meter thing worked out.