Mr. Wow’s Minimalist Christmas.
I don’t know, maybe it’s the current state of the world—not that it isn’t always shitty—but getting into the holiday decorating spirit was more difficult than usual. And in recent years it’s been pretty difficult. To be honest, I put B. through so much during the year, I feel that tarting the place up a bit is the least I can do in this season of joy.
Now, I don’t know if you all can tell, but the tree is MUCH smaller, the window not as crowded. I feel it is still in Christmas bordello area, but maybe a more selective bordello—for hookers just starting out, or finishing up!
Anyway, I hope you are amused. I also hope your Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever has been healthy and peaceful, full of love. Love isn’t all we need, The Beatles notwithstanding. It sure it is important. Good health and enough money– after a certain point– give love a significant nudge. So, my wish for all of you is that you are thriving in every area.
Eat and drink and hug and kiss. Watch good (or so bad it’s good) TV, read something daunting. About month ago I finally dove into “Vanity Fair” after taking the book on and off our bookshelf for years. Challenging, but I felt I’d really accomplished something—and had a good time, too!
I love you all.
B. loves you all.
Eh, maybe The Beatles weren’t that far off.
Love and kishes (as MM was wont to pronounce it),
Mr. Wow.
(Turning 62 any second and so freaked!)
Oh, Just Remember–Christmas Bordello Comes But Once a Year. Deck The Whores!
Merry Christmas to you and B!!! I’m always happy to see a post from you.
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Dear Rho, Claudia, Sheri–Thank you and Merry Christmas! I hope the pix look okay. We have had the hardest time sizing them properly. If I did this more often, I’d remember the exact specifications, but first they were to small, then they were too big, then squashed. All very Alice in Wonderland. Hope they look okay on your end, they finally seem to fit from my vantage point.
And now—onward to a Happy 2015!
1:22 pm | December 25, 2014 -
Merry Christmas, Mr. Wow and B! Love you too, lots! Your message adds to the already lovely Christmas we are enjoying with family! Sang my heart out at Midnight Mass for the, wait for it, 51st year in a row! I do love it. Attended 3 Holiday Shows in which grandchildren performed and sang again at a couple of parties! Not much makes me happier!Your decorations are perfect, “a beautiful reflection” of you and B. Try not to worry about the birthday numbers, the alternative is no fun!xoxoxo
Deirdre–wow, you pack a lot into Christmastime! I’m so lazy. I’m off, and I have but one brunch scheduled. I’m more solitary now, by choice, which isn’t good, especially as you get older. On the other hand, I’ve never been bothered to be alone and read and watch TV and self-obsess.
And on the other hand, I’ve never really been “alone.” In all my life, I’ve never lived entirely on my own, never had my own place, never taken care of myself in an adult manner.
I should be less solitary.
I’m not overly concerned about the number. By mid-year I start thinking of myself as the age I’m approaching. This works really well. Too well, at times. When I turned 61 I was sure it was 62, because I’d been thinking of myself as 62 since the previous September! Have a wonderful 2015. Have a wonderful right now.
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The singing is like breathing to me! Never want to stop. I still love when our little grands say”Noni sing”. I am far too social to be solitary too long. My husband’s Mom is 93 and each year the day after her birthday she starts telling everyone she is going to be the next age. So 94 is coming next August.Take care, hug B for me; okay for you too and ask him to do the same!xoxo
2:56 pm | December 25, 2014
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I agree with Mimi! That tree is special and I am so happy to see it.
7:13 pm | December 25, 2014
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Oh, Just Remember–Christmas Bordello Comes But Once a Year. Deck The Whores!
What would Christmas be without you and the Christmas bordello? All you need is Nat King Cole singing “Chestnuts roasting on the open fire…” Love to you both!
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Oh, Dr. Sugar…after all that time at Lion’s View you should know that crazy people never look their age.
Happy New Year!
Thank you for the compliment. On a really really good day–well slept, stress free, and away from either overhead or back-lighting, I’d say 48. I have maybe four of those days a year. Otherwise, a matron in teen-age clothes. I keep bugging B. to forget the multi-carat emerald-cut wedding present pendant I am still waiting for–and finance a little “procedure” for me.
And making sure the flash is on the camera helps.
9:48 pm | December 25, 2014
The photos are sublime and your kitties look so happy. All the best to you this year.
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NSH–Thank you!
Actually, the kitty on the back of the chair–Sunny–is not so sunny. We took her and her sister Maude (posing near the tree) in, after they lingered for an unaccountable amount of the time at the vet. They had to be adopted together. Maude, after the traditional period of hiding and fleeing, is adorably friendly. Sunny, tho she no longer hides away, is incredibly skittish and sensitive to fast movements. She has yet to allow herself to be petted. She’s sort of the “not there” cat.
10:16 pm | December 25, 2014
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Is that Australia?
I love Aussie men. Or I used to, way back before the last shrimp hit the Barbie.
Although I never understood abusing that poor doll with seafood.
10:20 pm | December 25, 2014 -
Merry Christmas, Mr. Wow and B. Yes, it’s taking greater effort but we’re still making the trip. I just turned 59 and don’t feel like I’m “supposed” to, not at all like an elder or wise one but I’m taking up new things, I’m still interested in life, my family, my friends, my pets, my home. It was a long journey but I’ve finally banished despair from my life and my New Year’s wish is that you find peace and learn that really, all you need is love. For yourself. Be well, my friend.
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Dear Jean…thank you so much. I don’t really “feel” 62. I certainly don’t act it! Only when faced with a sudden glimpse of myself in an unfamiliar mirror or store window reflection–or an utterly candid, un-posed photo–does the reality of my late middle-age hit me.
I had a bit of an argument with an old friend just an hour ago. I referred to myself as “middle-aged” and she (who is almost exactly the same age as me) became quite exercised, told me I was “deluded” and quoted Monique Van Voren’s fabled line to Elizabeth Taylor in the glam plastic surgery epic, “Ash Wednesday.”
Monique, in reaction to discussion about middle age, snorts: “How many people do you know who live to be 120?” I suppose she had a point. I don’t think of myself as an ingénue but neither do I see myself (yet) as a broken down old wreck. My friend, sadly, sees herself as the latter.
3:43 pm | December 26, 2014
Oh Honey, if Ken & Barbie are into seafood, who are we to judge? (Let’s think of others and not be shellfish.)
What a treat to wake up this morning and find the great photos of your Christmas Bordello. The Holidays wouldn’t be the same without them. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is looking forward to 2015. In my mind the best is yet to come….
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Dear Lulu–thanks!
Hmmmm…you are certainly optimistic. I’m happy to be alive in 2015. However, I’m afraid I can’t see “the best” around the corner, in terms of the world and our nation.
But, since I can’t do anything about that, I should probably volunteer my time doing something worthwhile. Stop thinking about myself and also about things beyond my control.
3:21 pm | December 26, 2014
You make the best Christmas Bordello in the world and I’m grateful that you’re willing to do it each year. This year, for the first time in close to 20 years, I put up a tree. My Little Helpers (two 11-yr-olds from across the street) talked me into it so we had a tree trimming party. You can probably imagine what the tree looks like after being set up and decorated by two 11-yr-olds and one old fart. It’s the thought that counts.
I hope you and B and your cats and everyone here has a happy and safe New Year and that 2015 is good to all of us.
Dear Haunted One…I’m sure your tree is wonderful and unlike mine, is not denounced by the Vatican, or tempts the vice cops to stage a raid. (“vice cops”–showing my age there!)
So happy you put a tree up, and bless your little helpers. A very very healthy and happy 2015.
Well Mr. Wow, your holiday display must be the best little Christmas bordello in New Jersey!
I opted not to decorate, but I did pull a bordello red plush carpet this fall in my Upper MI home, and with my brother’s help, I refinished my first…and last!…wood floor!
My little northern berg is so small that the gym is actually the hospitals physical rehab unit. Needless to say I usually feel like a teenager in there at age 55. That delusion was devastated today when I went in on my first day of post-holiday clean living. I was there 5 minutes and in walks a total Adam Levine look-alike. Obviously not a local! A very buff hipster in skimpy workout clothes. My plummeting self-esteem was only exceeded my soaring lust ; ) But I am just a gay Walter Mitty and I forcefully focused on my workout! And thankfully, I have a sweet, cute boy friend ; )
I agree, Mr. Wow, that the coming year could be fraught. And I fret about it. Having just finished grad school and wondering what work there is for a 55 year old man…we shall see! I hope the best for all of us here! Cheers, Rick
Dear Rick…there is something so romantically tempting about small-town life out there in middle-America. As long as I had cable and Internet–although they are kind of interchangeable now–I might even like it. But I could never put down a floor. “Young man, young, young, man. Did anyone evah tell you, you look like—a guy who can put in this damn floor for me?” I would definitely call on my inner Blanche DuBois if I moved to a small town. (I just know Dr. Sugar is going to pop in: “Don’t you mean Blanche Hudson, dear?”)
Oh, to be 55 again. Adam Levine, eh? Hot, except for those miserable tattoos.
I’m watching Lisa Ling’s latest CNN special. It’s about the big money that be made in…the oil fields of North Dakota. Honestly, if I could drive a truck–or drive at all–I might give it a year. I’m pretty sure however, that you and the boyfriend won’t have to relocate one of ND’s sprawling man-camps. (That’s what they call ’em.)
As pessimistic as I am, I will nevertheless try to keep my sunny side up, as the politics of the nation begins to go into election psychosis. Happy New Year!
Me, pop in, Stanley? You think I’m gonna interfere with you?…You know, maybe you wouldn’t be bad to interfere with.
Don’t you ever talk that way to me. ‘Pig,’ ‘Pollack,’ ‘disgusting,’ ‘vulgar,’ ‘greasy.’ Those kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s tongue just too much around here. What do you think you are? A pair of queens?
Well, I can’t speak for Stella, but would please hand me my tiara, Stanley?
Age has become just a sign that I’m still on top of the earth.
I recently danced on a table at a charity event (in response to a dare) and raised $1200 shortly before my 66th birthday. My friends are planning on making it an annual event.
Enjoy each day! I love you all.
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Happy New Year to Mr. Wow and B and all the friends on this blog! Hugs and all the best in 2015, “may all your storms be weathered and what is good gets better. Here’s to life, here’s to love, here’s to you”. xoxo
2:33 pm | December 31, 2014
Dear Deirdre,
Edward Herrmann was an amazing actor.
(I’m watching “Gilmore Girls”on Netflix – he really was something.)
D.
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Yes he was. I must be the only person who doesn’t get a thrill from Gilmore Girls. It was fine and he was terrific. For me he is FDR and The Paper Chase. xo
9:10 pm | December 31, 2014
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Yes he did. A remarkable body of work. He was younger than I thought, 71.
10:28 pm | December 31, 2014
…and let’s not forget Luise Rainer, who nearly lived to be 105!
Here’s a link to an interview she did a few years ago with the Hollywood Reporter, which also has her obit. I was happy to read that Rainer found there was life after MGM and standing up to Louis B. Mayer. What a woman!
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/feinberg-my-afternoon-luise-rainer-760682
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I just finished watching that interview! She was quite a lady and absolutely gorgeous! I think the women of that era were so beautiful! Be at peace.
10:02 am | January 1, 2015
It’s Joan and Bette in horror mode all afternoon on TCM: Straitjacket, Dead Ringer, Berserk!, and The Nanny! Somebody over there has a campy idea of how to ring in the New Year!Starts up at 12:45pm eastern! Enjoy! Rick
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OMG! What a New Year’s Day! Excellent prints, too. Crawford was 63 when she made “Berserk” and although the camera is filtered and they do throw that concealing shadow on her neck, she looked damn good. Much better legs than the much younger Diana Dors.
When you see movies like this, and “Straight Jacket” and even “Mildred Pierce” you have to wonder one of two things–did Christina borrow her “Mommie” tales from Joan’s films, or did Joan seek out these roles, working through her issues w Christina?
6:39 pm | January 1, 2015-
Perhaps a little of both?
Back in the golden movie era, studios were notorious for infusing off-screen info/legend into scripts for Joan, Liz, Lana, Rita, etc.
Joan actually was in great physical shape in the ’60s in her 60s… JC looked great giving judo lessons in a black leotard to fellow psych matrons in The Caretakers at age 60. And her wardrobe tests for Straitjacket show her in great trim and with great bones. But Joan undercut herself by trying to pass for 29 in Straitjacket’s flashback beginning–which is right out of The Carol Burnett show. Joan’s heavy style in makeup, clothes, and wigs gave her a drag queen look…which is often the case with aging divas! Joan continues to fascinate!
And how about Bette in Dead Ringer? I’m not so sure that wasn’t Charles Pierce! I love it when rich sister Maggie gives her poor sister Edie a tour of the manse, pausing to offer, “Aren’t these stairs a BORE?” Whaaa?!
Now The Nanny…that movie scared the crap out of me as a kid!12:29 pm | January 2, 2015
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I know shw was but I was surprised to read she was 81 or 82 depending on which news release. Be at peace.
9:09 pm | January 2, 2015
Missed you! Merry Christmas!