…Brenda! I know this is incredibly rude of me, but I can’t resist. And when have I been known to do such a thing (resist)? Brenda if you let go of the promise of candy I will send you a Christmas present. Not just any present, but the one that I got for myself, Rob, Tracy and now possibly you. There is a catch involved if you agree to the first premise (letting go of the candy, I know it will be hard).

First, I’ll will go an extra step. A hint! Rob will be so happy to finally have one. Tracy will laugh, as she does. And you, I imagine, will say Good grief.

The catch is, if you agree to the above, (this is like a sure thing (the candy) vs. what is behind door #2) that you have to promise, swear on your good name, that you will use it.

I await your response.

Have some clients in the office today and had to dress business casual.  I’m looking spiffy!

Have a good weekend.  I’ll be cleaning the apartment.

I am warming up to Christmas.  Last weekend we went to see A Christmas Carol.  And I was feeling a bit like Scrooge.  Not because I hate Christmas, actually I suppose Scrooge didn’t really hate Christmas either, but because I was feeling a certain amount of disconnect.

I have been thinking about the prairies a lot lately.  And frankly, I have even been thinking about buying a farm house out of the city (in SK) somewhere.  I mean, in a couple of years, if it was affordable.  It’s a reaction to this big city life.  Don’t get me wrong, I am really starting to enjoy Calgary.  We have found a really cool church, I am joining a poetry group, I have read once and I have started writing again.  Everything is going well.  Even, considering where we could be, our apartment is great.  But, I know that I don’t really belong to this city.

I think, as it turns out, I might be a pretty simple person at heart.  Even though I thought I was a city-boy, well, Regina isn’t much of a city.  I miss the sky.  I miss the cold.  I miss not waking up with my nose dry and my face peeling so that I have to put industrial vaseline on it so it doesn’t fall off… its so dry here, basically a dessert.

But some people just don’t know when to quit.  I can be thankful of that quality in Leah.  Everyday when I come home the Christmas music is blasting and she’s baking something else (I made some ginger snaps, turned out pretty good).  And so, ever so cooly, the Christmas spirit has been warmed and from time-to-time you can here me humming a Christmas carol.

And as Tracy pointed out once:

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.  May that be truly said of us, and all of us!  And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

The other night, when I was laying in bed, I watched the digital clock beside me (that I got from the Leader Post from being such a good delivery boy 12 years ago) turn from 11:59 PM to 12:00 AM and that little AM light lit up.  It occured to me that I have never seen that before.  And an old thought occured to me–what other things go on in the night am I unaware of?

The question first came up, I imagine, when I was a little boy.  My father reminded me of this.  My dad would/does get up very early.  5AM, I think.  He told me that when you were younger and if I had been travelling a lot you would wake up when I did to spend time with me.  What a coot wittle boy I was (am).  What the heck was he doing up so early?  I had to know or maybe I actually did just miss him.

A little bit later in life, maybe around 10 I played for a Tier 1 hockey team (the one and only time).  This would likely be the second time this has come up.  I would have 5 AM practices.  Insane.  And I would be driven by my father and while the whole city slept, I rode wondering who else was awake?

Now, lets skip to this past summer.  Everyday, waking up at 6:30 AM to fertilize lawns.  I would be waltzing around peoples yards with a truck, a hose and a 100 gallons of chemical fertilizer and they were fast asleep, unknowing the things I was doing.  It was really bizarre to be working while the majority of the city was asleep or at least not working yet.

And perhaps the best thing that goes on in the night.  I already spilled the beans about talking in my sleep and JD being confused.  Now, I am going to be really, really honest with you.  Since being married (maybe I’m allergic to Leah?) I have had some of the WORST gas in my life.  Seriously disturbing stuff.  I think most of it has passed now, but apparently I was sleep farting the other night!  Can you believe how awesome that is?  Apparently, it woke Leah up because it smelled so bad and I didn’t even know.  Well, of all the things that might happen during that night that I will never know of, this one might be the best. 

Santa also goes bump in the night. Are you scared of the dark/Santa?