Christmas Memories

Wow - I can't believe Christmas is only 3 days ago. I'm not looking forward to the huge winter storm headed our way, but it sure will make it feel like Christmas. It seems like the holidays have really crept up on me this year. Now that the gifts are bought and wrapped, I can finally relax, and look back at some of my favorite Christmas memories:

- Christmas Eve with the grandparents was always fun. I remember one year where I received a musical toy that I think was called Major Music. It was a handheld toy that was shaped like a music conductor, and when you slid song cards into his belly, you could play different songs. I think my Grandpa Backes and my dad played with that toy Christmas Eve more than I did!

- I remember a few Christmas weekends spending time at my Aunt Katie's house in St. Paul. They were in the early 80's (I remember that because one of my gifts was a Rubik's Cube) and my great-uncle Matt was still around. I remember after a good dinner, Aunt Katie went into the kitchen to grab dessert. Thinking Katie was leaving to go somewhere, Uncle Matt cried "Goodbye, Katie," which got all of us at the table laughing.

- I remember another Christmas weekend at my Uncle Rudy's home (of all 10 of her kids, my Grandma Haider always said she prayed for Rudy the most), spending a couple of hours assembling a big G.I. Joe COBRA hydrofoil boat for my brother - I think I used to enjoy assembling those toys just as much as playing with them.

- Santa Claus: when I was about 7 or 8, we had the grandparents over for Christmas the year I learned who Santa Claus really was. We had an old writing desk sitting next to the living room wall. When it was time for "Santa" to come, my dad was sitting at the desk and reached around the other side of the wall to knock on it, signaling Santa's "arrival." Sure enough, I ran to the front door (since we didn't have a chimney) and there was a bright orange Fleet Farm bag full of gifts from "Santa!"

- Winter fun: some Christmases we had lots of snow - good for sledding down to the lake with family and friends. One year we had a large pile of snow plowed on the far end of the front yard, which I of course claimed as my Rebel snow fort, just like in The Empire Strikes Back.

These are just a few favorite memories of Christmases past - what are some of your favorite Christmas memories, past or present?

Stop the Tiger Woods Media Rollercoaster (I Wanna Get Off)!!!

Instead of braving the Black Friday crowds, I decided the more sensible thing to do was to work that Friday. That afternoon, a few colleagues and I first heard that golfer Tiger Woods was involved in a car crash outside his home. It made us curious as details began to emerge.

I finally gave up on the story a few days ago, however, because the whole story has been nothing but tabloid fodder - fodder that's even dominated the national newscasts! The sad thing is, nobody except the parties involved really know (or should be concerned about) what really happened. I wouldn't be surprised that a large portion of this was fabricated by media outlets to increase viewers and readership.

This has happened far too often nowadays, in the age of reality TV. Do we really need to know every friggin' detail of celebrities' lives? Aren't they entitled to privacy in the comfort of their own homes just like the rest of us?

I admit, I do sometimes watch shows like TMZ for a few laughs, and I did enjoy a few joke emails and radio stories about the Tiger Woods incident, but enough is enough! I'm sure this whole thing will blow over in a few weeks or so anyway (at least, when the next celebrity "scandal" hits the news).