LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

On the way home from work, I passed a Holiday Inn. On its message board was the line, “There is always room at our Inn.”

Alert! Alert! Somebody notify the PC police, because I THINK that note invokes the Christmas story, and everybody KNOWS that we can’t mention the story behind the holiday that over 95% of Americans celebrate! It’ll make the other people feeeeeeel bad. Never mind the huge menorah I’ve passed on the side of Route 70 for the last 3 weeks, lit every night with power most probably paid for by the township. Would I ever see a Nativity scene lit along Rt 70? I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Listen, I grew up here in Cherry Hill, which has a large Jewish population.
I’m totally cool with Hanukkah. The lore behind Hanukkah is beautiful and hope-inspiring. Kwanzaa? It’s not a holiday, but a cultural festival, nestled coincidentally between Christmas and New Years. Go ahead, celebrate your culture. Teach us about it. I’d love to learn more! But don’t get pissy at me on Columbus Day, ok?

Hanukkah ended on the 15th. Kwanzaa begins on the 26th. Christmas in the on-deck circle. Yet, corporate America and the media are still saying, “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Christmas is maligned as being too commerical. Stores make millions on the sale of Christmas gifts and trimmings, yet most refuse to even mention the word on their sites:

Target: “Holiday Blast”
Macys: “Giving a Last Minute Miracle”
JCPenney: No mention of Christmas. But Penneys sucks anyway.
Kohls: Not nary a leaf of holly on their page.
Strawbridges: Finally! A mention of getting a gift by Christmas. The other sites don’t say that … they mention getting the gift to you by 12/25.
Walmart: Holiday
KMart: Holiday

I’m not a right wing nut job. I’m tolerant. I’m just tired.

(Thor’s parents arrive tomorrow. I have four rooms to clean tonight. Eeep!)

It pains me to tell you this. But I’m ending CookieCam early this year. It just didn’t work out as I planned. Why?

It’s been a while, so I wanted to show you what we’ve been doing here at Chez LadyGypsy whilst I’ve been not blogging and not baking.

We have a guest room!

It’s a spiffy, relaxing blue room, with a few whimsical touches that you KNOW a guest room of ours has to have. It’s all ready for Thor’s parents. They arrive on Thursday.

We have a few empty white frames to fill yet. I’m considering printing out some of the snaps I took of us working on the darn room. You know, to make the guests feel guilty.

Here is our tree. It’s a ‘big cardboard box’ variety. No tagging, no cutting, no needles.

Here is the oft-mentioned tiny town of Turberville that lives upon my mantle. My new Chinese Restaurant is the fifth building from the left.

Let’s take a closer look. Aww…Mr. Kyriingla is walking to Foster’s Corner Drug Store. Mayhap he’s picking up some aspirin for his aching joints. Or viagra. Oh no! Look out, Mr. Kyriingla!

Oh no!! Tragedy strikes the tiny town of Turberville as the Foster’s sign comes a-tumbling off of the building. Because Department 56 doesn’t make a building inspector figurine, nobody knew this was coming. Note the passersby as they gawk and stare..

I bet you none of this would have happened had I had a church in my town. Yes, Virginia, this is why Christmas villages should be kept away from people under 60 years of age.

That’s about all for now. The guest room and decorating has totally filled up my time. Now that it’s done, maybe I’ll have time to bake tomorrow.