Still Figurin' Out Who I Think I Am

This one's about gifts, characters, and drummer boys.

"How do you feel about homemade gifts? Do you make them yourself? Go to craft fairs? Or do you prefer store bought gifts only?"

Greetings dear readers! I've got a big bag of beef jerky, some shelled pistachios, and my song all ready to go for the "12 Days of "Christmas"" ...let's do this!

How do I feel about homemade gifts? I think, like many creative types, they're much more meaningful than crap you buy at a store (for the most part). I mean yeah, there's certain things you can't just make outta paperclips, rubber bands and some Bondo, plus you've got to know your recipient (and by "know" I mean "understand that they'll appreciate something crafty and/or handmade"), but generally something you make yourself is widely accepted as "having put thought and effort and time and love" into the gift.

And that's where the line for me is drawn. Going to a craft fair? You're buying something made from someone else's hands...just like going to any other store and grabbing something off the shelf. The only difference is you're supporting a (hopefully) local artist of some sort, and not some dumb corporation. It's like going to the farmer's market for veggies instead of the super-ultra-mega grocery store or growing your own. I also understand that not all of us have the time nor the talent to make gifts for everyone by hand, and that's great that there's people who do and can be supported by selling their wares...most of the time their stuff is nicer than what you can get basically anywhere else. You might pay a little more, but again, you know where your money's going.

Store bought goods? Yeah, until there's a Do-It-Yourself TV kit or a Portable iPod Maker, you'll have to bite the bullet and go to a store or shell out dough online. It's unavoidable. But it boils down to a point I sorta glossed over earlier: ya gotta really know your recipient. What do they want? What do they need? What have they dropped hints for? You don't want to embarrass yourself by giving someone something they don't have any use for. And if all else fails, a gift card to their favorite store or restaurant is always in play.

"Which Christmas movie character is your favorite?"

Yikes...this is tough. I don't know if I've really seen enough Christmas movies to have a favorite character, ya know? Every year I tell myself I'm gonna find a way to watch some of the classics, but I never do. And they don't, in my opinion, make holiday movies like they used to. Or maybe they do, but they just end up on obscure cable networks instead of real movie theaters. I dunno...this is a subject admittedly I know very little about.

That said, the first one that comes to mind is Clark Griswold from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation  . And even then, it's been awhile since I've seen that flick...but I did work one winter at the Advantage Company's (consumer electronics) flagship store, where it played nonstop in the audio department from Thanksgiving until January. The only problem is I worked in the video department, and didn't get to the audio section very often. There are a few scenes I do remember though, and he does have his own Facebook page  , which serves to keep the movie fresh year-round.

That's the best I could do there. I don't watch a lot of movies or retain much information from them when I do usually.

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Obviously this song was gonna show up multiple times on the "12 Days of "Christmas""  playlist, given the amount of participants and the number of versions floating around out there. I'm going with Letterset, a now-defunct local band from Buffalo...and a group I've written about in the past. My ex and I used to work with the drummer, who is definitely one of the best drummers I've ever seen and heard...he really kills it on this appropriate tune. Crank up the bass, rip off the knob, freak out your neighbors, and check this out (and then go buy it from iTunes).

"Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum? "
Lyrics.  

I'm doing something I don't normally do...I'm writing with the Sabres game running in the background. I prefer silence when I'm keystrokin', but since the Sabres started playing like an actual professional hockey team I've been paying more attention and watching more games. It's nice when your hockey team doesn't suck for a change.

Some of you guys know this...I use Twitter once in awhile (@fivesixer  ) but I try to be relatively smart (because I can't always be humorous) about it. And I never seem to be using Twitter when something cool or crazy goes down...ever watch the news and hear "So-and-so caused a stir on Twitter when he/she said..."? I never see that stuff. But luckily, the kind people at Sports Pickle have compiled the funniest athlete tweets of 2014  . Sometimes all the money and fame can't buy you decent grammar or common sense.

I wanna send a special shout-out to the winners of November's "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" : Congratulations to BillieGail memory of Cheyenne (3rd place), Prosperous Snow celebrating (2nd place), and amy-Has a great future ahead for taking first place! Great job you guys! Thanks to everyone that entered last month, and a very special thanks to the judges, Lyn's a sly fox and Charlie ~ ...if you've ever judged a week in the 30DBC you know it's not an easy undertaking, but these two handled the whole month and I couldn't have asked for two better people to do a wonderful job.

Ok, well, I'm gonna jet and check out some of the other tunes for Day Five of the Soundtracker Christmas playlist (hockey game permitting). Peace, they told me, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!