The last post of 2006.

I am getting over this cold or flu or whatever it was. I still have a cough, but it is easing up some. Heck of a way to end the last week of the year.

BG and I are taking it easy and staying home for the night. We had dinner out, then came home and took BlogHound for a long walk and watched some of the fireworks that were being set off in and around the neighborhood of the BlogCave. We just now finished watching “The Goonies” DVD that BlogPrincess let us borrow. The last time I watched this was about 20 years ago when my kids were 9 and 11 and I remember enjoying it with them so much.

My favorite character was, of course, “Sloth” Fratelli, the disfigured son/brother of the bad guys who, when he removed his coat, was wearing a Superman shirt underneath. “Sloth” was portrayed by the late John “Tooz” Matuszak, a former football star turned actor who stood 6′8″ and weighed 280 pounds. BG loved the part when Sloth and Chunk yelled out “Hey you guys!” and then imitated the scene from Captain Blood by sticking a knife in the pirate ship sail and sliding down to the deck. Matuszak would pass away a short 4 years after filming “The Goonies” from heart failure, most likely brought on by his party lifestyle.

2006 has been a good year for me. I got to take the first overseas trip in my life and visited Scotland and the city of London, my government and writing careers are progressing along, I’ve watched my grandson make great progress in his life and seen my granddaughter grow from a month old infant in January to a 1 year old toddler (yes, she’s walking) today and, despite every good reason to do so, BG hasn’t divorced me…yet. All in all, I’ve been a happy Masked Blogger.

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a happy, prosperous, full of joy and progress 2007. May all your wishes for the coming year be fulfilled.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Christmas Tree is still up, the lights still twinkling, the garland still draped decoratively and the ornaments still hanging ornately; but underneath, the tree is as bare Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard (with the exception of a million or two dead droppings dotting the wrinkled white sheet that was placed there for the very purpose of catching the necrotic needles).

Christmas Eve night we joined family members in meeting at BlogGirl’s parents’ home at 6pm for a dinner of turkey and all the trimmings with the usual visiting and catching up on each others’ lives, followed by the exchanging and opening of gifts. All the kids under 18 get a gift from everyone, while the adults 18 and older chose names from a hat back at Thanksgiving so that each person only has one adult to exchange one gift with at a $30 limit. This year I drew my brother-in-law Ed’s name and my brother-in-law Steve drew mine.

If I’ve done things correctly with Google’s Picasa application, there should be an album of photos here.

After the party, Mikey went to the BlogCave with us to spend the night, while BlogPrincess, Jason and Heather spent the night at Jeremy’s. Mikey, Grandma and I scattered reindeer food on the front lawn, left low fat milk and Oreo Chocolate Mint cookies on a plate in the dining room for Santa and then put ourselves to bed to await the arrival of St. Nick. When we awoke the next morning the cookies were gone, the milk was gone, but we couldn’t tell if the reindeer had eaten any of the food we left for them (last year one of the reindeer, Vixen, I think, dropped her bow in our front yard. This year she was more careful) though we think they did.

Soon BlogPrincess, Jason, Heather, Jeremy and Amber arrived and we proceeded to attack the mound of gifts under the tree like a swarm of locusts. It wasn’t pretty.

If I’ve done things correctly with Google’s Picasa application, there should be an album of photos here.

Here’s a list of the goodies The Masked Blogger received:

From my friends Kirk and Laura I unwrapped Superman Returns: The Complete Shooting Script. Now I won’t have to memorize the script from repeatedly watching the DVD anymore (though I’ll still watch it repeatedly). Thanks guys, this is an excellent gift.

From my wonderful in-laws 3 books from my Amazon Wishlist; Wally’s World: The Brilliant Life and Tragic Death of Wally Wood, the World’s 2nd Best Comic Book Artist, Photo-Journal Guide to Marvel Comics Volume IV K-Z and Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 6. I am excited to get them all, but especially the Wally Wood book. I have been a long-time admirer of the late Mr. Wood’s artwork and look forward to reading more about his life and work. Thank you both so much!

From my brother-in-law Steve I received a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble with which I bought (on the day after Christmas) You: On A Diet: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management, because I saw the author on Oprah a couple of months ago and was impressed with his “back to basics” advice and because I am turning into The Masked Porker and need to knock some weight off, and The Freelance Writer’s Bible: Your Guide to a Profitable Writing Career Within One Year, which has a wealth of good advice and some helpful insights into a freelance writing career. Thanks Steve, for giving me something that allowed me to get the gifts I needed.

From my friend Rebecca I received a HUGE (3 pounds!) bag of Peanut M&M’s. They are my favorite candy. The trick will be either eating them all before I start my diet on January 1st, or eating a very limited amount of them each day after. Thanks for the good eats, Rebecca.

My friends George and Caroline also gave me a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble (everyone knows my weaknesses; books and candy) and I bought (on the day after Christmas), The Everything Get Published Book: All You Need to Know to Become a Successful Author, another book with lots of helpful advice for the budding writer. Like my gratitude to Steve above, thanks guys for giving me something that allowed me to get the gift I needed and could use.

From my beloved Grandson Mikey I received a gift I will always treasure (though I did tell BlogGirl this morning that if I should die before he grows up she is to give it back to him to remember me by, because it is the first Christmas gift that he actually picked out on his own for me and insisted his mother buy it for him to give to me) and I am in the process of working out how it will be placed in my office. It is a Superman plush pillow doll, about 36 inches high and even has a cape! Thank you so much Mikey, for the thoughtfulness of your gift from the heart. Granddad loves you very much!

From BlogPrincess and Jason I was given more gifts from my Amazon Wishlist; the Photo Journal Guide to Marvel Comics Volume III A-J (the companion to volume IV that my in-laws, as mentioned above, had given me), Against The Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood (a second book on the late Mr. Wood that I wanted to read) and a really cool image of Superman, his logo name and his “S” emblem, all on a 12″ by 18″ inch piece of metal and distressed to mimic the flaking, chipping and fading that takes place on comic book covers. I’ve already hung that on my office wall under a drawing of me in a superhero costume that BP had a caricaturist at Pointe Orlando do of me several years ago. Oh! And a box of my favorite Christmas-time candy; chocolate covered cherries. Thank you both very much.

Tomorrow I’ll list the fantastic gifts I received from BlogGirl. See you then.