Christmas Tree

Presents! There are lots of presents under the tree. I am so excited and looking forward to Christmas, because my little sister, Katie, is coming over! She's going to have a nice Christmas Eve sleepover at my apartment.

Look at all these lovely presents.

Presents for Laynie and Katie!

More presents for Laynie and Katie!

Presents for me, too!

This is my favorite ornament. He's guarding the presents.

I guess this one is guarding the presents, too.

Love this ornament, too.

The bee is on a spring... heehee...

My aunt Susan gave this to me in 1979, when I was just a year old.

Picked this little gem up in Manhattan last year. Yes, I'm Irish.

Mom made this for me when I was little. Yes, I'm old.

Laynie and I aren't really sure whose Empire State Building ornament this is. I think it's hers.

Get-Well Gifts

My mom sent me a care package, which was so thoughtful and very appreciated. Oh, I should have taken a picture of the Christmas ornament. It's a bear wearing a raincoat--she knows I love rain, and she likes to give me stuff related to that. I do love rain... sigh.

Among other things, she sent a burned DVD of the movie, Gorillas in the Mist. This might seem like an odd get-well gift. Laynie found it odd. Katie found it odd. I found it wonderful. I love that movie!!

I have not seen Gorillas in the Mist since.. oh... high school? I'm not sure I have seen it since then. But it was one of my most favorite movies, maybe my very favorite. Don't ask me why! There is something fascinating about a person who devotes herself so completely to her work, as Dian Fossey did. And from things I've read about her, she seems a little spectrumy. Just sayin.

So of course I was excited to pull that DVD out of its sleeve. I commented to Katie that it had to be recorded from TV. No way it was a clean burn from another DVD (disclaimer: my mother would never pirate a movie). I was right: it was recorded from TV!

I know what you're thinking: You say that like it's a good thing... (See, I can read your mind.) I guess it's a matter of perspective.

You might say that my family did not have a great deal of disposable income. We didn't buy very many store-bought video tapes, but my mother DID buy plenty of recordable VHS tapes, which she put to good use. She recorded hundreds of movies and television specials. Not exaggerating. Hundreds. Maybe over a thousand. Everything from the Care Bears to Star Wars. At some point, we started numbering the tapes and cataloguing the movies on them. Several programs would be on each tape, you see, so this was easier than just labeling the sides of the tapes (well, we did that too... but had to write so small...). 

Mind you, these were not exactly professional quality recordings: a lot of our recordings had multiple episodes of static, due to the fact that for three years we lived not only on an Air Force base but also in the flight path of National Airport. Double airplane trouble. Check it out:

I had to smile when the picture went black for a while when I was watching Gorillas in the Mist.

I'm so glad mom recorded that movie and sent it to me. It really made my day.