Christmas Top 10

We'll, I'm actually posting what has evolved into a personal top 25 list. Just was wondering if others want to share some of their favorites?

Name - Artist
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2
Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
Please Come Home for Christmas - Eagles
Celebrate Me Home - Kenny Loggins
Do They Know It's Christmas Time - Band Aid
Another Auld Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg
Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - The Pretenders
Rocking Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bruce Springsteen
Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney
(Everybody's Waitin' For) the Man with the Bag - Kay Starr
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
All I Want For Christmas - Mariah Carey
Driving Home For Christmas - Chris Rea
Christmastime - Blues Traveler
Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano
Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth - Bing Crosby & David Bowie
Grown Up Christmas List - Natalie Cole
Do You Hear What I Hear - Whitney Houston
Happy Holidays - Andy Williams
Winter Wonderland - Tony Bennett
Sleigh Ride - Andy Williams
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Johnny Mathis
Home For The Holidays - Perry Como

P.S. 2 blogs posted Friday. Scroll down for "random thoughts".

Thanks Sharon!

Random Thoughts

You could say I've been more of a lurker these past few weeks. Laying low, reading often, compiling my thoughts - some deep and dark, others light and full of humor.

It has been said that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. I believe that God has a sense of humor and he has put many "teachers" in front of me throughout my life; some as recently as last weekend. Without going into too much detail, lets' just say I am convinced that God was hanging out with me and watching over me while I was in Florida. It's your call if you want to dismiss me as a kook. Too bad, it's my belief. If nothing else it's reaffirmed my faith, allowed me to refocus on the true meaning of the Christmas season and made me feel safe in some strange way. Safer than I've felt in quite some time.

I watched TBL finale on Tuesday. I love cheering on the successes of others. We all know fat/weight loss is NOT easy and in order to achieve long term success we must make these life long decisions, however when you dangle a $250,000 carrot in front of someone they are bound to be motivated. I thought I knew what my carrot was. Sometimes I'm not so sure. Find your "why" and you'll find your "how". I'm looking harder now than ever.

Lots of posts about those lamenting our "poor choices" lately. I'm guilty as charged. Sometimes I want to take the high road and say "Don't be such a pussy Gene. Suck it up." Dominate as Billy says. Other times I want to coddle and say "It's OK. There you go. Here's a tissue." Let's face it - it sucks sitting on the fence. You know who's not on the fence? Billy. End of story.

Speaking of Billy, I'm glad he decided not to pull back from Blogging as he indicated some time ago. His recent posts have been insightful & important to me. I'm sure to some of you as well.

I was sad to hear of Dan Fogelberg's death. Weird he died a week before Christmas. I know "Old Lang Syne" is sort of gay, but I admit I love it. It's in my all time Christmas top 10.

Speaking of Christmas (and before I ramble on any more and you all decide to unsubscribe from reading my blog posts - you guys wouldn't do that would you?) here (in true "song guy" fashion) is my Holiday wish for you all:

Blues Traveler - Christmastime:

If it's Hanukkah or Kwanzaa
Solstice, harvest or December twenty-fifth
Peace on earth to everyone
And abundance to everyone you're with

Catch you next week. I'll be in PA for a few days without web access.

One last chuckle. I Googled "Christmas" for an image to post and the one I found is called "christmas-balls". Yep. That's what we all need...balls. Fortitude. Sticktuitiveness. Guts. Chutzpah. Cahones. OK...enough.

Too many excuses...

As a matter of fact, I was even going to put this posting off for another day or 2. Maybe if I avoid my blog it will go away?

After back to back weekends in FL, I'm slowly getting caught up on reading everyone's postings. The 1st weekend was for the funeral, this past weekend was a trip with my bro-in-law that was planned months ago. My wife (bless her heart) is an angel for staying home with the girls and allowing me this time away.

I was in Daytona, Jacksonville & St. Augustine with some great friends of ours who have relocated to FL from NJ. It was a super weekend and the fact that it was wrapped around the holiday season made it that much better. Very festive. We laughed, we cried, we hurled (actually only my bro-in-law hurled).

So here is the poignant question of the day. Does being outside of your normal element (i.e. lifestyle) make it OK to just say “screw it” and revert back to the habits of old? (Of course I'm sure you all know I'm relating to our patterns of eating & drinking). Does a death in the family make it OK to drink mugs of beer & eat bar pizza at 11pm? Does seeing old friends relinquish you of the responsibility of the consequences of scarfing down fresh baked Monkey Bread (I tell you what though...it's good stuff) after midnight?

Do life altering events gives us a free pass at responsibility or are they really to be perceived as opportunities that allow us to grow?

Does the fact that I am even questioning these actions make it seem as if I'm striving for perfection...the one thing that is truly unattainable in our lives?

Once again I'm in a place I've become far too familiar with. In my world it could be referred to as "1 step up 2 steps back land". I made some great strides when I embarked on this journey only 2 short months ago, but just recently I have knowingly taken myself "out of the game" and look where it's gotten me. God - the mind can be a wicked thing.

I'm afraid to get on the scale and take current measurements, but I know it's the only thing that will right the ship and "get me off the sidelines". Others have written about a reality check and nothing stirs that up like the cold hard facts.

So maybe I dove a bit too far into the abyss these past few weeks. The water has become deep and the waves are rough.

Even though you may not know it, you have all thrown me one huge collective life preserver.

Man overboard? Nah...Man back on board.