Sunday, October 5, 2008

Christmas with the King!

My wife, the lovely Marci Kay, is just plain nuts about Christmas.

She enjoys the holiday so much, in fact, that we'll have three trees in our house this year. Of course, with that many trees around, you've got to have plenty of ornaments, right?

We got the third tree on sale last year (we use artificial stuff around our house -- haven't cut down my own Christmas tree in ages) and Marci has been running around picking up ornaments since then. I was with her the other night when she was buying ornaments and had to buy something appropriate to a Christmas tree that is within Casa de Hawg.

So, yes, I found the very Elvis Presley ornaments pictured above. What could be better than Christmas with the King? Marci has objected to my suggestion of opening presents while listening to the Blue Hawaii soundtrack, so I'll take what I can get.

Now, I should point out that I have two strict rules about Elvis ornaments. First of all, none of that jumpsuit, Vegas Elvis stuff. That's just wrong. Give me either Elvis the rocker or Elvis the cheesy movie guy. Second, no ornaments depicting Elvis singing "Blue Suede Shoes." That, my friends, was a Carl Perkins song that gained Elvis a lot of popularity by accident.

What accident? Perkins was on his way to sing that very song on the Milton Berle Show when he got in a serious car wreck. Perkins, while in the hospital, got to watch Elvis singing "Blue Suede Shoes" on that very show and the rest is history. Yeah, Perkins should have gotten more notoriety than he did, and it's widely believed that television appearance would have gotten him the recognition he richly deserved.

Honestly, I think Elvis is just a hoot and who doesn't want a bit of levity around the house at Christmas? My Elvis ornaments will look great next to ornaments immortalizing the Denver Broncos, Arkansas Razorbacks and Benton Panthers.

Yeah, I know what some of you folks are thinking -- what about Christian-themed ornaments? We've got plenty of those. No worries there. We're not heathens here at Casa de Hawg.

Now, if only I could talk Marci into that ornament featuring Elvis riding a motorcycle and singing about how he misses some woman or another over a fairly heavy blues track. The motorcycle lights up, the wheels turn and it's all just cool-o. Yeah, that's Christmas!

A funny Christmas story

Marci Kay just loves those "Black Friday" sales after Thanksgiving. She heads out around 5 a.m. and does battle all morning long with other folks wanting to find bargains.

A couple of years ago, she went to Target to pick up a digital camera that was available for a great price. She said their was a crowd of people gathered around as the Target folks were handing out cameras, six at a time.

There was a lot of pushing and fighting involved and Marci got shoved.

"The next person who shoves me gets punched!" yelled my ex-Army wife. "You people are being ridiculous. Happy holidays."

Yeah, I do love that woman.

12 comments:

Paul Eilers said...

It is hard for me to get up at 5:00 a.m. to pee, much less go down to a retail store to shop.

Happy Halloween!

HawgWyld said...

Paul:

Halloween, indeed. Marci shops for Christmas presents and such all year long. So, I decided to get my Elvis ornaments early while she was shopping.

I couldn't stand that 5 a.m. shopping time, either. She loves it, though.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't until I saw the date stamp on that photo of Elvis ornaments that I realized you were serious about all this! LOL How does Marci do it?

HawgWyld said...

Theresa:

Oh, yes. I am serious at times. And I took those photos a couple of hours ago on a dandy place mat.

Marci started her "Black Friday" shopping back when we had very little money and had to stretch those dollars to make sure the kids had some decent stuff for Christmas.

She never got out of that habit.

Anonymous said...

I've got a friend that seems to be always shopping for Christmas presents. If she's out and sees something see buys it and it goes in this closet she has just for gifts. When it comes time to wrapping she doesn't remember half the stuff she bought. As for me, I'm a "salesperson's delight" because I wait 'til the last minutes and they can sell me just about anything.
BTW, what do you do for snow at Xmas??

HawgWyld said...

Robin:

Marci shops for gifts all year long. It really makes getting through Christmas a breeze.

Snow? On Christmas? In Arkansas? Well, that's actually pretty rare in central Arkansas. Now, it was more common when I lived in northwest Arkansas.

Frankly, I like the snow-free stuff better. It's less trouble getting around town that way.

Anonymous said...

Well, the great thing is, it sounds as though you have your priorities for Christmas in line.

Da Old Man said...

Do you at least play an Elvis Christmas album while unwrapping gifts?

HEALTH NUT WANNABEE MOM said...

Those are hysterical! Love them. I am terrible and never start Christmas shopping until right before Christmas. Sounds like you all are ahead of the game!

Toni said...

Although at present we only do one tree, we do have a couple of Elvis ornaments and though different from yours, a few SEC team ornaments as well! I am also excited to start adding Hunter's "made" ornaments to our crazy collection!!!

I wish I did better about my shopping, I do okay, I do have some stuff already bought...

JD at I Do Things said...

I did not know that about Carl Perkins! Well, we have only one tree and no Elvis ornaments, but we do usually get to hear "Blue Christmas" by Elvis on one of our many X-mas mix CDs.

Merry Christmas! (no, it's not too soon)


JD at I Do Things

HawgWyld said...

Danny Thornton -- Kids, Christ, the wife and sappy fun. Oh, yeah. Got my priorities straight.

da old man -- That's a heck of a good idea! We usually listen to Bing. Maybe it's time for a change...

health nut wannabe mom -- Well, my wife's ahead of the game. Glad you like the ornaments. They make me chuckle every time I see them.

Toni -- Funny thing about my SEC (Razorbacks) ornament -- I stuck it on the back of the tree when Nutt was coach. Yes, it goes front and center this year, however.

JD -- Merry Christmas to you, as well. And, no, it's not too early.

Fate robbed Carl Perkins in the 1950s. Fortunately, he got the credit he deserved starting around 1963 when this little group for Liverpool began covering his songs and describing him as an idol.