Christmas Shopping with a Friend!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GO DUCKS!

Home for Christmas

One of the best parts of Christmas is having everyone at home. Both kids are now home and my sister is arriving tonight. Our family tradition is to have a large family meal Christmas Eve and then to open Christmas presents. On Christmas day the entire family likes to go to a movie (I am campaigning for the new "True Grit") and then look at Christmas lights around town. This Christmas we are very fortunate and lucky.

Christmas Humor

I agree with Bill O'Reilly that people and businesses are getting too reticent to say the words "MERRY CHRISTMAS" due to political correctness; but, I do find the satirical humor in this picture. In that spirit say "Merry Christmas" or be a "pinhead".

Merry Christmas !

Bubble Christmas Lights

I love Christmas lights and I particularly love Bubble Christmas Lights. When I was a little kid in the early 1950's one of my favorite things to do at Christmas was watch the bubble lights on our Christmas tree ... "bubble". Gradually as the 1950's led to the 1960's the bubble lights would burn out one by one. By the late 1960's we had a metallic tree with a color wheel shining on it. What where we thinking? Sometime in the 1980's I had a yearning for a return to the bubble lights of my youth. I searched and searched and they were very difficult to find. I finally found a string at a "Christmas Store" and we have been stringing it on our fireplace mantel for the last 20 or so years.. This year I put them on our tree and it really takes me back to my youth and they look great. We even went down to the store and bought more. They are now very easy to find. Some of them would not 'bubble" so I went "on line" and found out if you let them warm up and then unscrew them and shake them upside down they will start to bubble and it worked. Now I have 15 or so bubble lights on our tree and they are all bubbling. Merry Christmas

Christmas 1941

This is a re post of the story of the best Christmas card I ever received......

This morning I was reading Winston Churchill's book "The Gathering Storm" and I remembered a Christmas card our daughter sent us in 2006. I searched for the card and found it placed inside of William Manchester's biography of Churchill on a shelf in our dinning room. The card is my favorite all time Christmas card and for Christmas I put it out on the self next to my Winston Churchill statute. I wrote about it on this blog in 2006 as follows:

This year our daughter, who lives in Washington DC, sent us one of the best Christmas cards we have ever received. It is a painting of "The White House Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.... December 1941." The card was produced by the White House Historical Association. The painting on the front of the card is of Christmas Eve 1941 just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II. The Christmas trees is shown in front of the White House and on the portico speaking to the crowd is FDR and Winston Churchill. Churchill had come to Washington DC to coordinate the war effort with FDR and was staying with Roosevelt at the White House.

There is a lot of detail of Churchill's visit in the new book "Franklin and Winston, an Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship" by Jon Meacham managing editor of Newsweek and is a very good read. An interesting passage from the book:

The prime minister's hours kept Roosevelt up later than he was accustomed to. Churchill would wander into the President's bedroom at any hour if he had something to talk over..... The late-night conversations were fueled by war and drink... Winston... ate and thoroughly enjoyed, more food than any two men or three diplomats;and he consumed brandy and Scotch with a grace and enthusiasm that left us all open mouthed in awe....

That night they spoke to the crowd in front of the White House and to the nation on the radio. Jon Meacham described the night as follows:

There was a vast crowd, the voices drifted across the keen night air, the carols--old and yet for ever new--were sung in an atmosphere mellowed by the lights and the shadows... the voices of the President and the Prime Minister rang out with a message of hope and courage...Roosevelt introduced Churchill as "My associate, my old and good friend"

Churchill said:

I spend this anniversary and festival far from home....Here in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult,we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then for one night only, each home through out the English-speaking world should be a brightly-lighted island of happiness and peace.... Let the children have their night of fun and laughter... before we turn to the stern tasks and formidable year that lie before us. Resolve that by our sacrifice and daring these children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world

According to Meacham, Eleanor Roosevelt had been worried that FDR would have a bad Christmas because it was the first Christmas after his mothers death but the influx of guests and increasing work made it practically impossible for him to think too much about any personal sorrow.

Churchill had heart palpitations during the ceremony and Churchill was sad to be apart from his wife Clementine at Christmas.

After that momentous night a Christmas Tree would not be lit again on the White House grounds for the duration of the war.

The Christmas Card out daughter sent us is one I will aways treasure....... If you look closely you will See FDR and Churchill. Thanks, Marry Christmas.

Where do we get such men !

Click on the link for a Denver Post story about an Oregon Duck fan from Yakima Washington serving in Afghanistan.

So this is what I want for Christmas: that Keith's knee heals, and he makes it through all his deployments, and marries that pretty dental hygienist, and talks her into moving with him to that bucolic valley apple farm near Yakima, and settles down to a long, boring, contented life critiquing quarterback choices and telling stories, when asked, about the years he spent in a bowl-shaped Afghan valley, his days walking patrols, his nights watching every star in the universe twinkle into view in the dark, wild sky. Please, Santa?

Read more: Colorado Voices: My wish for a soldier - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16912025#ixzz18raKHINF
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Lest We forget this Christmas Season

As we celebrate Christmas we should not forget those who have given their lives in defense of freedom and those who who are now in combat against the forces of evil and darkness around the world.

Home for the Holidays

Last Tuesday we went out to the Jackson County International Airport to pick up our son who is home for the holidays from Kentucky. Tonight we will pick up our daughter who is flying in from Washington DC. I love the trips to the airport this time of year and the best part of Christmas is having both kids home.

Last weekend, with my son's help, we put up our outdoor lights along with a light up Santa next to a big green "O" in lights for Oregon. Santa is waiving green and yellow pom poms. We also added two large Oregon Duck flags to the outside decorations in honor of Oregon's appearance in the BCS Championship Game. This year the Holidays will stretch to January 10, 2011 the date of the game. Christmas, New Year and the BCS Championship. What a great Holiday season. Merry Christmas and Go Ducks!

SHOUT for the DUCKS & "Animal House"

Otis Day and the Knights of the Movie "Animal House" are scheduled to perform at 5:00 p.m.,on January 9th, at the University of Oregon Pep Rally in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is the day before Oregon plays in the National Championship in nearby Glendale Arizona .

This past season at Oregon's home football games, the Shout soundtrack was played along with clips from the movie on Autzen Stadiums big screen to get the crowd engaged.

Did I say the movie "Animal House" was filmed at the University of Oregon and is one of my favorite comedy's of all time? How perfect.

"THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT !"

Christmas Music

Time to take a brake from Oregon Duck Football and their going to the National Championship for Christmas. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It's one of the greatest traditions of Western Civilisation.

One of things I love about Christmas is Christmas music. Every year after Christmas I lament that I didn't listen to more Christmas music before the big day. For the last few years in December we have been listening to Christmas CD's in our car on the way to work. My favorite songs in no particular order are:

Pop Christmas Music:

"White Christmas", by Bing Crosby from the movie "White Christmas"(1954) and "Holiday Inn"(1942)

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Bing Crosby

"Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby and David Bowie

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas",by Judy Garland from the movie "Meet Me in St Louis"(1944)

"The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole

"It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams

"Aspenglow", by John Denver

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Gene Autry

"Frosty the Snow Man" by Gene Autry

"(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" by Perry Como

"Silent Night" sung by the troops at every Bob Hope Christmas show at the end with the cast and crew.

"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by 13 year old Jimmy Boyd

Traditional Christian Christmas Music:. (I am not religious but this is beautiful music that everyone can enjoy.)

"O Come All Ye Faithful"

"Away In A Manger"

"It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"

"Joy To The World"

Old English Christmas "Sing Along" Songs:

"Deck The Halls"

"We Wish You A Merry Christmas"

"Jingle Bells",

Merry Christmas!

"Take a trip inside an Oregon football fan’s troubled mind".

Click on the title for a link to a wonderful column by a duck fan published in Willamette Week. Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom. Today I sent a link to my wife and she said I could have written it..... I wish I had. Just a sample of the column:

Whatever your fixation, it helps get you through the day, connects you to others who share your itch and helps separate you from the hoi polloi who aren’t smart/witty/handsome/athletic/well-read enough to recognize you’re part of a super-special community of fellow travelers.

My passion? Ducks football. Has been for 38 years.

On the outside, I’m a normal guy. ....

From my own experience I remember when my kids were young and we were camping on the southern Oregon coast with my parents on Labor Day weekend.There was no radio reception at the campground of the Ducks game so I left the family at the camp ground and drove 30 to 50 miles to Coos Bay to pick up the game on the radio.

Earlier when I was in the Army at Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri I was allowed to buy a Sunday newspaper and first thing I would do was go to the sports page to see how the ducks had done on Saturday.

Or how I would always listen to the Ducks on a transistor radio when I worked my Saturday job at a variety store in Coos Bay as a stock boy in high school and dreamed of going to college and watching my Ducks !

And now my Ducks are playing in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

A friend of mine sent me a link to the above article with the words "We are not alone"

Everyone was watching the Ducks on Saturday in the Civil War Game

Wiley Wickre in Washington D.C. gets ready for the "Civil War" game between Oregon and Oregon State. I wonder who he was for !

Jerry Allen, Radio Voice of the Ducks, Reacts to 2010 Civil War Victory

Jerry, as his voice breaks in emotion, express for all of us "old time" Duck fans what this all means to us...... after all the years of, at best mediocrity, the Ducks have done what only we could imagine in our wildest dreams.

I can still remember in the early 70's as Oregon QB Norval Turner ..... we called him "Norval Turnover"...... fumbled yet another ball and as we all groaned in frustration..... a fan stood and turned to the crowd around him and said "you knew it would be like this!" and we all had to agree. The annual humiliations at at the hands of U$C,UCLA and of course the hated Huskies of Washington.The gradual improvement of the program under coaches Rich Brooks, Mike Bellotti, AD Bill Byrne,and the help of our favorite uncle, Phil Knight. Bill Byrne's buying us into the Independence Bowl in Shreveport in 1989 ... those of us who attended almost got frost bite ! The days when you could bring an umbrella to Autzen and no one minded because the stadium had lots of extra room as the rain poured. But we kept coming and soon there were more of us fans and then more and then a full Autzen Stadium which became the loudest Stadium in the Nation. Yes, we heard all of that in Jerry's voice. We love you.

Now on to the National Championship..... Let's Go Ducks......Win the Day!

Oregon Ducks to BCS National Championship

It's a great day to be a Duck. Oregon beat Oregon State in the "Civil War" game 37 to 20 to go to the BCS National Championship against Auburn in Glendale Arizona.

I never thought I would live to see this day.



Go Ducks... Win the Day!

CIVIL WAR....... GAME DAY !

would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one more chance, just one more chance, to come back to Recer Stadium to BEAT THE BEAVERS !

LET'S GO DUCKS ...... WIN THE DAY!

Video: A message from the Duck!

While you are waiting for the Civil War game to start:

Vote for The Duck for Mascot of the Year at www.capitalonebowl.com.

GO DUCKS! Win the Day!

At the Precipice Of Immortality

The Civil War game tomorrow could be the beginning of the biggest events in the state of Oregon since the Portland Trailblazers won the NBA championship in 1977. These sort of sports events don't come along very often, particularly in the state of Oregon. As Bob Rikert of the Oregon writes:

if the Ducks get by the Beavers tomorrow, they'll have done something no other Duck team has done, or maybe ever will.

Enjoy it now fans. Enjoy it right, now.

Go Ducks....... Win the Day!!!!

Time Goes So Slowly

It's only Wednesday and I can't wait for the "Civil War" game to start between Oregon and Oregon State on Saturday.

This game has been weighing heavily on my mind for at least three weeks. I believe the Oregon Ducks have across the board superior talent. On the other hand, the Oregon State Beavers have often beaten Oregon Duck teams due to more desire. Most of Oregon's players are from out of state and sometimes we have lost to the Beavers because of complacency and failure to realize how much the Beavers want the game. That could be the case on Saturday. Oregon State teams often come out like rabid dogs and play their hearts out.I respect them for that!I have been told that this Oregon Duck team has more of a "blue collar" ethic, than past teams, and they will need it on Saturday. The last two years we have spoiled Oregon States bid to the Rose Bowl by beating them and they will be out for revenge. This year if they lose there will be no Bowl Game for them. If we lose we go to the Rose Bowl and if we win we go the the National Championship Game. The Beavers would feel on top of the world if they could deny us that chance for a National Title. It would be their greatest game in history and they would remind us of that fact for the next 100 years ! We have only one mission and that is to beat the Beavers. The Vegas gamblers have Oregon favored but I don't believe it. Oregon players can NOT be overconfident!!!!!
Going to their stadium is like going to Hel*. I have been to many other stadiums and their fans are the WORST I have witnessed. We need to jump on them early and put a figurative stake in their heart early.



Thomas Hobbes once wrote that "the life of man,(is) solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Hobbes never won a "Civil War" game.... but he was dead on if you lose.

As former Oregon State football coach Dee Andros, once said about the "Civil War" "it's for the right to live in the State of Oregon."

Time goes so slowly waiting for the game.

Go Ducks! Win the Day!

Joint "Civil War" Lunch in Medford

Click on the title above for a link to the Medford Mail Tribune's news story on the joint "Civil War" lunch held here in Medford yesterday.

"Civil War" Lunch

For the second time in about 10 years there will be a JOINT "Civil War" lunch between the Oregon Club of Southern Oregon and the Oregon State fans in Southern Oregon. The clubs had joint lunches for many years but about 10 years ago there was a fight between a Duck fan and a Beaver fan over in Klamath Falls at a joint function leading up to the "Civil War" football game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. As a result both universities withdrew support for the joint meeting. Both groups of fans continued to have "Civil War" functions, just not joint! Well, year before last the Oregon Club of Southern Oregon on it's own approached the Beavers and their AD said no. Last year the clubs got together with the passive support of the two schools and everyone had a great time. This year we will do it again and will have a joint lunch of friendly rivalry. Last I heard there were 295 + fans scheduled for the (Correction) Medford Red Lion Inn for the lunch on Tuesday
Go Ducks beat the Beavers!


Oregon
"Mighty Oregon"

Oregon, our Alma Mater
We will guard thee on and on
Let us gather round and cheer her
Chant her glory Oregon
Roar the praises of her warriors
Sing the story Oregon
On to victory urge the heroes
Of our mighty Oregon!
Go Ducks Go!
Fight Ducks Fight!
Go!
Fight!
Win Ducks Win!

“OSU may fight to the end, but we… will… win!”

UPDATE: Email from the Oregon Club of Southern Oregon

Tomorrow Tuesday Nov. 30th is the Second Annual Civil War Lunch at the Red Lion Inn in Medford. The lunch meeting starts at 11:45 and we will begin serving food at 11:30 so be sure to arrive early to get a good seat as we expect over 300 people. The price is $15.00 per person and we do not accept credit cards so please bring cash. We have some great speakers from both Oregon and Oregon State and a lot of great drawing prizes so bring an extra five spot and join the fun!

"CIVIL WAR WEEK FUN !!!!

Go Ducks.... beat the Beavers !

"CIVIL WAR" WEEK

Here in Oregon this is Civil War Week. The game will be on ABC TV next Saturday in Corvallis home of Oregon State. ESPN's Game Day will be there !
Someone said the "Civil War" game "is for the right to live in the State of Oregon" or at least the right to live in the State of Oregon with your head held high. This is one of college footballs oldest rivalries. The oldest west of the Mississippi. Here in Oregon, Ducks and Beavers can be found in most offices, families and neighborhoods. It's brother vs brother, neighbor vs neighbor and coworker vs coworker so it truly is a Civil War. These two teams and their fans do night like each other.

One of my favorite Civil War stories is from World War II. One of the Band of Brothers featured in the HBO mini series, Don Malarkey, is a University of Oregon alum. His studies were interrupted by World War II and he was in the paratroopers in England preparing for the D-Day landings. Eisenhower and Churchill came to view his unit before the beginning of the invasion and Ike asks Malarkey what he did before the war. He said he was a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and Ike asks him who won the last Oregon vs Oregon State Football game. Of course Ike played football for Army at West Point.

It is fun to walk around the tailgate parties before the game because you see Ducks and Beavers together. There is a scene in the movie Gettysburg where a confederate general tells a British Army officer who is there as an observer just before Pickett's charge that "All Virginia is here today". At each Oregon vs Oregon State Football game I like to think "all Oregon is here today."
Jon Wilner, of the San Jose Mercury news in California rates the rivalry football games in the Pac-10 and rates the "Civil War" game as the #1 rivalry game when he writes:

1. The Civil War.

These days, Oregon-Oregon State has the best combination of passion, significance and competitiveness.

The passion takes the form of hatred — much closer to the Arizona-ASU situation than a healthy dislike.

OSU looks with jealousy at its richer, more-famous, more hip neighbor and wonders what might have been if Phil Knight had gone to OSU. The Ducks hate OSU because they’ve been told to hate OSU for decades.

The games are usually high scoring, although not always close, and the home team has dominated this decade.....


Without question, Oregon and Oregon State have been the most successful natural rivals in the conference in recent years. And that makes the Civil War the league’s best rivalry.

I first learned to hate the Beavers in the late 1960's when the Beavers, regularly under coach Dee Andros,( The Great Pumpkin) beat the shi* out of Oregon Duck Teams and did it with such relish.


A few years ago Dee, long retired, not too long before his death, came to a joint Duck/Beaver "Civil War" lunch in Medford and gave a passionate speech about the "Civil War" game that made me want to strap on a helmet and start playing right there. When Dee Andros walked into the banquet room he was wearing a god awful bright orange blazer and a black and orange striped tie. A local young TV sports reporter, who had probably just moved to this area, walked up to him and asked him if he was an Oregon State fan ..... it brought a smile to my face.

(Dee Andros was a veteran of World War II where he served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was awarded the Bronze Star and spent more than a month under heavy fire on Iwo Jima. He was present at the famed moment when Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima.)

In my lifetime I can remember twice when the Duck were denied a trip to the Rose Bowl because of a loss to the Beaver..... The first, was in 1964 when I was in high school and listened to the game on a transistor radio at a speech tournament I was competing in. The Beavers won and went to the Rose Bowl. The second, was in 2000 when I spent part of the game at a hospital with a dying relative.

Let's go Ducks Win the Day!

Go Ducks beat the Beavers.

JUST WIN THE DAY!

Thanksgiving is over. Ducks just win the day and beat Arizona. Let's Go Ducks

Happy Thanksgiving

Things are unsettled for me this Thanksgiving waiting for the Arizona game on Friday and the Oregon vs Oregon State "Civil War" game a week later "However, to put it all in perspective I re post the following from last year from Newt Gingrich the History Professor:

The Civil War was raging. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had left 50,000 Americans killed, wounded or missing. Riots were tearing apart American cities.

In the midst of this chaos, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in October 1863 that the last Thursday of November should henceforth be set aside as a day of thanksgiving.

Lincoln acknowledged that the nation was "in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity." But he focused instead on the nation's blessings, urging his fellow Americans to remember that "No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

And Lincoln, too, proclaimed that all Americans set aside the day for a public expression of gratitude to God. He wrote, "It has seemed to me fit and proper that they [gifts of God] should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING