There is a family who named their son Adolf Hitler. They made the news recently when they asked to have a birthday cake decorated with his name. The bakery refused to do it.

For some reason, I envision this family as members of the Aryan nation.

For one of my co-workers, English is not her first language. In fact, English is her 5th language. And even though she has lived in the US for about 30 years, her vocabulary is not the greatest.

The other day during a meeting, she announced that she had to go out at lunch and buy an ottoman because her daughter was involved in an ottoman exchange at school. This didn’t sound quite right to all of us so we asked her if she was really going to buy an ottoman. She said that she was and added that it would be something to hang from a Christmas tree.

At that point, we all responded with “ornament”. When we told her that an ottoman was a foot stool, she started laughing.

It is a good thing that she didn’t say just to buy her an ottoman for Christmas, because we probably would have done so.

My oldest daughter was concerned that we might not have a white Christmas this year. Well, given the fact that another 6 inches fell yesterday, I think that there is a really good chance that we will have a white Christmas.

The snow is so deep that the squirrels can’t been seen. When they move through the snow, they jump forward. It is like they are doing the breast stroke. Needless to say, our bird feeders are full of birds.

Fortunately, Kathy and I are on vacation until the first of the year and we have enough food so we really don’t need to go out. Besides, I have enough home projects to keep me busy for quite a while.

Yesterday it snowed, which is not uncommon for Michigan in December. But what is uncommon is that we got as much snow as we did. 13.5 inches!

When I was growing up, it was not uncommon to have that much snow in December. But, up until the last couple of winters, we have not had much snow in December. In fact, some years it was so mild that we did not have any snow for Christmas.

Having grown up in Michigan, snow was always a part of Christmas. I remember when my cousins would come over on Christmas day and we would all go up the street to the sledding hill. We could sled for hours. So, snow at Christmas brings back many fond memories of my youth.

Now granted, I am sure that there are people who would be happy with no snow, but this is Michigan and it is December. But, take heart. Next week the days will start getting longer.

An Arkansas couple recently gave birth to their 18 child.  He is 43 and she is 42 and they want to have more.  Their oldest is 20.  The rest are about a year apart.

Either they have a big house or they don’t have a TV.

There is an acorn shortage this year and biologists are concerned.  They concluded that since last year  there was a bumper crop of acorns, the oaks don’t want to produce them this year. So, what this means is that there will be a food shortage for the wildlife this winter.  Or more to the point, there will be an increased attack on our shrubs and trees this winter.  And given the  size of the deer herd in the backyard, we will need to fence in all of our landscape shrubs.

The dermatologist that my wife visits is having a Christmas sale on Microderm Abrasions. They are $10 off.

They also offer gift cards.  I guess you could use them as stocking stuffers.

A co-worker of mine recently went to Bahrain. While she was there, she said she went to a midnight pig roast in the desert.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that since Bahrain is an Arabic country, it probably wasn’t pig that she was eating.

Oh well, I am sure it was good anyway.

The other day, Kathy and I were out shopping together when I noted that it was lunch time. Since Don Pablos was just across the street from the shopping mall, I suggest we eat there. However, to my dismay, Don Pablos was gone. The building was razed and a Chopotle was in its place.

I was very disappointed. I really liked Don Pablos. The food wasn’t the greatest but it was all bad either.

I don’t particularly care for Chopotles. If I want to pay $6 for a burrito I will go to the Beltline Bar.

The other day, I went with my wife to the dermatologist.  The visit was interesting. And, it must be big business as the place was packed.

They even had a person to open the door for you. I gather the place caters to the upper middle class.

What is next? Valet parking?