Pot-latch, Potluck, Second-hand Christmas, You Do What You Gotta Do

Tomorrow we will be going over the river and through the woods to my son's grandmother's house for Thanksgiving.  My mom's house that is.  It will be all my brothers and sisters, and all of our kids and spouses.  As for almost every one of late, it's been a lean year for various reasons.  

We are having a potluck at my mom's like we have had for a few years now, but I wonder if any one really knows where the meaning of "potluck" came from.  It's funny how it ties into Thanksgiving and the "Native Americans".  

The word "potluck" comes from the native word "potlatch".  It is a festival ceremony 
practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The actual  word comes from the Chinook Jargon, meaning "to give away" or "a gift". It went through a history of rigorous ban by both the Canadian and United States' federal governments, and has been the study of many anthropologists.  I did notice that the word "potluck" literally means "the luck of the pot" in European terms.  I laugh when I think about that.  I have personally tasted some pots that might have been considered "unlucky".  

At a potlatch a family hosts guests in their house and holds a feast.  They do this mainly to redistribute wealth that was accumulated through out the year.  I see this to be very similar to our family's gatherings.  Although we all live in a 40 mile radius, we only seem to ALL get together at Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  We bring what we can and distribute it among each other.  On Thanksgiving it is food and stories, on Christmas Eve it is gifts and food.  This Thanksgiving it will be the news of the sex of my parents first great grandchild.  This year at Christmas we will be continuing a new tradition that we started last year; A Second-Hand Christmas.

Coming from a very large family of five brothers and two sisters, and we all have kids and spouses it has become economically impractical to give presents to all of us at Christmas.  We used to give only for the kids, but that is not feasible any more since all of our kids but two are adults or almost.  So last year I came up with a plan. 

Knowing your own family members and their likes and dislikes (at least generally) is helpful when doing a "Second-Hand Christmas".  Basically you give away things you already own.  That's the first rule.  Also, it can't be crap.  Although last year one of my brothers gave away fake dog poo.  That was funny.  I still have it. Anyway, the idea is to think about that person, and about what you think they would like out of the stuff you have in your house or garage.  Let's face it.  We all have too much stuff.  Why not get rid of some of it and at the same time make your mom happy because you know she's been coveting it every time she comes over.  Or whatever.  And save money at the same time.  I know that I like getting presents.  And as long as it's something that I like or could use, I don't care if it's new or not.  

Well enough for my holiday blog post.  Sorry if it rambles a bit.  I had a train of thought that got derailed a few times by the hubby and the dogs, but I think I made the point I was going for. 

 This lean, broke-ass year, be thankful for your family, the roof over your head, and the food that your sister didn't burn.  Be thankful that you are alive, breathing and aware that you have things to be thankful for.  You could be in a coma.

Christmas 2009  Some of us, but not all.

I woke up this morning to a little bit of snow on the ground.  It was the chicken's first snow.  Anyhoo I made this video.

Facebook Is My Own Personal Crack

I was randomly looking at my blog when it occurred to me that I had not written in quite a while.  So, in the tradition of my 19 year old son, I have came up with a list of shit I was doing instead of writing in this blog.  (The tradition being procrastination and excuses, in case you didn't pick up on that.)

Official List of My Excuses For Not Writing--I Blame:

1. Facebook.  I completely and totally, almost fully blame Facebook.  Specifically the game called "Cafe' World."  That shit is like crack. (This is where I was going to beg for Cafe' buddies, but I thought it would be crass.)
2. Laundry.  The never ending pile.  
3. Geriatric cat, Werther P. Smaug who seems to be continually shooting liquid-fun-in-a-cat anywhere he damn well wants to.
4. Facebook.  I told you.
5. Walking the dogs in between durations of rain, hail & wind storms.
6. Wondering why the Man-Boy is suddenly doing chores when not asked.
7. Spying on said Man-Boy looking for weird differences that might prove that he is actually an alien that switched with the real Man-Boy when I wasn't looking.
8. Laundry.
9. Fucking cat.
10. Being the only one who EVER cleans the bathroom or the laundry room (cat boxes) or anything for that matter.
11. It's Fall, so I am in baking mode.  Made cake, cupcakes, zuchinni bread, butterfly cake, etc.
12. I started doing my landscaping thing again.  Concentrating on seasonal wants.  So needless to say, but I am going to anyway; I am raking a lot.  I don't use blowers since I am trying to be the "green" one that makes the leaves go away instead of the loud fucker at 8 am that doesn't speak English.  Sorry, not PC enough? My bad.
13. Cafe' World catering challenges.  Bunch. Of. Fuckers.  They have got to know it is way too addicting!
14. All the new Fall shows.  I must also equally blame Comcast On Demand, and the DVR thingie.  I go to sleep early while all "my shows" record.  (I feel so old by the way saying "my show".  It reminds me of my mom [sorry, Mom] when she wants to get off the phone. "Sorry, Kimberly but I gotta go. My show's on." Sigh . . .)  Then I watch them the next day while folding laundry and wiping up cat-butt spew.
15. Laziness.  
16. Very good books.  I've been reading a few lately.  Um, The Shack by W.M Paul Young.  Awesome by the way.  Read that one if you want to just feel good and cry a lot about feeling good.  And Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs.  It's a memoir (I've been strangely into those lately) that is horrifying (as in "Are you kidding me?  He did what?!?!" OMG) and hilarious at the same time.  Also just finished the autobiography of Sharon Osbourne.  She is one tough chickie. 
17. MS blows big-time, hairy , chunks sometimes.  It's a bitch to physically type when a person can't feel half of their left hand or not be able to see completely out of both their eyes.  I feel kind of like Michael J. Fox with an eyepatch.  Pretty screwed, ya know?
18. Facebook.  Specifically "Family Feud".  Again, the Facebook crack/game dealers have found another good one.  Along with Bejeweled Blitz.  Can I get a witness people!?!?!
19. Burning illegally in the barrel in my backyard.  I had to get rid of the debris my Man-Boy accumulated in his latest spurt of irregular, alien-like activity; he whacked down most of the blackberries that were threatening to swallow the yard. Burning also involved throwing a lid on it every 15 minutes or so and running in side (and I use the term "running" very loosely) when Mother Nature decided to throw some hail and nasty rain down.
20. And last but not least:  I frankly have no life at the moment so I really did not have much to write about as you can see by above.