The Devil You Say

Hamfatter is a real word and it is really in the dictionary.

It has it’s very own definition and someone took time to record it’s history.

But the funny thing about this word is that nobody is sure where it came from.

Hamfatter just popped up, shoved all of the other words off stage and made us talk about it.

I can picture the staff at Merriam Webster elbowing each other in the halls after staff meetings and giving each other the stink eye in the break-room after hotly debating the word Hamfatter before entering it into their system and giving the word Hamfatter it’s special place in the dictionary.

Think about it, this non-word still manage to make it  into our vocabulary despite the fact nobody knows what it actually means or where it really came from.

Hamfatter is a devilish word,   so from today on I intend on making it a part of my  day to day vocabulary and using it often.

I like devilish words.

RDP Monday: HAMFATTER

October Is With Me

My favorite month of the year is any month that ends in ” Ber “

September

I like September because it is full of my promise- September is my Spring time.

September  has cool mornings and warm-ish evenings. It turns some leaves gold and red and if you have a garden your pumpkins are full and orange and ripe. On some weekends you can still sit outside and read a book or barbecue. September is a tease and it’s sort of sassy.

What are the months like me going to bring? It asks. A little pleasure, a lot of pain?

Tell me I will insist.

Not on your billy September says every single year.

October

What can I say about October?

October is my Muse, it inspires me and  when I explore cemeteries or I take my dog and my Jeep off road and I think we might be lost and it’s getting dark I don’t feel like me and Hamish are really alone because October is with us.

After all, October is with me in May, why would it not be with me on those lost roads?

Andrew Wyeth

November

Sometimes November shows up with a little snow, sometimes it shows up with a lot of rain. Sometimes the days are warm and Sunny.

November is unpredictable, its like it’s testing me, asking me- are you ready for December,  Anita?

I will always answer yes.

Are you sure? It asks again.

I don’t know, I finally confess. I don’t really know.

John Atkinson Grimshaw –

December

The dark, the snow, the cold, the ghosts- I have worked all year to make it to December. I’ve earned every glorious second December has to offer.

1911-1914 “Australasian Antarctic Expedition,”
   Australian photographer James Hurley

Geography Is Fun.

It sounds like Trump aka Twitler aka The Trust Fund Manchild is going to use the military to go into the streets and houses and businesses and hospitals and Day cares and schools, they will go into the fields and and that they will be tasked with rounding up anyone who, how shall we put it, is an ‘invader’.

I look like an invader, I married into a family that whose last name certainly sounds like an invader’s name and if I were to be stopped on the street and asked to produce my papers- I couldn’t. I haven’t seen my birth certificate since I moved to Toilet Town, my dog ate my social security card and I don’t know where my US PASSPORT is.

A.M. Moscoso

So I guess if I had to say where my family came from, I’d have to say-

Canada.

Oh. And the UK.

Plus members of my Dad’s family fought the in American Revolutionary War and if I could go back and slap them upside the head for making THAT stupid move I would. I digress.

The bottom line is- I  may not look like ” an American ” I don’t have an American sounding surname,  however,  I’d put my North American/ US Citizen Bona fides up against any knuckle dragging NASCAR buba any effing day of the week.

However, if the moment comes when I comes and I am asked my Country of origin- I’m going to say Canada, because it’s true.

Also, I am going to say it in German because why the Hell not?

Make it so-send my back to Canada. I hate it here now anyway.

Christmas Prompts 2024

Here are some prompts from my vaults that you could use during the Christmas Holidays.

I’ve had fun with them in the past, so give them a whirl!

AI Artwork: Pumpkin Empress

  1. What is your first memory of Christmas? Describe it in detail.
  2. What is your favorite holiday tradition from childhood?
  3. What’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?
  4. What memories do you have of Christmastime in elementary school?
  5. How would you describe childhood holidays in one word? Why?
  6. Who is involved in your favorite Christmas memories? Are you still connected with them?
  7. Write about the best gift you’ve ever given. Who was it to? How did they react?
  8. Did you believe in Santa? How long? Was this a positive experience for you?
  9. What was your favorite Christmas decor as a child?
  10. What was your favorite Christmas movie when you were younger? Do you still watch it?
  11. What holiday traditions from childhood do you still do?
  12. Describe your best Christmas morning ever.
  13. Make a Venn diagram of Christmas as a kid and Christmas now. How is it the same? How is it different?
  14. Write about a time that you felt the Christmas spirit take over.
  15. Describe an ideal day at Christmastime as a kid.
  16. What emotions do the holidays bring up for you?
  17. Who do you miss most around the holidays?
  18. What parts of the holidays do you enjoy? What do you not enjoy? Why?
  19. Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts? Why?
  20. Make a grown-up Christmas list of non-tangible wishes. What do you wish for the world? For yourself?
  21. What brings you stress around the holidays?
  22. How are the holidays special?
  23. If you could invite anyone to Christmas dinner, dead or alive, who would you invite?
  24. Is there anything that makes you sad around Christmas? What is it? Why?
  25. Do you feel nostalgic during the holidays? For what? Why?
  26. How do you feel about commercialism during the holidays?
  27. Do you raise/want to raise your family with any of the same holiday traditions you had? Which ones? Why or why not?
  28. How can you be more giving during the holidays?
  29. In what ways can you spread holiday cheer to others?
  30. Who adds joy to your holiday season?
  31. In what ways can you spread holiday cheer to others?
  32. Who adds joy to your holiday season?
  33. How do you connect to others during the holidays?
  34. What do you feel most grateful for at Christmastime?
  35. Describe what Christmas means to you.
  36. What’s on your Christmas list this year?
  37. Make a movie check list Christmas ist to watch this year.
  38. Describe your ideal Christmas morning in detail.
  39. If you could have anything for Christmas, what would it be? (Pretend money isn’t a factor!)
  40. What is your favorite holiday-specific activity?
  41. Make a December bucket list.
  42. If you were Santa, what would your uniform be? (Ditch the red suit! What are you wearing instead?)
  43. Think of a new holiday tradition to start with your family.
  44. Write your own version of the 12 Days of Christmas song. What would you want for each day?
  45. Make a list of your top 10 Christmas songs.
  46. Write a cheesy Christmas love story. Get creative!
  47. What does “holiday spirit” mean to you? What does it look like?
  48. If you were Santa, what snack would you want to be left for you? (Doesn’t have to be milk and cookies!)
  49. Are you journaling this Christmas to boost your spirits? Relive old nostalgic holiday memories? Feel the full effects of Christmas spirit?
  50. Write a Christmas newsletter from your Dog- or Cat’s or houseplants point of view.