January 1: New Year's Day, George, New Cartoon

Welcome to 2012.

Say "Happy New Year!"

Last night's New Year's Eve party went very well.  As you can tell by the photo, everybody had a good time.  We ate.  We played board games.  I won.  I lost.  I pouted.  I won again.  I lost again.  Some people went to bed early.  Some people stayed up until 2 a.m.  The pizza was delicious.  The crescent weenies were a delight--the perfect combination of sweet bread and smoky meat.  By the way, we also watched a little Iron Chef America last night, as well.

I just took down the streamers and balloons a little while ago.  It's amazing how quickly decorations can be disposed of.  It took me over three hours to deck the halls for New Year's Eve.  It took me only a half hour to undeck.  All of the big holiday festivities are complete now.  I still have a few presents to deliver to some friends.  This week of vacation, I will read Ovid's Metamorphoses for my mythology class, and I will read The Wilder Life for January's book club.  Those are the two big tasks I wish to accomplish.

If you are wondering, I only received one entry in my 500th Post Name My iPad Contest.  Therefore, henceforth, my iPad 2 is dubbed George (as in George Bailey).  Congratulations to disciple Keith.  I will be personally delivering your prizes in the coming week.

At the moment, I'm waiting to eat a turkey dinner at my parents' house.  My contribution to the meal is an egg nog pie.  I'm quite excited for the meal.  I've only had one turkey dinner this holiday season, and that was on Thanksgiving.  There's nothing like a turkey dinner with all the fixings.

I do have a new cartoon for you guys.  It's about purging the old to make room for the new.  A good lesson on this first day of the 2012.

Saint Marty has a turkey to de-skin now.

Confessions of Saint Marty

December 31: New Year's Eve, Family Love, New Cartoon

Tonight, we will gather at my parents' house to celebrate New Year's Eve.  It's a tradition we've been carrying on for close to 25 years.  I started throwing a New Year's Eve party when I was a teenager.  My brothers and parents used to go out to the local bars and restaurants when I was a kid.  They'd come back wearing hats and toting horns.  I got a little tired of being left out of the fun.  So I started collecting their hats and noisemakers.  Then, one year, I threw my own party with balloons and streamers and hats and noisemakers and home-made pizza.  Eventually, my brothers and parents started staying home for my party.

That's how it all began.

This year, one of my sisters is trying to convince me to hold New Year's Eve at 7 p.m. so everybody can go to bed early.  She claims she's thinking of the kids, but we've never had a problem with the kids staying up until midnight before.  The other excuse she's using is that my mother has a hard time staying up late.  My mother's fallen a few times in the last year and hasn't really fully recovered yet.  I told my sister that whoever wanted to go to bed early could go to bed.  Now, the battle is the decorations.  I always put up tons of streamers and balloons.  My sister says it will stress my parents out.  I told her I would host the party at my house tonight.  She didn't answer me.

I love my family, but sometimes my family creates stress in situations where there doesn't need to be stress.  One of the problems is that several of my siblings no longer have a lot of tolerance for small children in large doses.  My wife's sister and her family usually come to the party.  My wife's sister has been coming to the party since she was 12 or 13 years old.  She now has two children--a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.  When they get together with my kids, the results can be a little chaotic.

Family can be frustrating.  Family can be aggravating.  Family can be stressful.  I'm sure tonight is going to be great.  We will gather at my parents' house or my house, and we will play board games and watch on TV as the ball drops in Times Square at midnight.  We will ring in 2012 together.  There will undoubtedly be shouting and arguing.  There will be biting comments (my family's specialty).  Most of all, however, there will be family love.

There is a new cartoon for today.  The last of 2011.  Be safe tonight.  Love your family.  If you're not with your family, know that you are loved by God and me.  Don't forget to enter the 500th Post Name My iPad Contest.  The deadline is tomorrow at noon.  So far, "George" is the only entry.

Saint Marty wishes all his disciples a blessed New Year.

Confessions of Saint Marty

December 27: Back to Work, Christmas Tie, No Eggs

Well, this morning I go back to work.  I always find it difficult to resume my job duties after a really long weekend.  I've had four days off.  It's going to be a few hours before I'm totally back in the game.  I'm going to feel like I'm one step behind all morning long.

It doesn't help that I forgot to bring eggs for my breakfast.  Without my eggs in the morning--a little runny with cheddar cheese--I tend to get all thrown off.  Remember, I'm the person who doesn't like change.  I need those eggs in order to keep the universe in its proper alignment.  Worlds are going to shift this a.m.

When I was getting dressed for work, I decided to wear one of my Christmas ties.  I don't know why.  I hardly ever wear ties to the office.  I guess I'm just not ready to let Christmas go yet.  And I'm sure that I'm going to be totally annoyed by the other workers in the office, so anything I can do to bolster my good spirits will help.  If I can just sustain that Christmas iPad glow, I'll be able to make it through the day without killing anybody.

I haven't got much else this morning.  Back to work.  No eggs.  Christmas tie.  I'm going to try to work on a poem today, but no promises.

Let me remind everyone about my 500th Post Contest.  Yesterday, I wrote post number 500 for my blog.  To commemorate the occasion, I'm running another contest.  The rules are pretty simple:

1. You must come up with a creative nickname for my new iPad. 
2. You must put your suggestion into a comment. 
3. You must do this by 12 noon on January 1. 
4. The winner of the contest will receive two items:  an autographed saint holy card and an autographed copy of my book of poems, The Mysteries of the Rosary.

Put on your thinking caps.  Be creative.  Be funny.  Be irreverent.  Be whatever you want.  I'm not against some good, old-fashioned sucking up, either.  If you ave problems posting a comment, try enabling third party cookies on your computer.  That usually does the trick.

Saint Marty is waiting to hear from you.

You know you want to win this...

December 26: Post Number 500

Yes, this post will be number 500.  It's hard to believe I've been blogging that long.  I should do something special to commemorate this moment.  Maybe some kind of contest.  Everybody loves free stuff, and I love hearing from my disciples.

Now, my contests, in the past, have not yielded too many entries.  In fact, my friend, Wonder Twin, has won both of my previous competitions.  My goal, then, is to get at least five people to enter my 500th Post Contest.  That shouldn't be too hard to accomplish.

Since I just received an iPad 2 for Christmas, I think will have a "Name My iPad" Contest.  That's right, I want you to tell me what nickname I should give my iPad.  Something that really reflects my personality.  I was just going to call it "St. Nick" since I got it on Christmas, but that's a little too obvious.  Then I thought about "App-ostle."  Get it?  That doesn't really work for me, either.  Therefore, I'm going to leave it to you guys and gals.

Don't disappoint me.  I don't want to end up with some lame nickname for my iPad 2.  Be creative.  Be wild.  Be clever.  If I choose your nickname, you will receive a Saint Holy Card, autographed by me, and I'll send you an autographed copy of my book of poems, The Mysteries of the Rosary.  If that isn't enough incentive, the winner will also be placed on the fast track for canonization and have a schnitzel dinner with Pope Benedict.  (OK, that was pushing it, I know.)

Put on your thinking caps, disciples.  I will give you until  noon on January 1, 2012, to send me your entries.  You have less than a week.  Put your suggestions in the comments section of the blog.  I will consider all reasonable responses.  I'll consider the unreasonable ones, as well.

Help Saint Marty name his iPad.

Taken with my iPad