Sea Dog

That was my guess too.

So sorry Sue I hope you are starting to feel better. A lot of stuff going around. One of my dear friends who I worked with for over 40 years and who was to come to my family Christmas party like he has for the past 25 years was sick and could not come. I found out today he is still very sick with RSV. He's not good about going to the doctor and I keep reminding him he is not as young as he once was. Get well soon!!! Exactly!! I celebrate Christmas in July!

That food looks amazing. You can never have enough shrimp in my book. What a beautiful and moving story that had me in tears. It's because of you those people had a better Christmas even through your pain. Your wife was smiling down on you. I like your family traditions and I hope you will continue to do them and maybe add some new ones.I believe Christmas is about the love of memories and our childhood. Celebrate your past and know that you are blessed for what you have become.

Yes the relative that gave me this recipe and made it is a big fan of hers. I’m now going to follow her. Looks like she has some great stuff.

You have great taste in movies! 😉 Always good to know a really great chef. Wow! Love that custom made nativity scene. Wish I hade a dining room that could host that many. That is a gorgeous Prime Rib and Christmas Tree shaped Cheese Pizza Dough looks amazing. Cheers!

Thank you I will tell her. I love Miracle on 34th St. I like all of them but the original with Natalie has always been my favorite. I will watch it this week. I hate to think how many times I've watched it but great everytime. I know their Signature Bourbon is produced in top distilleries in Kentucky usually by the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. The brand and distillery have been owned by the Sazerac Company since 2009. Great stuff.

I love the book! And thank you for everything you do for us on this thread. You have made a genuine safe haven for friendship, love and commonality. I feel blessed to know you. I can't seem to find out where this is sourced from but everything thing they do in the Kirkland Signature brand is top notch. I found this cognac incredible smooth and at $55 it is at least 3 times cheaper than most other XO's

Thank you for your comments. I have my traditional favorites in Christmas movies that I watch but of the news ones and ones I have never seen are 1) A Christmas Story Christmas - HBO Max (sequel to a Christmas Story with all original actors) 2) I Believe in Santa -Netflix ( basically a movie about me and how I think) 3) Love Actually - rent or find (actually an older movie but I had never seen it. Great stories with a huge cast of well known like Hugh Grant and Liam Neilson.)

A Very Merry Sea Dog Christmas Sorry I have not been keeping up it's been crazy at Sea Dog Christmas central. I'm exhausted today but will do my best to keep celebrating. I celebrate the twelve days of Christmas up till January 7, the epiphany. Here is the recap. Sorry not a lot of pics were taken. Christmas Eve Linda, Jonathan and I went over to Linda's cousin's house a radiologist in swanky rich part of Kansas City where they have huge old world mansion complete with a giant stone fireplace and life size suit of armor and stain glass windows. I felt Like I could have been in a King Arthur movie. Approximately 25 people all from Linda's side of the family ate incredible BBQ from a very well know upscale BBQ joint called Q-39. The highlight was afterwards, when a scene out of Christmas Story occurred when their dog jumped up on the kitchen island and pulled down the container that had all the leftover brisket and ribs and preceded to eat every bit of it. So much for leftovers. Back at home, I got out the reindeer dust to spread out on the lawn. Reindeer dust consists of Quaker Oats, and red and green glitter. We throw this out to feed Santa's reindeer while Santa is inside. We have been doing this since Jonathan was a little kid. He indulges me now as I remind him that someday after I am gone he will smile and laugh at our tradition. After everyone had gone to bed, I did what I love to do every year and be Santa. I am different than most in that we don't put presents out under the tree until Christmas morning. There is something magical and wonderful about seeing a once barren tree now filled with colorful presents. Quiet time with everyone all nestled snug in their beds. Time for Santa and a glass of Christmas warmth. Kirkland (Costco) brand of XO Cognac is actually pretty good and about 3 times cheaper. I sat quietly reflecting on this special holiday that I love so much. I love You Tube's Yule Log. This one had all the old tunes that I loved. I ended up listening to old classic Christmas songs till 2:30am and then I finally went to bed. But before I do, I do a ritual that I have been doing every year since I was a little kid. I would go look out my window (now I actually go outside) and find the brightest star I can find. Hopefully it's the Christmas Star (Shown here in illustration, not actual picture I took) and make a Christmas Wish and Prayer. I always start out with the classic poem. "Star light, star bright, The first star I see, tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight". I then wish and pray for my family and blessings for Christmas Day and the future. CHRISTMAS MORNING Up at 7:30 wide awake we got the dogs up and went downstairs. Jonathan finally joined up and then it was a free for all with the pups opening presents. We were eventually joined by Kylar (Jonathan's first cat) but he also brought his cat Drave over and a new addition a female rescue cat he adopted that he named Beans. She is really sweet and lovable but not a big fan of the dogs. Kylar above Drave Newest addition Beans. Santa was very good to us. Highlight was Linda's combo Birthday (Her's is Dec. 22nd) and a post 25th Anniversary present that you might remember me asking about finding a Stella McCartney Bag on Symphony of the Seas. I was hoping to find it on Liberty of the Seas during our Anniversary October 18th, but had to settle for getting it later and presenting it during Christmas. I made out ok with my new Tommy Bahama shirt for the Bella Cruise. Also a Sea Dog sweatshirt and the great book by Fred Minnick on the history of American Bourbon and Whiskey. CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON In the afternoon we went to Linda's other cousin's house which is conveniently located just a couple of blocks from us. It was a great feast of Italian Lasagna, Meatballs, Prime Rib, Caesar Salad and some incredible desserts. This however was the highlight. A incredible appetizer of prosciutto wrapped baked brie in pastry. This was the best appetizer I had ever eaten. I had to get the recipe and here it is. I highly recommend this. https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/prosciutto-wrapped-baked-brie/ It was a wonderful afternoon spent with family Jonathan even gifted one of his nieces with a ticket to the Kansas City Taylor Swift (OB"s neighbor) concert that Jonathan got several tickets to paying over $700 per ticket which is insane. His niece is a huge fan and I thought it was extremely generous of him to not only gift it but take her. BACK HOME Time to relax and settle in for some more Christmas movies. Between all the Hallmark movies, Lifetime, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Disney, Hulu and others I watched over 50 movies during this holiday season. I know I am a freak but a freak in the most fun way. CHRISTMAS! I was left with Charlie staring at me while I ate fudge. It was a great day. Now time to take it easy. My other knee is killing me and I can't hardly walk. Guess it's time to get another knee replacement. I am sorry if I missed anyone's posts. Thank you to anyone who took the time to read all this. You are all family to me and I love sharing my life with you.

Quiet time with everyone all nestled snug in their beds. Time for Santa and a glass of Christmas warmth. Merry Christmas my friends!

Merry Christmas! As you can imagine I am in full, all out, Christmas mode. Been busy today making food to take to our two celebrations. One in a couple of hours and another tomorrow. I do want to take time to wish all my friends here on this thread that celebrate a Very Merry Christmas. I've created a little video card for you as I wish you much love and joy this holiday season. Cheers!! Sea Dog or that other guy known as Greg.

@jagsfan Mimi thank you for sharing your lows and highs. I know you must have mixed emotions. One of sadness and another of joy. I can only hope that all the great memories you had will give you comfort and happiness seeing two people start a life together. Peace be with you.

I'll never forget working Christmas night many years ago. It was very cold with minus wind chills. I got called to go to a apartment fire. All the firefighters had icicles hanging from their helmets. I had fingerless gloves on so I could operate my focus on my camera lens. I ended up getting frostbite on my little finger and lost all my feeling in it for about 6 months. I had icicles on mustache and it was the worst night of my career. Thankfully no one was injured in the fire but those firefighters and myself took a beating that night.

Funniest thing you will see today. watch this sports anchor doing weather live shots, it's hilarious. https://www.kwwl.com/video/woodleys-weather-rant/video_ca9237c0-7b29-5f0f-bbd1-32c76fea9df7.html

This is awesome!

Best Christmas movie of the season, "I Believe in Santa" on Netflix. Me being a Christmas freak and loving watching Christmas movies (So far 35 this season) I have found a movie that speaks to my heart. This movie about a guy who totally loves Christmas and who believes in Santa, is totally about me and my views. It's fun and heartwarming and has a great message. Want to know who I am? Watch this movie. Here is the trailer.

I have actually done "Live Shots" where all those things were done except the one at the beach since Kansas City has no beaches. I will give my station credit last night they had no reporters standing outside in the cold. Most were either indoors or in our live van driving down the highway. I can't tell you how many times I did live shots out in the freezing cold. I don't miss those days at all.

So sorry Jane. I hope your symptoms are mild and you can resume your holiday schedule soon. Take care and rest. Looking good. Looking forward to seeing the final result pictures. Wind gets a little gusty but not too bad. Right now it's about 20mph. Snow has just about stopped. It was very fast moving. We probably have 2 inches.

Hello from the frozen tundra of Lee's Summit, Missouri a suburb of Kansas City where it is -4 with a wind chill that feels like -27 degrees with heavy snow until noon.

Beautiful pictures. All are Christmas card worthy. Merry Christmas John to you and your family.

Here's the cutaway. looks like Captain Lee likes to play.

We watched tonight because I wanted to see if it would be Capt. Sandy. The Below Deck Reddit pages were all speculating that it would be Sandy and it makes sense. I know there are a lot that don't like her but I do. Even if she micromanages. Yep she is derailing very fast. Did you notice how Sandy was cleaning the galley? I've never seen her do that before. I wonder if she took note of Capt. Jason and all the things he does to help out. Also did you notice the whip in Capt. Lee's luggage before he left. I didn't know the Captain was kinky?????

Will do, sounds great!

Congratulations Sue ! What a beautiful Christmas baby.

I was getting a little worried but finally it showed up. I have a good friend that does some really good ones for his daughter. Here is his latest.