Sea Dog

That is so awesome. Thank You!!!! Donald is the best, and tell him I said so and tell him I hope to sail with him again. Ask him to bring out the McCallan Enigma bottle for you. Great stuff.

It's a pretty popular shirt. I'd like to think there is only one real Sea Dog. 😜

Have a great cruise. Make sure to stop by the Schooner bar and say hello to bartender Donald from Greg "Sea Dog." Have him make you "Sea Dog's Vieux Carre". 1oz Whistle Pig Rye 1oz Cognac 1 oz Sweet Vermouth 1oz B&B 2 dashes angostura bitters Orange peel fro garnish. Very tasty and Donald is a great bartender.

I should have added all the cartoon classics A Charlie Brown Christmas How the Grinch Stole Christmas Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (and for that matter all the Rankin-Bass animated shows) The Polar Express Klaus Prep and Landing A Christmas Carol (Jim Carey-Disney) Mikey's Once Upon a Christmas Nightmare Before Christmas ( More Halloween to me)

Good List here are some more. I love the old movies. Christmas in Connecticut 1945 The Bishop's Wife 1948 The Shop Around The Corner 1940 White Christmas 1954 Holiday Inn 1954 Holiday Affair 1949 A Christmas Carol 1938 A Christmas Carol 1951 The Muppets Christmas Carol (I did an interview with the great great grandson of Charles Dickens who says this version is the truest to the original story) Some more that are newer. Christmas with the Kranks (Highly recommend this one from the novel by John Grisham) Four Christmas's The Most Wonderful Time of Year (Hallmark with Henry Winkler is a classic) The Santa Clause (Tim Allen) 3 movies. And of course all the animated Christmas classics. You know what they are. But here is my two all time favorites. 1) Christmas Vacation 2) And the best Christmas movie no one has ever heard of. Christmas Story. A film from Finland that is English overdubbed but a fantastic story of a boy who became Santa Claus. I highly recommend this film it's shot beautiful and is so touching. While fiction is one of the most realistic stories of the origin of Santa Claus. I've seen that Family Guy episode a couple of times. Cracks me up every time. It took me a couple of times to embrace Elf. At first I thought it was stupid but after watching it several times I realized the brilliance of Will Ferrell. I love this movie. Happy belated Birthday. I hope you had a great celebration. It takes a couple of times but it's hilarious.

I watched it last night and thought it was an interesting take on the classic Cinderella. All the movies this year on hallmark have better plots than the past. I’m sure you have heard the exodus of some of the Hallmark stars to GAC network who want to make more family white centered Christian values movies. Hallmark has made an effort to make more Christmas movies of not only inclusion but stories that most people can relate. Not all Christmas stories are fairytales. Hallmark is making real life stories and ones that I can appreciate. It may not be for everyone but everyone has a choice to whether they want to watch it. Don’t start it can be addictive. But then again I’m a Christmas movie freak. For being a Lawyer she is really artistic. Here are some of her other creations.

@h20skibum I'm glad you are feeling better

Have a fantastic cruise. Please post your impressions here.

We have a third car garage that's basically storage. I built a rack of shelving for everything. It's about 12 feet high. The animated trees as you can see break down into sections that I can put the smaller sections inside one another. Here's the array of extension cords I use for the outside. I don't even want to think how much money I spent over the years on extension cords. Yes I channel my inner Clark Griswald.

@derorim Here is a link to someone's steps in making one. They don't have lights but I'm sure when you put the jewelry on you make space to drill the holes. Or you could probably draw and outline and put marks where you want the holes then fill in by glueing the jewelry in. https://retrorenovation.com/2017/12/04/make-vintage-costume-jewelry-christmas-tree-get-tips/

Thanks. Yeah I watch all those Hallmark movies. The first couple of years they were pretty corny. They have have gotten better with scripting and plots. They are still pretty formula driven and predictable but I'll still watch. They will have about 40 new movies this year. I can't even think of how many movies I've watched over the years. It's a yearly tradition.

Yes Joy there are lights in it. Here is a picture of the back. Little holes were drilled and the mini lights are just pushed through. Heres a close up of the front. This tree is really old. There are a lot of YouTube videos on how to make one. I think they look really cool. Linda is going to make another one from scratch. If you have any specific questions I can ask her.

Sea Dog Christmas Decorations Are Finally UP ! After 3 weeks I finally got all the decorations up. The house feels very cozy. Since I did not want to post a ton of pictures I decided to put together a slide show of everything with music from the great Jackie Gleason Orchestra. Fun Facts. * 5 inside trees with 3, I did not set up. One being my vintage aluminum tree in the living room because of new furniture and the basement tree since we don't use the basement as much now a days. And 3 Jonathan's bedroom tree as he has it know at his house. * All the tree toppers, mantle swags, garland, little displays and table settings were designed by my wife Linda. She is quite crafty and I love her ideas. *The tree in the upstairs master is my parents original tree which is over 55 years old. It has over two hundred ornaments some of which are over 70 years old. There are over 200 ornaments on the tree. *The Santa Collection was started by my mom. Most of the Santas are hand carved from wood and some of them are over 70 years old. * Also from Linda's mom's house was the Jewelry Tree and the Ceramic Christmas Tree both over 60 years old. * Outside has 3 Christmas trees, one on the front porch and the 3 animated trees in the back with 5 zones of 3 colors each with over 20 extension cords for each tree. * My studio tree above the garage has my pride and joy an official Christmas Story Leg Lamp. I tried to include everything in the video but we have so much stuff. I hope this gets you in the mood for the holidays. Happy Holidays from the Sea Dog family.

Sorry you are feeling cruddy. A lot of stuff out there with flu, colds and COVID. I’m now negative but still don’t feel all that great. I hope you can enjoy the day. Happy Thanksgiving. Beautiful tree. I love it.

very well said.Sue. Happy Thanksgiving wishes for you. Happy Thanksgiving wished to you with a fantastic feast. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Sea Dog and Mrs Sea Dog along with the Sea Dog kids, Charlie and Lizzy wish everyone who celebrates a wonderful feast of Thanksgiving. I for one am lucky in that I don't have to host but will make egg noodles for the mashed potatoes and gravy at Linda's cousin. I am so thankful to Dani and all the wonderful people who participate on this daily thread. I consider you all close friends that I will cherish forever. I plan on taking Christmas decoration pictures tonight and will post on Friday. I think the house turned out pretty good. We even got a new couch delivered today. Merry Christmas to us.

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. We got a new sectional sofa so we had to play around with the setup. I've only cooked a Tomahawk once but it turned out really good by just searing it on the grill then finish in the oven. Season your steaks first with some olive oil and salt and pepper then sear over direct heat for 3-4 minutes per side so that you get some good grill marks. I then transfer the steaks onto a baking sheet and finish in the oven at 425 degrees. I cook until internal temp is 130 degrees (medium rare) then take it out to rest for 5 minutes and then enjoy. I hope this helps. I hope and know you will have a fantastic time. Bon Voyage and drink a Kraken Colada for me! Cheers!

That looks fantastic. The price is good too. I say go for it. Having a good meat thermometer is key.

I was hoping that in the cruise planner I could see all the menus. Since it is a 11 night cruise we will have time to try everything. Thank you for that. That's just what I was looking for. Great menu items. May have to get the Tomahawk. Love your new hot tub all those jets should be awesome.

I'll be very interested in your thoughts on Beyond. We will sail on her in April of 2024. I'm curious as to what dining rooms you try and also any specialty restaurants you might recommend?

Yeah especially now with an artificial knee. I don't need to have it break.

I've been watching that movie as a annual tradition every year since it came out. I probably know all the lines. It still cracks me up. I know but I'm cheap in that regards. Jonathan has offered to help. I may get him involved next year. It's so good. https://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Its-an-Iowa-Thing/ Why because I am a Christmas freak and as hard work as it is, once it's all up I love the feel and coziness it brings to my home. I keep saying some year I will scale back but so far I haven't. Except for the fact I did not put up my vintage aluminum Christmas tree because I did not have room in the living room. The dog crate is taking up that space now.

I do channel my inner Clark Griswald. No Egg Noodles on top of the mashed potatoes and gravy? That's what I live for. Great news Sue! Congrats on the weight loss. I'm about 6 pounds away from my pre cruise weight loss in September. Unfortunately the holidays are bad for me. I love to eat. Hopefully I'll keep the weight gain at a minimum. I'm sure you will keep on doing great in time for the Bella cruise.

Hoping to finish up Christmas decorating outdoors today. Yesterday was a long day setting up the animated trees. I'm just getting too old for this stuff. My knees were hurting so bad I couldn't hardly walk last night. And then my poor shoulder working on a 12 foot ladder trying to plug in over 20 extension cords on the 12 foot tree. Pictures to come soon.