Arkansas Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the shack,
Not a darn thing was a movin’, from the front to the back.

The kids were in bed, we had nine at the time.
The wife in her curlers, was lookin’ real fine.

A cold wind was blowing’, Up the holler it moaned.
Ten dogs on the porch all howled and groaned.

The boys were all dreamin’ of weapons and guns
for killin’ God’s creatures, there’s no better fun!

The girls in their feminine dreams were attuned
To getting those gallons of Wal-Mart perfume.

The wife wanted jewelry, like rings with big rocks.
I just weanted my Chevy down off of them blocks.

The out in the yard such a noise did commence.
Like something was caught in our new bob-war fence.

I ran to the window, and saw pretty quick.
The man makin’ the racket was good ol’ St. Nick.

You may think of Santa in your own mind’s eye,
dressed in a red and white suit, but I’ve got a surprise.

That old boy’s an Arkie, from up near Mt. Gaylor.
He married his cousin and they live in a trailer.

On Christmas, of course, a sleigh for his rig,
he hooks the thing up to a razorback pig!

He climbed on the roof, with his bag full of goodies,
he backed down the fireplace, all dirty and sooty

Fat legs in his britches, chubby hands in his mittens,
I must admit from the back he looked lots like Bill Clinton.

He turned toward the tree, his eyes all aglow,
He was an Arkansas boy from his head to his toe.

His neck was a red one, his shirt said, “Lite Beer”,
he had no red hat on, but his cap read, “John Deere”.

He left all the presents, with an air of delight,
then back to the chimney, and into the night.

He ran into the yard, threw his bag in the sleigh,
then he yelled at the dogs, “Get the hell out th’ way!”

I ran out to ask him why he brought such good cheer;
but instead he just asked me, “You get you a deer?”

Then I heard him exclaim, as those pigs took flight,
“Merry Christmas to all… I need a Bud Lite!”

April Fools

In sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was observed on April first. It was celebrated in much the same way as it is today with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night.

Then in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people, however, who hadn’t heard or didn’t believe the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April first.

Others played tricks on them and called them “April Fools.” They sent them on a “fool’s errand” or tried to make them believe that something false was true.

In France today, April first is called “Poisson d’Avril.” French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends’ backs. When the “young fool” discovers this trick, the prankster yells “Poisson d’Avril!” (April Fish!)

A Man’s Guide to Surviving Valentine’s Day

(Works for Anniversaries, Too!)

If you are a man, chances are you have forgotten that Valentine’s Day or that all-important anniversary is coming up soon. Now that you know, this seems a good time to pause for a large hysterical fit.

The angst you are feeling right now stems from a complete lack of understanding about what makes a woman feel romantic. I don’t know either, but I did look it up on the Internet.

Not counting about 5,000 Web sites that seem to correlate the word “romance” with “hot mamas,” here’s what I found out.

HOW TO ROMANCE A WOMAN: Call her. Hug her. Compliment her. Smile at her. Laugh with her. Cry with her. Cuddle with her. Shop with her. Give her jewelry and flowers. Hold her hand. Write love letters to her. Go to the end of the Earth and back again for her.

Conversely, if a woman wants to romance a man, she would only need to show up wearing anything remotely revealing, including a hazardous material suit.

This may sound like an oversimplification of gender romance differences, but it isn’t far from reality. It’s always Valentine’s Day for men, if you get my drift. Women need a special day.

Because it involves a woman’s feelings, Valentine’s Day is something of a mystery to men. So is the top of a box of Cheeze Doodles, but we’ll save that for another column.

The following is a basic guide to Valentine’s Day survival for men, which was faxed to me by the nice ladies down at “Romance Anonymous,” formerly known as “Men Are Pigs But We Can’t Kill Them.”

  • STEP ONE: The minimum requirement is to let the woman know that you care. The least expensive way is to look at her — preferably somewhere on her face — and say, “I love you, [her name here].” If you forget her name, don’t bother with the rest of the steps. You’re dead.
  • STEP TWO: A Valentine card is an acceptable nonverbal token of appreciation. Best of all, it’s cheap. Good Valentines are pink with lots of lace and have cute words such as “I’ll love my sugar bunny forever and ever and ever and … ” Bad Valentine cards say, “Good for one free quart of motor oil.”
  • STEP THREE: Candy. For some scientific reason that makes no sense, women regard chocolate the same way men view beer. While a handful of M&Ms is OK, women tend to expect something a bit nicer. Wrapped for starters. By the way, since the candy is supposed to be for her, she’s going to notice any test bites. Stay out of it.
  • STEP FOUR: Jewelry. A bit pricier, especially if you didn’t bother with steps 1-3. If you did, you might get by with a small but hideously expensive ring, necklace, or tiara. Keep in mind that most women, even in Utah, do not consider aluminum, tin or a Mylar balloon to be a precious metal.
  • STEP FIVE: Lingerie. Be careful. Few men are smart enough about women to figure out their underwear. Not only does it have to be the right size and caliber, it must also match any of the approximately 8 billion feelings she currently has about herself. To be safe, tell the clerk that you’re looking for something that can’t be used to strangle you in your sleep.
  • STEP SIX: Romantic getaways are good for couples with more than 0.002 kids. Studies prove that not even bacteria can reproduce when a toddler is beating on the bedroom door with a Fisher-Price toy. Depending on the size of your family, the romantic getaway may have to cross at least three international boundaries.
  • STEP SEVEN: Unlike men, women give points for trying. So do something. Anything is better than nothing. If you don’t believe me, I can show you last year’s knot on the back of my head.

The Adult Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and God it was neat.
The kids were both gone, and my wife was in heat.
The doors were all bolted, the phone off the hook,
It was time for some nooky, by hook or by crook.
Momma in her teddy and I in the nude,
Had just hit the bedroom and reached for the lube.
When out on the lawn there arose such a cry,
That I lost my boner, and momma went dry.
Up to the window I sprang like an elf,
Tore back the shade while she played with herself.
The moon on the crest of the snowman we’d built,
Showed a broom up his ass, clean up to the hilt.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a rusty old sleigh and eight mangey reindeer.
With a fat little driver, half out of the sled,
A sock in his ear and a bra on his head.
Sure as I’m speaking, he was high as a kite,
And he yelled to his team, but it didn’t sound right.
Woa Shithead, woa Asshole, woa Stupid, woa Putz,
Either slow down this rig or I’ll cut off your nuts.
Look out for the lamp post, and don’t hit the tree,
Quit shaking the sleigh, ’cause I gotta go pee.
They cleared the old lamp post, the tree got a rub,
Just as Santa leaned out and threw up on my shrub.
And then from the roof we heard such a clatter,
As each little reindeer now emptied his bladder.
I was donning my jockies, to cover my ass,
When down the chimney Santa came with a crash.
His suit was all smelly with perfume galore,
He looked like a bum and he smelled like a whore.
“That was some brothel,” he said with a smile,
“The reindeer are pooped, and I’ll just stay awhile”
He walked to the kitchen for himself poured a drink,
Then whipped out his pecker and pissed in the sink.
I started to laugh, my wife smiled with glee,
The old boy was hung nearly down to his knee.
Back in the den, Santa reached in his sack,
But his toys were all gone, and some new things were packed.
The first thing he found was a pair of false tits,
The next was a handgun with a penis that spits.
A box filled with condoms was Santa’s next find,
And six pair of panties, the edible kind.
A bra without nipples, a penis extension,
And several more things I shouldn’t even mention.
A fuck ring, a G-string, and all types of oil,
And a dildo so long that it lay in a coil.
“This stuff ain’t for kids, Mrs. Santa will shit,
So I’ll leave ’em here, and then I’ll just split.”
He filled every stocking and then took his leave,
With one tiny butt plug stuck under his sleeve.
He sprang to his sleigh, but his feet were like lead,
Thus he fell on his ass and broke wind instead.
In time he was seated, took reigns of his hitch,
Saying, “Take me home, Rudolf. This night’s been a bitch!”
The sleigh was near gone when we heard Santa shout,
“The best thing about pussy is you can’t wear it out!!”

The Origin of the 12 Days of Christmas

People often think of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ as the days preceding the festival. Actually, Christmas is a season of the Christian Year that lasts for the twelve days beginning December 25 and lasting until January 6 – the Day of Epiphany, when the church celebrates the revelation of Christ as the Light of the world and recalls the journey of the magi.

From 1558 until 1829 Roman Catholics in England were not allowed to practice their faith openly. During that era someone wrote ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ as a kind of secret catechism that could be sung in public without the risk of persecution.

‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ is, in essence, an allegory. The song has two levels of interpretation: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church.

Each element in the carol is a code word for a religious reality. The “true love” represents God and the “me” who receives these presents is the Christian (a Catholic in this case).

The hidden meanings are:

  • The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ a tree as a gift from God.
  • The two turtledoves are the Old and New Testaments, another gift from God.
  • Three French hens stand for faith, hope and love – the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (I Corinthians 13).
  • The four calling birds are the four Gospels, which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.
  • The five gold rings recall the Torah (Law) the first five books of the Old Testament, also called the “Books of Moses.”
  • The six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation.
  • Seven swans a-swimming represent the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12:8-11, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4:10-11).
  • The eight maids a-milking are the eight beatitudes.
  • Nine ladies dancing? These are the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
  • The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.
  • Eleven pipers piping stand for the eleven faithful disciples. (Excludes Judas.)
  • Twelve drummers drumming symbolize the 12 points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

So the next time you hear “The 12 Days of Christmas,” consider how this otherwise non-religious-sounding song had its origins in the Christian faith.

The Dichotomy of Jewish Mothers

  • On the first night of Chanukah, my Jewish mother said,
    “You’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the second night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “Have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the third night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “Here’s your chocolate dreidel,
    have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the fourth night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “Taste my sugar cookies,
    here’s your chocolate dreidel,
    have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the fifth night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “YOU’RE GETTING FAT!
    taste my sugar cookies,
    here’s your chocolate dreidel,
    have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the sixth night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “Don’t you like the doughnuts?
    YOU’RE GETTING FAT!
    taste my sugar cookies,
    here’s your chocolate dreidel,
    have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the seventh night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “Take another brownie,
    YOU’RE GETTING FAT!
    taste my sugar cookies,
    here’s your chocolate dreidel,
    have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”
  • On the eighth night of Chanukah, my mother said to me,
    “Try my home-made strudel,
    take another brownie,
    YOU’RE GETTING FAT!
    taste my sugar cookies,
    here’s your chocolate dreidel,
    have a few more latkes, but
    you’d better lose some weight or you’ll be dead.”

Merry Whatever

‘Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.

Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas – no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a “Holiday “.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!

CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears
You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.

Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate “Winter Break” under your “Dream Tree”
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday !

Signs You’re Going To Have A Dysfunctional, White-Trash Family Thanksgiving

by H. Kent Craig
  • Little sister Sue catches Mama adding a box of Ex-Lax to her special brown gravy to insure that everyone will “be regular” afterwards.
  • Cousin Jen shows up wearing her new mink stole that has a blaze-orange circle-and-slash painted on the back of it, and proudly displays her summons for her court date to answer for beating the crap out of the animal rights activists who ruined her new coat.
  • Brother Bobby, who just flew in for Thanksgiving from some unnamed South American country, keeps popping up like a jack-in-the-box and fiddling with his “piece” in a low-profile belt holster while nervously spying from the kitchen bay window up and down the street with binoculars.
  • Cousin Mikey shows up with his new bride, his three-quarters sister Julie, who is his sister by his father and his oldest full sister.
  • Uncle Max coughs and sputters up in his rusty old pickup, and asks those attending if anyone has a fresh pouch of “Redman” chewing tobacco that he can shove down into the transmission to keep it from leaking all the fluid out until he can make back home.
  • Aunt Carly shows up with Carole, who is her new “best friend” as well as being her current parole officer and live-in lesbian lover and Domme who is also an associate producer on The Jerry Springer Show.
  • Second-cousin Billy Joe brings as his guest his current analyst, who’s doing his doctoral thesis in primitive societal familial subcultures.
  • Uncle Peter, who’s legally blind but can see some shapes and colors and shadows, and who also got legally blind fucking stone drunk before ever showing up with his wife Aunt Millie, keeps “accidentally” nearly falling into all the women and copping feels as he seeks to regain his balance.
  • 13-year-old cousin Timmy asks his Uncle Bobby if he can borrow his thermal-melt scale device, so he can check the purity of an eight-ball “rock” he just bought from your Dad.
  • Uncle Ralph serves the turkey flambe’ by pouring some his famous homemade ‘shine all over it and igniting it with a flick from his unfiltered Camel cigarette, creating a ball of flame that alights what hair is left on Uncle Peter’s head and gives third-degree burns to his balding pate, filling the dining room with the stench of roasting human as well as turkey flesh, as 911 is called for the second time on this special Thanskgiving holiday.

Leroy The Gold-Toothed Reindeer

Leroy the gold-toothed reindeer
Had a very nappy fro
And if you ever saw him
He was at the liquor sto

All of Leroy’s homeboys
Use to playa hate his game
But they can’t mess with Leroy
‘Cause he got a big ole thang

Then one smoggy Christmas day
Santa came to say
“Leroy have you seen my sleigh?
I know you had it the other day.”

So Leroy broke out runnin’
And Santa pulled out his nine
And Santa shot poor Leroy
Dead in his black behind…

New Year’s Resolutions

Have any of you stuck to your New Years Resolutions???

  • I will try to figure out why I “really” need 12 e-mail addresses.
  • I will stop sending e-mail to my wife (husband). A phone call every now and then would be appreciated.
  • I resolve to work with neglected children — my own.
  • I will answer my snail mail with the same enthusiasm with which I answer my e-mail.
  • I will stop sending e-mail, ICQ, Instant Messages and be on the phone at the same time with the same person.
  • I resolve to back up my 600 GB hard drive daily…well, once a week…okay, monthly then…or maybe… at least once a year.
  • I will spend less than one hour a day on the Internet. This, of course, will be hard to estimate since I’m not a clock watcher.
  • I will stop checking my e-mail at 3:00 in the morning… 4:30 is much more practical since my friends overseas already had time to answer me by then.
  • When I hear a funny joke I will not reply, “LOL… LOL!”
  • I will read the manual… just as soon as I can find it.
  • I will think of a password other than “password.”
  • I resolve… I resolve to… I resolve to, uh… I resolve to, uh, get my, er… I resolve to, uh, get my, er, off-line work done, too!
  • I will quit spending my entire day on Facebook and get out to see some real people face to fac… ooh, look at that status!