Miller Family Christmas Blog

Your MFCB Supporter Jack Strap is back for the "Miller Family Christmas Blog - MFCB 2020" which isn't to be confused with our "Miller Family Coronavirus Blog - MFCB Special Edition 2020" that you received back in July. This Christmas edition is by contractual agreement for your mostly retired Jack Strap to continue with these until which time the "Harry Wong Snail Mail X-Mas Letter" (see Harry below) is retired or deemed nonessential by the U.S. Post Office who is having a lot of trouble delivering these days. They did manage to deliver Harry's 2020 edition so I'm back to work for the Miller Family, although can't promise any quotes from back in 1859 like Harry dug up.

This is Harry Wong noting his picture wouldn't rotate so you'll have to tilt your head or ignore it altogether.

I can tell you I thought 2020 was going to be a great year from a numbers standpoint. I like round numbers like 20 whereas 19 is a lonely Prime Number* noting I'd totally forgotten about Prime Numbers from back in High School Math until Lee Child reminded me of them in his latest in the Jack Reacher Series "The Sentinel". So if a best selling writer can reference Prime Numbers then a no selling blog writer can too. In addition to a great character like Jack Reacher I also recommend others like Elvis Cole with Joe Pike, Mitch Rapp, Myron Bolitar, and the Woman's Murder Club for those of you who read. But I digress--so I like a round number like 20 so 2020 would be double the fun--right? I don't want to totally diss the lonely prime number 19 as I like the even numbers 1976 (Bicentennial year), as well as 1982, 1986 and 1994 (PSU National Championship years and Yea 1994), but 2020 sounded like the coolest number year since 2000. Remember Y2K when the "world was going to end" and then everything was fine and dandy as we were saved by the I.T. geeks. So I was wrong about 2020 but the world didn't end (at least as of 12/20/2020 which are all good numbers).

* For those of you who forgot about Prime Numbers--Fact Monster can enlighten you @ https://www.factmonster.com/math-science/mathematics/prime-numbers-facts-examples-table-of-all-up-to-1000 noting you won't find these world famous (like the Pike Cafe in Reading) hyperlinks in the Harry Wong Snail Mail X-Mas Letter. These aka "hot-links" are available to you at no additional charge, so click on the link which will open a new window and after you're done with that video or webpage--you go back-arrow back to the MFCB page because you can check-out but never leave the MFCB to paraphrase the Eagles' Hotel California

2020 hasn't been all bad, but it hasn't been that good either with the corona quarantine, political animosity, protests, media frenzy, riots, falling statutes, crazy weather, murder hornets, economic turmoil, cancellations, sports, etc. so we'll touch on some of those 1st (so brace yourselves) before ending with the good stuff.

First off the Presidential election was totally stolen from (wait for it) my PSU Buddy--Tom "T-Pott" Potteiger. He would have won except for the fake mail-in ballots, dead people voting, ballots for him being thrown away, and that Dominion vote changing software ironically developed by some of the same people who saved us in Y2K. How could he have lost running on a simple but powerful platform of "Stop the Penny" because it costs more to mint than it's worth, "Eliminate Daylight Savings Time" because it's more trouble than it's worth, and "Legalize Mary Jane" (Tom Petty reference) to mellow people out and help the economy by increasing snacks consumption. The last one may have been more from his Campaign Director "Don't Be A Dick, Nick" and other Advisors, but nonetheless he was robbed like PSU in 1994.

I'm going to skip a lot of the other bad 2020 stuff as don't want to relive it nor do you (1st rule of writing--know your audience) except sports. Karen and Glenn have really missed going to games like they have in the past cheering on Wilson Basketball and Football, Penn State Football and Basketball, Albright Basketball, and Villanova Basketball. The best result was seeing the Wilson High Hoopsters win 2019-20 District Championship (beating Reading for the 4th time that season) and they were going to make a run at the State Title before disappointingly COVID hit. COVID also resulted in the cancellation of March Madness which PSU was going to be in for the 1st time in years, and Nova again had Title aspirations. When Pro Basketball & Hockey finally came back in their bubbles the 76ers and Flyers lost in the Playoffs, and more recently for us Philly Fans the Eagles don't appear that they're going to Win the worst Division in sports history. Last but not least PSU Football came in with high expectations and proceeded to lose key players and 5 straight games to start the season while sadly playing in empty stadiums, although they have won 4 straight since so a good segue** into the good stuff.

** Check this link out and let me know if you noticed? https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/segue

Since this is a segue from sports we'll start with Hills Hoops Inc. - HHI LEGENDS 28th Anniversary Games. It was originally called an Old Timer's Games, but some of the old guys (Jack Strap calls it like I sees it) objected, although they "resembled that remark" so for a couple reasons it seems apropos (good word) to insert a link to The Stooges https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrcXYn6HqX8. The game was reported on by not only Jack Strap (who also played in it), but the should be Pulitzer Prize winning (he was robbed like T-Pott and PSU 1994) Brian "You Bet Your Sweet Bippy" Rippey. The HHI Legends in action deserve MFCB publicity for getting back out on the courts (some after years off) including Mighty Kerr, FU Frank and Radon Rader (who still were playing HHI regularly until COVID hit), as well as Junior High, Swishie Kurtzy, Iron Mike, Backcracker Vinnie the Body, Dapper Dave, Johnny Be Pretty Good, and Tim "Jackie Moon" Bender who is pictured below.

Then there was some really Good News if you were paying attention to the picture at the top of the page as our little Britty who is now a big Britty got married to James Hendricks Glazier in a lovely Lancaster church ceremony on August 15, 2020 noting the Reception was deferred until 2021. Note that I also consider 21 a round number because as a Kid we played a lot of neighborhood football, so the 1st times table I learned was the 7's for Touchdowns so 3 TD's = 21 points and thus a round number to me. Anyway, back to the wedding--we had a socially distanced crowd with masks. Speaking of Masks this is The best one I ever saw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHrMpQBDYU0 and you can sing and dance along with it too. Off topic again--focus Jack Strap--see bottom of MFCB for Wedding pictures and no paging down.

Under the category of "Third Time is a Charm" after getting short circuited by a Hurricane and then COVID--we finally had our family vacation in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. It was worth the wait although the The Waiting is the hardest part https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyCa35_mOg&ob=av2e. Wow, (2) Tom Petty references in one Christmas Blog (only in the MFCB 2020) noting he's undoubtedly hanging out in Heaven with our beloved John "Lipper" Liptock. There will also be Vacation pics below--I know waiting for those is the hardest part but no paging down unless you want the Computavirus.

Karen and Glenn's nest isn't empty although Britty and Andrew are gainfully employed and living in Lancaster and Camp Hill, respectively. The nest is filled with Ellie (aka El Bell) the Kitty Cat, Bradley "Bean" the wormy lap dog, and our Golden Girl--Cassie (aka Big Cass) with pics at the top (if you missed them you can page up). They like COVID because we're at Home a lot more which is now 204 Spring View Dr., Douglassville PA 19518 if you want to send Snail Mail like Harry Wong. They really like the new Woods Edge neighborhood as it feels rural with a lot of nearby farms, but easy access to restaurants and stores in Boyertown, Pottstown, and the Greater Reading Area.

Karen's Ruby Heart Crafts https://www.etsy.com/shop/RubyHeartCrafts has had its best year ever in 2020 with on-line sales booming helped by COVID having a lot more people buying more from the comfort of their own home and her great selection of crafty items. Glenn is coming up on (2) years as CFO (time flies when you're having fun) for CONCERN Professional Services for Children, Youth and Families (CPSCYF for those who prefer acronyms). If you want to help the Kiddo's you can donate from the comfort of your home at https://www.concern4kids.org/donate/.

In addition to being an Applications Developer and Roller Derby official--our Andrew has been making creative TikTok-like [I was only recently introduced to TikTok by the infamous F'in Ross] videos including this Spiderman music video https://www.facebook.com/andrew.p.miller.5/videos/10223650128031294.

Now to the MFCB 2020 pictures in no particular order: