So "Tis The Season?" Really? Man, I swear the older I get, the more time seems to accelerate. But I guess it's here. December. My Jewish friends are into the first few days of Chanukah, and I just went through my impersonation of Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. Yes, I do the lights on the house. Not the crazy over the top lights. More along the lines of subtle but festive. Even though it's basically just my wife and our youngest daughter living at home. Old habits are hard to kick. I guess it's true. The Holidays bring out the kid in all of us.

I enjoy putting the lights on the house. And I enjoy the trimming of the tree. I like the whole season. From Thanksgiving to Christmas. Though we may delay getting the tree this year only because our new puppy has turned into a baby alligator. That little guy is snapping away at everything. I can just imagine what he'd do to a Christmas tree with all those sparkling ornaments and all. I can see many broken bulbs. And my wife and I both have some classic old ornaments that we had when we were kids.

Those are hard to part with. The old nostalgic Christmas Tree Ornaments.

I guess they just don't make em like that anymore. The old Ornaments. Or maybe they do and I just have not seen them. I wish our little puppy understood what these fragile pieces of decoration mean to us humans. His tiny brain is just not wired to pick up on the meaning of these subtle human traditions. I can't really blame him though. He's just a puppy. His whole existence consists of eating, napping, playing, and you know, getting rid of all that food and water. And then- repeating it all again. We can all see the potential disaster coming. But we'll deal with it. Everyone with a baby, or kitten or puppy goes through it. We're no different. We will deal with it. Besides, he makes us laugh all the time.

Except our Cat. He does not make her laugh. At least not yet.

Having a young puppy at home has been good for my getting some really cool Sunrise shots last week. Letting the puppy out at 6:00AM I am able to hear the surf and see the amazing sunrise develop before it actually does come up. Three times this week I drove down to the coast and was greeted by an amazing sunrise. I am still after all this time blown away by Sunrises and Sunsets. I know a lot of you are as well.

This week was pretty . The surf and the sun. Man what an absolute "stop me dead in my tracks" sunrise it was on Thursday. Not to mention the swell. It was pulsing on Thursday. Just big 6'plus peaks blowing up in the offshores. The night before was howling out there. I mean it was blowing hard. Everyone knew there'd be surf on Thursday. I mean everyone. Especially those who had to work or go to school. Thursday was the day. Hands down it was the better of the two days. I shot a ton of footage and stills at day break, and then I surfed for over 3 hours.

I mentioned earlier this week how everyone was in such a good mood when the surf was up. I guess I play right into the good positive vibe as well. Hell, I was talking and surfing with total strangers all week. The day after the good day, I found myself out at the Wall at a slightly higher tide than I would of preferred, but it was still plenty good enough for me and what I need it for.

I was the only one out when a guy on a shortboard paddles out.

He didn't say a word to me as I rode by him on a small wave. I paddled back out and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he had just gotten here the day before. He is from San Diego and now works in Boston, and lives in Cambridge. And his session on Friday was his FIRST EVER session on the East Coast. And here he is with a 4/3, and he's surfing the Wall. He kept messing with his gloves. It was obviously uncomfortable for him. But I couldn't get over the fact that his first session on the East Coast was in December at the Wall. He was cold. But I set him straight. "You don't know what Cold is yet." He looked at me and said. "Really?" "Oh trust me, the REAL cold is coming. Of that I am certain."

He smiled at the thought. I'm sure this whole surfing in the winter in New England was unique to him. And I bet anything he emailed his buddies back in San Diego ranting and raving about the waves here. And how good they are and how un crowded it was and what surfers he did meet, were actually friendly. I chuckled at the would be exchange of emails. "Really, the locals were friendly?" His friends would ask. "Yea. Totally. This one guy Ralph kept giving me waves." I couldn't help but wish that all of what he was experiencing was true.

Because we all know, that on the surface, the scene and the beauty of surfing here in New England is only partly like that. There is that underbelly of bad vibes and hassles. But you know what? Maybe he won't experience that. Maybe this guy from San Diego will have a completely different attitude about living and surfing here. And maybe I was the one that sparked that whole new vibe. The late Andy Irons said it best. "I surf because it makes me a better person after each surf session."

God I wish that were true everywhere. But I have to say for me, I felt that vibe. I felt it this week. In fact, the longer I go into this year long fundraiser of surfing everyday. The better person I am becoming. It's true. And maybe it took me meeting these new surfers to bring that out of me. Hey...Tis The Season. The season of giving. Giving waves. Giving good vibes. Giving of ourselves. I like it. I like this feeling of giving.

This Holiday season we should all give a wave. You know, Give a Wave- Get a wave.

So one of the things this latest swell did to me was, once again, delay the releasing of my new movie the RUN REDUX. At the risk of sounding like a broken record here, the reason is simple. And really, all you guys being surfers can relate to this. I shot new footage and new stills on December 2nd, 2010. So did the other guys. We all shot and documented. This new movie is now going to have footage from December 09 to December 2010. Think about it.

All new, never before released footage from the past year. The past 12 months.

Isn't that worth the wait? Of course it is. I'm going to give you the latest swell of 2010. And from what I've seen of the footage I am really excited to start the editing. All local musicians. All local surf breaks. Mostly local surfers. Heck, you might be in this movie. And that's the beauty of my movies. Anyone can be in my movie. Anyone.

Like I said at the begriming of this column..."Tis The Season...!"

Now for some of my Weekly Global Observances:

OK is this clown from Wiki Leaks in jail yet? I mean come on. Julian Assange? Are you freaking kidding me? Look I know I just spouted on about the season of giving. But can we give this guy a kick in the ass and throw his butt in jail, The man is wanted for sexual assault in Sweden. This man is embarrassing our Current leaders to the point where it's almost beyond repair. And he's doing this for what? He's a hacker. He's a criminal. He should be in jail. We don't need this kind of BS and I don't care who's in the White House. As Americans we should all be outraged at this sexual deviant and what he's doing to our country. He should be tried for treason. Throw his ass in jail. Let some career convict tell him the words we all want him to hear...

" Wiki Leaks this bitch! "

The Patriots. must win on Monday. They must win on Monday for many reasons. First if they win, they might help me in my ailing disposition about the dreaded 2007 season. If they win, I may finally get that 07 monkey off my back. If they win, they also stand a better chance of winning the AFC East.

This game between our New England Patriots and the dreaded New York Jets is as BIG a game as any other game aside from the Play-Offs. It is the most talked about, the most analyzed about game of the year so far. Everyone wants to see this game. The numbers of viewers I'm sure will go through the roof Monday Night. This is that big.

The 9-2 Patriots against the 9-2 JETS on December 6th! Can you handle this? HELL YEA WE CAN! LET'S DO THIS THING!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Due to the SWELL on DECEMBER 2nd and this Thanksgiving Holiday the NEW SURF FREE OR DIE MOVIE The RUN Redux will now be released on or about DECEMBER 15th, 2010. SORRY for the delay...but it will be worth the wait. Trust me. It will.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Billy Ritchie December 7th! *And his Pup Chauncy (Puai).
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Ralph