Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all!  Among many Christmas miracles, I woke to find that I indeed got my white Christmas again, but without too much headache.  We got a nice blanket of freezing fog.  I hope that you find your Christmas miracle as well.

Another life lesson: Sometimes things are not meant to be that deep.

 

I was needing some kind of sugar after dinner and resorted to the last of the Christmas chocolate that the kids gave out as teacher gifts.  They happened to be Dove chocolates, and unlike the usual everyday blue wrapper, they were wrapped in a green wrapper as if they were meant for Christmas-time consumption.   Usually, the blue wrappers have something cool on the underside of the wrapper that suggests some kind of positive idea such as, take some time for a bubble bath, enjoy a glass of wine just for yourself, or take a deep breath.  I opened my first green wrapped chocolate and as soon as that sweet morsel was in my mouth, I immediately and eagerly looked to see what positive message I got this time.  It said “Layer white tissue paper over bright-colored wrap.  –Martha Stewart”  What? What the hey was that supposed to mean? and when did Martha become the quote-maker besides her famous “It’s a good-thing” phrase?  I think that I hurt my brain trying to figure out the what the deep and meaningful message was to that little-inspiring, tidbit of a quote. 

Not able to figure anything out, and distressed that my chocolate went away so fast, I popped another one of those green wrapped chocolates in my mouth (unwrapped of course).  I ought to have gotten a better quote this time.  Maybe someone else had some better, deeper thought.  “Use a vegetable peeler to make a chocolate curl garnish.  –Martha Stewart”.  What the heck?  Another one?!!!  I quickly learned that those usual “deep thoughts” were really tips!  So, I guess that they figure the stressed out people who need to down a ton of chocolate during the holidays are stressed out because they have no idea how to throw a perfect Martha Stewart style party, and need some tips on how to do so.  Never mind the “take a bubble bath” advise, or some very meaningful quote.  This year, tissue paper and garnish tips are way more relaxing and important. 

So, my third chocolate said: “Make evergreen bobeches to catch candlestick wax drippings.   –Martha Stewart”  I give up!  What the heck are bobeches anyway?

The 12 Days of Christmas by Just Another Mother

On the 1st day of Christmas my children gave to me, a dinosaur hidden in the Christmas tree.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my children gave to me, two half-eaten candy canes.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my children gave to me, three long Christmas lists.

On the 4th day of Christmas my children gave to me, four broken ornaments.

On the 5th day of Christmas my children gave to me, five fingerprints on the wall.

On the 6th day of Christmas my children gave to me, six tries for a good Santa photo.

On the 7th day of Christmas my children gave to me, seven handmade Christmas ornaments.

On the 8th day of Christmas my children gave to me, eight Christmas list revisions. 

On the 9th day of Christmas my children gave to me, nine times listening to “Jingle Bells”.

On the 10th day of Christmas my children gave to me, ten Christmas books to read to them.

On the 11th day of Christmas my children gave to me, eleven excited squeals.

On the 12th day of Christmas my children gave to me, twelve cherished Christmas hugs and kisses.

You know it’s cold when… wait! no you don’t!

I hate to make fun of people.  In one of my latest blogs, I made the challenge to question why we do things the way we do.  I also recognized that we do things because logic tells us to.  So, without sounding like I am making fun of people, or putting them down in some way, I will raise a new question about why people do the things they do; why do people do things when logic says that it’s really not a great idea? 

Two hours after I noticed on our inside/outside thermometer read zero degrees, I sat in the local medical clinic’s warm waiting room.  I am sure that the temperature didn’t raise much more than that because it was the morning, and at noon it was about 7 degrees.  I was all bundled up with my new cosy scarf tucked in my wool coat, and in my warm snow boots.  Before I stripped down to my clothes, I noticed that there was a woman sitting there with with capri pants that didn’t go much past her knees, exposing her bare lower leg and sockless ankles.  She had a jacket on, but a light one at that.  I think there was a pretty good chance that she wore those capris and sockless shoes in the cold outside on her way to the clinic.  Then there was another woman sitting in the very same room with flip-flops on!  I could see the color of her toe nails!  I didn’t look to see if her toes were purple because I didn’t want her to see that my eyes had popped out of their sockets.  She however, had jeans on, keeping the rest of her legs warm.  Did I mention that there is at least an inch of snow on the ground?  Am I just a crazy stuck-in-the-mud old lady who hates to mix things up a little by wearing summer clothes in the dead of winter?  Well, technically it’s fall, but the weather is definitely winter-like.   Or did those women not notice how cold it was out there and that it would be a good idea to bundle up?

That’s not all though.  Later in the day, a friend of mine reported that her mother-in-law, who lives with her and her husband, cleaned the driveway off with a garden hose.  It is not nearly as cold where she lives, but it was cold enough to freeze up the whole driveway.  I am sure that the mother-in-law didn’t plan on doing what I would have planned which would be to spray it down to slide around on.  I wonder if it occurred to her that water freezes when it’s below 32 degrees?

Maybe the mother-in-law is not used to cold weather, I’ll give her that.  But out where I live, it is not unusual to have snow on the ground and be as cold as zero degrees.  I just find it very interesting about why people do the things that they do.  I suppose that maybe I should go back to school and get my masters degree in sociology.  But in the meantime, I am sticking with my snow boots, wool coat and scarf when it is cold.  I wouldn’t mind an ice-rink driveway though.

Just another neurotic list-maker

I confess.  I’m a list-maker.  I have concluded that it is just the way I am, I cannot change.  I don’t know why I am except perhaps it’s genetic since my father is a list-maker too, or maybe it’s learned, something that he taught me.  Really, it has no use in my life.   I wane from my carefully thought out lists all the time.  It is very rare and quite unheard of for me to even finish a daily to-do list. 

So why, do you say, do I make lists?  Why do I set myself up to fail everyday because I have a huge list on my page, and know fully that I will never finish it?  I am not sure myself.  I have some deep down need for it.  I don’t need to remember things, since I tend to remember everything without the list.  The funny thing is, if I drift away from my list, which I often do, I make sure I add what I did to the list and then immediately check it off, giving myself satisfaction that I did at least accomplish something during my day. 

Another strange thing is, I am not an analytical personality, which one might think list-makers would stem from.  Lists is where it starts, and ends.  I have a special spiral notebook to create my lists of the day, since I got very tired of floating single pieces of paper with useless lists around the house.  Now, everything is confined.  I can find the correct list instantly.  When the day changes, I can turn the page and make a new list, almost as identical as the previous day, on a brand new, fresh page.  Maybe it’s because creating lists give me some strange comfort, or maybe it’s my subconscious giving me just a little bit of “me” time, more specifically, quiet, deep thought time during my busy day.

I have concluded that it is all a harmless, neurotic need that I have.  It must be normal.   Others must have some other harmless neurotic need, but I hear sometimes that people assume things like this is normal, and it turns out that they have a serious problem.  So, what do you think?  Is this a harmless, normal neurotic need?  If so, everyone must have some strange need or habit.  Do you have a harmless neurotic need?

It happened again!

Roger and I were talking when our 11-year-old walked up behind us and joyfully announced, “Daddy, look at my man-berry!”  What??? I tell you, our eyes popped clear out of our heads due the disbelief of what she had just said.  Unfortunately, laughter soon erupted out of us uncontrollably.  Poor girl.  Earlier in the day she worked very hard on a foam Christmas Angel that came as a craft kit.  After she made it, she decided it looked a little masculine.  She also gets fairies and Angels mixed up.  So, what she really said was, “Daddy, look at my man-fairy” and what she really meant was, “Daddy, look at my man-Angel”.  Ohhh man!  I can finally see now that the tears of laughter have cleared.

What goes around, comes around

Remember when I posted that I had trouble finding my new van and had four similar ones to choose from while Roger sat there laughing?  Well, my sweet revenge finally came.  Actually, revenge suggests that I had something to do with this, and I had nothing to do with it at all.  We had parked our new van and went into a big store.  With a wiggly two-year old, Roger decided to leave the store just before I was done, to get the wiggle worm buckled in.  So, this is how I understand the story goes:  Roger gets out to the parking lot, finds where our van is parked and uses our new, working keypad to unlock the doors.  The van didn’t unlock.  He tried it again, and again, but nothing.  Just before he panicked, he discovered that our van was parked right next to the one he was trying to unlock!  The other van was the same make, model and color!  All what was different was that ours was dirtier.  Look who’s laughing hysterically now!  I love it.

Princesses never chase chickens

I was watching one of my favorite movies with my kids the other day.  Princess Diaries II was the movie, and long story short, after the previous movie, a young princess continues to learn what a real princess should be like and finds that she can be a great princess by being her own unconventional self.  One of the lines in the movie was, “princesses never chase chickens”.  I found that line not only goofy, but interesting.  With more thought, I realized it was one of the most important lines of the movie, setting up the main point of the conclusion.  That line also encouraged me to take a look at why we do things in real life and why does society dictate silly restraints as it does?  Why can’t princesses chase chickens?

Sometimes we go through life without thinking too much about why we do things.  We just do it.  Lately though, I have stopped and pondered why we have certain social rules.  Some are no brainers.  We follow things because it’s the law, or it would be hurtful, destructive and dangerous, or just plain against logic  if we didn’t follow certain social limits.  Some people get it though.  Some people realize that the rest of those so-called unwritten rules are really pretty stupid.  There are people out there that have the strength to ignore the giggles and the pointing when they cross over the social normality line.  I have to admire people who are able to do that.  I am a coward.  I am not ready to step out of my box even though sometimes I would love to wear white after Labor Day or long to chase chickens.

I remember years ago when I stood in the hallway of my old workplace, casually talking with a couple of co-workers when a man with long hair walked by.  At the moment, I didn’t notice that he had a girls headband on, probably to help keep the hair out of his face.  It however, was not something that you would normally see a man wearing.  I was quite irritated when my co-workers, my friends, giggled and whispered in evil-like glee, “did you see that?  that was a MAN! wearing a headband!”  I hated being dragged into their socially egocentric views.  Not knowing what to do, and hating conflict, I just kept quiet, hoping for the subject to immediately change.  If only I had the guts to say, “so, why can’t a man wear a headband if he wants to?”. 

I remember as a kid getting a kick out of eating a special dinner… breakfast.  Breakfast for dinner had some sort of feeling as if I were breaking a huge social rule.  How satisfying it felt as I sheepishly enjoyed each bite of my sausage and eggs… at night!  I guess my point is, to question why we do things the way we do.  If you are comfortable, and are ready to bypass the giggles and pointing, go ahead princesses out there, go and chase yourself a chicken!

Thanksgiving… a time to reflect on the meaning of gratitude

I was going to start this post with a glamorous definition of gratitude straight from the dictionary.  It looked so elegant and flowed so smoothly in my head, but this is what my dictionary said: “grat* i* tude  n : THANKFULNESS”.  A bit to the point eh? No graceful, flowing descriptions here! 

There have been several books I have read, workshops I have attended and TV shows I have seen that suggest if one wants to become happier in life and enjoy life just a bit more, or even become a better, more appreciative person, it can be achieved by keeping a gratitude journal.  A gratitude journal only takes a few minutes a day and goes faster as time goes on.  It sounded good to me since I don’t have a lot of time to write long daily entries in a journal, and who doesn’t want to be happier?  Besides, being inundated with the same information time and time again made me feel as if the universe was trying hard to tell me something. 

So this is how it works:  Besides the obvious daily things such as being thankful for a healthy family…or even having a family, at least 5 things that you are grateful for that day should be written down.  At first it is hard to think beyond the obvious things, but soon it becomes a challenge to be limited to just 5 things (really, there is no need to limit to a certain number unless time is an issue).  These things can be, “I am grateful for the cookie that I had at lunch”, or “I am grateful for the extra two minutes of breather time that I received before I had to make the big speech”. 

I think that when we think about gratitude, thankfulness, and gratefulness during Thanksgiving, we think of the big things or the obvious things like, “I am thankful that I got the big promotion this year”, or “I am grateful that I have such a wonderful family”.  Those are all perfectly legitimate, but what the most forgotten are the little things, the small things that are often taken for granted.  By remembering the small things daily, not just on one day of the year, really does make a person enjoy life just a bit more.  Well, that is my experience. 

I find it interesting that gratitude sounds a lot like attitude.  I don’t know, maybe that is no accident.  What I do know is that having thankfulness, or gratitude really does adjust the attitude of my life.  So this Thanksgiving and the following days, give gratitude journals or even just a daily gratitude moment, a ponder and try it out.  Maybe your attitude will change too.

Mom is just not that smart

I got the question this morning from our 11-year-old… “Mom, what is in a fair?”  I looked at her completely baffled.  If anyone knew better about what was in a fair, it was her.  My answer: “Um, 4H, cows and other animals”.  Obviously I was just not that smart because she plopped down on the couch again and exclaimed, “Oh, never mind!”  Still baffled, I was determined to figure out what had just happened.  That’s when I noticed that the TV was on, and the Jon and Kate plus 8 crap was being discussed.  Her question was really, “Mom, what is an affair?”.  I think that I am going to stick with being dumb.