Christmas Moment Musings...

Short Menu of the Day:

iTunes: Ryan Montbleau cd. (Thank you, equeyaya!)

In my Glass: Toasted Head Chardonnay

Photos: 1) Paper whites are my favorites. I should have taken this when they bloomed more. Oh well.
2) Brian's tradition is to make his own smoked salmon and give it as gifts. It takes all day. But i've never tasted any smoked salmon better than his.
3) My tree, which looks like every other tree, but dammit, this tree is like having a new puppy. It needs water twice a day! I think this tree will live until March. I'm not getting rid of it until it dies.
4) louielouie's daughter made this snowman/ghost candle for me when she was in elementary school (she's 21 now, right?...louie?) I still put this out every year and light it.
5) Dorothy's Christmas wreath was well known around our condo. When she died her daughter gave it to us. The first year we hung it i had two friends call us thanking us for making sure it was still displayed. Brian and I still miss Dorothy and talk about her often. She would join us for our Christmas breakfast those years we didn't have to hit the road to Eastern Washington.

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My thoughts on Christmas moments:

1. First the disclaimer: I wanted to be sure that i have 52 blog posts before i end this year and i'm not sure once the tsunami of Christmas arrives (which for me starts on Christmas Eve afternoon) that i would have time.

2. This blog post is about posting your Christmas moments this year. As i've gotten older I have learned not to have the expectation of the whole Christmas Spirit feeling. I am sure that is partly do to my choice of not having children. (I think children are the key to that spirit.) Instead I have learned to enjoy the season by looking for those moments.

3. Kylee's graduation last week from the Seattle Art Institute. First of all Kylee is the first person in my family to graduate with a bachelor's degree. And being in Seattle at Christmastime with family during a celebration like that was really cool. We went out for tapas and wine afterwards at a nice place where we got to sit in sofas. It was very warm and cozy and happy.

4. Watching Roman Holiday with Brian the other day. Kylee loaned us her DVD of this and though it's not a holiday movie, it felt like it. Neither one of us had ever seen it.

5. Yesterday my brother Troy stopped by unannounced. He was carrying what i first thought was lawn furniture cushions. Instead it was his dog, Gus's dog bed. (Gus was a girl named for Augustus McRae from Lonesome Dove.) Gus was a gentle black lab who lived to be 15 years old. She died only two months before Troy's son Josh died. With Gus's dog bed was also a pair of Josh's jeans, size 30/30. I used to make lots of jean pillows years ago for my nieces and nephews and I had told Troy i would make a pillow of Josh's jeans and Gus's dog bed scraps if he ever wanted that. He never responded at the time so i thought he must have thought it was a dumb idea and i had forgotten about it. But last night he showed up with them both.

6. I am going to buy a sewing machine now! I keep thinking i should.

7. A moment I'm looking forward to: Brian and Kylee are headed out to Weight Watcher's tonight and afterwards are coming over to watch Eat, Pray, Love and i'm in between writing this blog and cooking a healthy pasta dinner for when they return.

8. Tonight my nephew Brian called me from the mall. He always leaves his Christmas shopping until the last few days which cracks me up. He was looking for the Ryan Montbleau cd and he couldn't find it, which i'm not surprised . I don't think Troy reads my blog so i'm not giving up anything. But i love when they call me for ideas.

9. The other night this same nephew was at my mom's house and i noticed that he had duct tape in the crotch of his jeans. LOL.... It was pretty funny. Apparently he had ripped them out and decided that was the fix. So though we normally don't do the gift exchange in my family with any kids over 21 i bought him some Gap jeans for Christmas.

10. My niece Ashley emailed and said she wants to come down and visit with me ahead of the Christmas Eve Tsunami on her way home from Seattle. So she and Kylee and Brian and I are have a pre-function at our place and maybe nephew Brian and his girlfriend will come too. All my favorites.

So if you aren't too busy with Christmas, come and share you own Christmas moments with us all.

And thank you for reading this blog. I hope you will all continue to come here and post in 2011.... (you too....TXGrits, where have you been?)

My goal, whether Facebooking takes over blogging or not, will to continue to try to move this once a week as i did this year. I like writing and it's a great outlet for me.

Merry Christmas all.

Edited: to add louie/louie's children: Emma and Nick. I'll add a comment to explain.

How to be happy.

I'm going to skip the Menu of the Day and just cut to the chase with How to Be Happy. I got the idea from equeyaya's video that i have posted here. This is such a happy song. Anyway i thought it might be fun if we all blogged about our ideas on how to be happy. I myself haven't even thought ahead about this, so i'm just winging it.

1. Do what you are good at. And do it often.

2. Have at least one friend that you can so totally honest with that you can tell them that one thing you might write in your private journal that you hope no one in the world ever reads even after you are dead and gone.

3. Exercise. I know, i know, people hate it. I hate it too. And yeah, getting started is hard and you will be miserable for a bit. But if you do it long enough to make it a habit, it will become that thing you have to do, like paying bills, flossing your teeth, eating fiber. And soon you will be amazed at how much better you feel and how your body will change. And THAT will make you happy.

4. Do something that challenges you. (I'll admit this is a hard one for me and i don't do it often enough. But those times when i have ventured into new territory i find that i get energized, especially at work, for example: designing and maintaining our website at work. )

5. If you love wine, treat yourself to an expensive bottle every once in awhile...it doesn't have to be super expensive, but say... $25 or so, as long as it is recommended by someone who knows their stuff.

6. Try to find at least two hours of unencumbered time for yourself every few days. As a non-mom it's easy for me. For moms, i think it's super essential. Even if it's just to watch TV without interruption or Facebook during that whole time.

7. Change your hair if you hate it. (What do you have to lose?)

8. Listen to music you like every day. But not that freaking sad angsty shit. Something like the video posted above.

9. Don't watch too much of the news on TV. And if you live in the Pacific Northwest, like i do. Don't watch the weather either.

10. Buy yourself flowers. Buy them once a week if you live in the Pacific Northwest. Where the skies are the color of..... concrete 10 months a year.

11. And better yet! ....Order them from your favorite florist and have them delivered to yourself at work and then don't tell anyone who sent them to you.

12. Order lot of shit from Amazon. I love when i come home and a package is on my doorstep. Every day this week i come home and a package is out there and i get excited and they are not even for me because they are Christmas presents!

I don't want to make this too long so i will end here even though i have more ideas, but i'll wait for yours and post some later in Comments.

Potpourri Blogging

Menu of the Day:

On the iPod: eque yaya's mix (eque there is a song on there is could have sworn was Conor Oberst but it turns out to be some guy named Aaron.???)

In my glass: A mouvedre red blend. By Olsen Hills. Very nice.

What I'm procrastinating about: I was supposed to wrap presents today but i realize i don't know where the To/From cards are so i need to buy more.

What's bugging me: The vote on extending the Bush tax cuts. And the Don't Ask/Don't Tell.

What I'm looking forward to: Christmas! And the time off! And Kylee's graduation. She is the first person in our family to graduate with a bachelor's degree! Yay Kylee. And when she's done she will come back to this blog. And i look forward to that too.

Why i deserve a gold star: i went running on my lunch hour today and the rain could not have come down any harder even as i headed out to do this. I looked like i had fallen in a lake when i was done. It's a good thing i don't have to run again until Sunday, it will take that long for my shoes to dry!

Another reason i deserve a gold star: I think i am done with Christmas shopping!

Photos: My niece Ashley wanted the series of photos i took of her and Brian and Josh Christmas 2008. (This was Josh's last Christmas). She had only seen a couple i had posted on Facebook before. So i put them all up today because i finally found the folder. And then I decided to add a few of them here too.

The Christmas trees are Tree 2009 and Tree 2010. They look the same! What a crack-up. (Next year i think we'll mix it up.) The darker photo is from last year. I came across this photo of my husband in a vest! And that made me laugh too. This is from his post college years i think. He's the one on the far right (wearing the vest!). The foot ornament is Kylee's favorite. Brian actually carved this years ago and we had a running joke. I used to hide it at the back of the tree and he would always move it. Now Kylee makes sure it has a special place in the front.

Current news that's sorta interesting to me : (I'm embarrassed to admit!) I saw the headline on Comcast that Kate (+8 mom) and Sarah Palin didn't get along on their camping trip. I'm waiting for Furline to weigh in on this. And the Zuckerman Facebook dude. He's interesting.

What's not: Prince Charles' car being attacked.

My tentative plans for 2011: I'm going to join the Thursday night Running Club. I'll start bowling in February. (LOVE bowling!), I won't watch American Idol this year so that frees me up alot. I wonder what i'll do. Oh....probably Facebook instead. That's about it. I'm not much of an overachiever.

Feng shui blogging

This means that i am not going to bother putting up a photo.

I will only say this about the Menu of the Day:

I am listening to Dustin Kensrue Christmas songs on the iPod.

I am cooking pasta with jojo's famous spaghetti sauce.

I am procrastinating about Christmas.

I am looking forward to time off during Christmas.

The best thing i have done this week ... i am going TOTALLY green this year on Christmas....at least with Christmas lights. It's about a $275 initial investment for lights, but i have purchased all LED lights for inside and outside this year. I'll let you know how it goes later. With photos, of course.

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Here is my idea for this blog.

i would like to focus again on the nature of this blog being a community blog. Because
this blog got started ONLY because of the Gumbo YaYa-ness from the days when i would post on that board while drinking wine about whatever happened to enter my head and i encouraged others to do the same. And they did. And some of them encouraged this blog which i resisted for awhile until a year ago.

So with this blog i ask that you come here, one and all, even you lurkers....and post what is in your head....

Finish this sentence:

1. I would love to travel to __________

2. I hate the sound of _________________

3. Every time i read the newspaper i think______________

4. I wish that more people would ___________________

5. My biggest fear is __________________

6. If i knew i would be safe i would _____________________

7. The kind of personality that most pisses me off is______________

8. I am attracted to ___________________

9. I wish i was more ______________________

10. One of the biggest injustices is ___________________

11. I wish is wasn't so _______________________

12. Parents only:
If i was not a parent i imagine that i would be doing this more often_____________

13. Non-parents: If i had children i wish they would be ______________________