The Giving Season

December 16, 2011 by

With only nine days until Christmas, I have to say the spirit has evaded me this year.

Not that I’m a Scrooge. I love the sentiment behind Christmas. I really enjoy decorating and baking and taking time to think of others. What I don’t enjoy is the extra dose of stress that tends to go along with all of that.

Face it. Life moves at a faster clip than it did ten or even five years ago. Hours turn to days and days to weeks within a blink of an eye. One day it’s Thanksgiving, the next it seems to be the Fourth of July. When your everyday life keeps you running from the moment your feet hit the bedroom floor until you’re back in the evening settling in for a few hours of shut-eye, it’s hard to be happy about all the extra duties of the holiday.

While talking with a friend yesterday, I realized that those responsibilities we give ourselves–the extra work and the rigmarole–isn’t really the meaning behind the season.

This year, I struggled to get my Christmas cards out and was disappointed that they weren’t in the mail the weekend following Thanksgiving.  I pouted because I got out voted on decorations. Since we will be out-of-town for the holidays, the rest of the family deemed them an unneccesary stress. I struggled to find time to bake and I’ve fretted over what gifts I’m going to purchase and how I’m going to get them delivered.

This morning, when I delivered a plate of fresh-bakes treats to our bank as a thank-you to the ladies (and gentleman) who I deal with on a daily basis, and saw the sincere appreciation at being remembered that I realized every bit of pressure we put on ourselves to make a holiday perfect, moves us further away from the real intent.

Being remembered. Doing for another. Giving of ourselves.

Those are the real meanings of the season.

And that shouldn’t be something that causes you stress. It should come from the heart.

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Traditionally, this blog goes on hiatus for the last two weeks of the year, but this year I will be guest blogging the MVRWA Group Blog on December 26 and will cross link to that post here.

***

In the new year I will be changing the posting schedule here.  Instead of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday posts, I will post on Tuesday and Thursday … with an occasional weekend bonus post.

Look for the first post of 2012 to hit these pages January 3, 2012.

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Something To Dance To

March 18, 2011 by

It’s been one of those weeks. You know the kind, where stress rains down on you and you just can’t seem to get caught up no matter what you do.

As I’ve often mentioned here I find solace in music. And I sought out this song to cut loose with while I was driving the other day.

Something’s working me over / The groove is in my blood … What I want is to take my worries out on the floor tonight / I had a day that went so wrong, now I want to make it right.

Yeah, that crazy woman in the car next to you at the stop light banging on her steering wheel? That was me.

On Wednesday, some good news came my way via facebook. This artist, Eric Himan, has released the first single off his new album.

Check it Dust at Bandcamp

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Reaching Higher

December 11, 2009 by

This is the time of year when life just gets crazy on us. With the shopping, decorating, baking, wrapping presents etc, we barely have time to breathe, let alone focus on career goals. Don’t even get me started on loft career goals, like getting a book published.

reaching_higherBut the fact of the matter is if you want to succeed in a field that is so hard to break into, there really is no time for holidays or breaks. And as we reach year end, that time of reflection where we look at the year past and make goals for the coming one, I find myself believing there’s one road to success and the road signs all say one thing: Work Hard!

So, instead of giving myself permission to slack off because it’s the holidays, I’m setting my goals higher than normal.  ‘Good enough’ isn’t any where close to acceptable. And the one thing I know for sure is if I can do it during December, doing it the rest of the year will be a snap. They say it takes thirty days of reptition to make something a habit. I’m hoping by January 11 high daily word counts will be a habit and not a goal that seems just out of reach.

Maybe then, the main destination will come into focus.

In the meantime, I can scratch one round of holiday baking off my list. (I’m sure the brownies are going to shrink my jeans.) And most of my shopping is done. Hope to get the carsd and packages mailed this weekend and the wrapping done early next.  There’s a few holiday parties looming between now and the day of celebration, but I do believe it’s possible to share the season with family and friends, and still stay focused on my goals.

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

Monday Musings: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Yippee for the Holidays

November 30, 2009 by

I’m not a seasoned black Friday shopper by any means. I ventured out on the darkest of all shopping days a few years ago to pick up a certain special present, and got a first hand look at the 7th level of hell that is 150 people fighting over the three personal DVD players that were advertised in the paper. So, this year, when my hubby suggested we hit the sales, I was less than enthused. “We need a game plan” I said more than once. “What specifically are you looking for” I repeated again and again in the days leading up to the event. And on Friday I insisted he go get a paper, peruse the ads, and come up with some sort of map. “It just isn’t a regular browse to shop kind of day.

I guess Black Friday at 5 a.m. is something one has to see for themselves to believe.

For the 5 hours spent shopping (that’s including the 90 minutes spent trying to get a quick breakfast at I-HOP) we did catch a few deals and finished a small part of our Christmas list. Worth the experience? Aside from the long wait for pancakes it went rather smoothly.

Me? I’m much more a Cyber Monday kind of shopper. This next week I’ll be surfing for the online deals, that often come with free shipping, with coffee in hand and let the mail man bring the gifts to my door. Of course, shopping on line does have its own set of hazards. I’ll let Foamy explain. He does a better job.

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Monday Musings: Being Thankful

November 23, 2009 by

‘Tis that time of year when we’re supposed to sit down and reflect on everything we’re thankful for. That can be a hard thing to do in this day an age.  I know I’m not the only who feels like their life is a huge rat-race. Like you struggle day in and day out to progress two steps, but slide three back. Laundry and housework is never done, the to-do list had become a to-do novella and to it all off you’ve been hit with the seasonal, new illness.

being_thankful_cardBut the fact of the matter is there are blessing to behold everyday.  Of course, there are the obvious ones. I may have that stupid head cold that’s been hanging on for weeks, but it could definitely be worse (health wise).  I have my family around me (And know that with each passing day, my children are getting closer to striking out on there own and that may not be the case). As a family, we have a decent income (believe me I know this is a blessing in this day and age).

Yes, those are the big things to hold dear, but there are countless little things too. Lazy Sundays, curling up with a good book and good coffee. Playing games of Scrabble or Monopoly with the family and laughing so hard my side hurts the next day is the type of blessing that can get overlooked in the grand scheme of things.

…And believe it or not, I’m grateful that I get to fix a big turkey dinner this weekend, have family over to the house, and then spend the rest of the weekend putting up the Christmas tree and the rest of the decorations.

I’m one of those people who can let the Holiday consume them with stress.  I can turn into a real scrooge complaining because nothing is as big, bright, and jolly as it should be. On Thursday, when I’m reflecting over the many blessings in my life, I’m also going to commit to really trying to remember them through the busy season and the rest of the year. Let’s face it,  remembering how blessed we are shouldn’t be reserved for just one day a year.

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