Garden of Thought

Also survived my first performance using dance wings without setting them on fire with the altar candles or knocking any of the poinsettias flying! A friend took a pic, it's blurry but gives a general idea at least.



I had my wings hidden behind me for the first half of the song (looks like a cape when down) so it was fun having everyone's eyes bug out when I opened them up. X-D They are very dramatic!

I love all the way Christmas lets me release my inner magpie as it suddenly becomes socially acceptable to SHINY SHINY everything.   My tree is decked out with lots of white, gold and silver this year and got a new package of white tinsel to go with the lights around the windows instead of the same old tinsel I recycle again and again.  It's really quite lovely, like when multi-colored lights outside are buried in just a bit of snow so the colors shine through the white.

What colors did you end up with on your tree this year?  I know some folks like the tradition of the same decor each year, I like to mix it up.

One of the many valuable lessons my mother passed on to me was "Be nice to yourself.  You can't expect other people to read your mind and then feel all neglected because you didn't get what you wanted."

There's really no reason to sit around wishing you had The Thing and bemoaning that your life doesn't have that Perfect Person in it who can "prove their love" by somehow magically reading your mind.  Be nice to yourself.  No one knows exactly what you really want but you.  Go get The Thing and wrap it up, if you like, so you can open a present that is exactly what catches your fancy and warms your heart.  You're worth it.

It's definitely "that season" again - coming from a Christmas party that had rockin' gingerbread cake with spiced whipped topping and cream-cheese-and-nutmeg stuffed dates to holiday events with everything from brandy beans to peppermint cookies going by it's hard to know what comes next.

We have our church Christmas event this coming Sunday, so I'm busy making marshmallow popcorn balls and green tree-shaped spritz for that, at the rate we're going I may not even need to make any Christmas cookies this time around as we'll already be full up on enough goodies to cause us to all roll out the door like that girl that turned into a blueberry in the Willy Wonka thing... but y'know... there's still those soft sugar cookies with lemon in them... and the peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate....and that amazing fruitcake with all the wine in it....

What are you making this year? Any extra good things orbiting past you?

Merry Christmas to everyone - hope all is well in your assorted households, palaces, balloons, hovels and floating shrimp boats...or wherever is currently 'home'.

Y'know, when we got this house I was blown away at the thought of having an extra room (think about it - EXTRA room. An extra one. Like, a whole room that is extra!) It quickly became half storage, half guest room and has seen pretty constant use. Friends, travelers, relatives, strangers, all kinds of people have been in there. More than one has lived there for an extended time.

So speaking of extended times - My folks sold their house and therefore had to move into their 5th-wheel. Technically. Actually, my mom would completely lose her mind living in a tiny 5th-wheel, so they're in our 'extra' guest room. How long? Who can say? Until they find a property they like well enough to buy. And they have a weiner-dog (our cat has mixed feelings on this part). Good thing we get along pretty well. Full house!

Time to go watch a Christmas show - maybe 'Shop Around the Corner,' I love Jimmy Stewart.

Just a note to all the LJ folks who for reasons I cannot comprehend haven't backed up their journals to Dreamwidth yet - this week Dwth is having an open house of sorts where you don't need an invite code to set up a journal there. Go! Do! I don't think you'll regret it. Really.
http://www.dreamwidth.org/

I have a huge bowl of pfeffernusse dough in my fridge to bake, then I'm hauling out the bread machine to assemble amaretto bread wreaths for the neighbors in lieu of plates of cookies this year - May your day likewise be fragrant and peaceful with regular incidents of tastiness.

I mused aloud to my family as to whether we ought to get a real tree this year or whether we should pull out the fake one we have, as I love real ones but they are a bit of a pain to fetch home, trim and then water every day. 
Their response? *shrug*
"Don't you have an opinion about Christmas trees? Any preference at all?"
No, they didn't.  None of them cared.  I already knew none of them seemed too interested in decorating the tree, I usually had to bribe / wheedle help, but to find they didn't care if we had one?  I was a bit surprised and even in denial about it.

This afternoon I asked a few questions of 'they guys'... they don't care about gingerbread or want it, they don't care about popcorn balls or have any interest in decorating.  My hubby still likes twinkle lights at least, but apparently more because the neighbors see them than for us. Still need to interview the daughter to see if I have anyone who will share Christmas with me in my own house, she's been generous in allowing me to steer her into threading popcorn as we watch a holiday show in the past, for instance, but now I wonder if she even likes it.  Or are they all just humouring me?

I'm a bit taken aback at the moment, will need to process this.  How much of my Christmas activity is just, it seems, for me only rather than (as I imagined) shared positive times -  And if so, how much of it will I still pursue?  I'll have to ponder.

I wish I had this guy's brain.

This totally deserves to be a holiday tradition. I'll watch it every year.
X-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_MbeRO3U9A

I'm so glad to see the holidays seem to be going mostly-pretty-much well for the folks who have popped in to LJ, may you all have a bit of something that warms your heart this day.

We had a sleepy-slow morning, laying out the pretty tablecloths, baking a pecan coffeecake and omelets, eggnog and tea on the side - I like to keep Christmas as simple as I can, who wants to spend a holiday in the kitchen? Everyone seemed to love the stuff in the stockings and under the tree ("This is all from the bins??" was asked unbelievingly more than once - I did all my shopping at the Goodwill distribution center this year - .89 a pound for whatever you can find... good stuff in there if you dig!)

Now it's a nice peaceful interlude where everyone is enjoying something new or nibbling at treats. Bing Crosby is crooning in the background and the Invasion of the Non-Geeky In-Laws won't happen for a couple more hours. Aaaaaaah.

What does your family have for a 'traditional Christmas morning' breakfast/brunch? We used to do waffles, but it seemed too much of a bother this time.

I found a wonderful old Edgar Guest poetry collection in the Good Will bins, of all places - it was published in 1928 and appears to have been well-loved. Thought I would post here one of the poems in it that sums up much of my own view on life and what it brings you...

( Like Calls to Like )

Merry almost-Christmas! Now we're off to cut paper snowflakes and thread popcorn. :-)