'Tis the Season

I decided that since I can't be with my grandchildren this Christmas, lavishing them with gifts and spoiling them exceedingly well, I would just enjoy the opportunities that come my way. Giving is such a simple thing, but it opens your heart to extraordinary events. You feel good; you're kind of proud of yourself for not being selfish; you set yourself up in a good way for the spiritual law of giving and receiving; you bless someone else; it seems to connect you to God, the ultimate giver. I could go on, but I sense you drifting away.

When we were young I would make things for Christmas. The kids helped me do ornaments for the tree and they drew Christmas pictures on construction paper that we turned into cards. Simple is always better, so why do we spend enormous amounts of money on gifts? Because that smile you see on the face of someone you love, makes it all worth it.

My favorite memory of Christmas is waking up in the middle of the night (I didn't know it at the time, but my parents were just getting ready to go to bed), and finding a Chatty Cathy doll in a stroller under the tree. 2 things. I didn't care if there was ever another present in the world, just those 2 things, and the doll probably would have been enough.

So we spend, spend, spend, but in the end it's the simplicity of giving that makes the season.

Santa Claus really is real, he really is! (a quote from Ethan Speed)

Foggy Funk

So the days are passing me by and I feel very detached. Get up, go to work, come home, watch t.v., go to bed. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I am in robot mode. My son warned me about this. I guess you always have to have something to look forward to, to get you out of your funk. My sister is always trying to get me to go out, but I enjoy being home. I feel hypnotized. Hmmm, I believe I'm turning into my mother. The truth is, I'm too tired to have a life. Blahhh.

Oh, I do have something to look forward to - the birth of Poppy Jean! Visiting my loved ones in Texas! Getting to be Grandma the whole time I'm there! OK, I feel better now.

I'm also very excited about getting to ride the train every day. I'm pathetic. I won't bore you anymore.