From Me & Mine to You & Yours & Yours & Yours ...

From spring cleaning to Christmas decorating in one fell swoop.

What can I say? We don't waste any time around here.

Out with the old. In with the ... snow.
BRRRR

And So This is Christmas ...

Christmas is, hands-down, my favourite holiday on the calendar. Maybe (most likely) it was the fact that we didn't celebrate Christmas when I was a kid that accounts for a lot of my delight and enjoyment now.

So what is my favourite thing about Christmas, you ask.

This might sound rather strange, but what I love truly love about the season can be summed up in very few words ... I think in large part it`s the beauty, the visual appeal of the season that really gets to me.

True enough, when my daughters were younger there was a great deal of pleasure and fun in watching their response to the run up to Christmas and their full on excitement on Christmas day. It was both contagious and priceless.

There were also family traditions that developed over the years that gave me a warm, comforting feeling. And, as a parent, I appreciated the chance to try to model and teach to my children in various ways that there truly is more pleasure in giving than in receiving.

In fact, to this day, I would love to adopt some little ones just for this time of the year, to share the magic with them, to watch their faces light up with delight and excitement, to be a part of that again.

But what I really appreciate about Christmas now is the sheer beauty of the season. I could easily sit for hours, staring into a Christmas tree, letting my mind simply roam free and I absolutely love adore the sparkle of lights shining on the snow, the spectacle it creates.

You might have figured out by now that despite the fact that, perhaps, it *should*, Christmas does not have a strong religious connotation for me. I credit that with the fact that I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness and even though I am very much not one now, there seems to be some core beliefs (doctrinal points) and values that stick with me. Okay, in all honesty, not just stick with me but by extension, exclude the inclusion of other things.

Yes, to me, Christmas is more or less a secular holiday, but from my point of view, that diminishes its importance not one bit. Because whether your view be religious or secular or some mixture of both, the Christmas season is a time for family and friends, a time to bring your family close around you and hold them tight, a time to take a break from the insanity that is life and refocus on what is really important.

Yes, I adore the Christmas season.

The only problem is, I can never figure just why, exactly, it has to end.

Merry Christmas

Just watch out for those check flights ...

 

... they can be killers!

'Tis The Season

'Tis the season.

To warm things up around here. Do some dusting. Pull out some cozy, colourful stuff. Maybe put the hot chocolate on, too.

Don't worry ... we'll have an adult version too, Kahlua, anyone?

So bear with me while I do some housekeeping around here. Have to dig out the decorations, put the tree up ... you know, the usual.

Bear with me - I'm still working on the colour scheme. Blog-decorating isn't as always as easy as it looks, you know.

In the meantime, sit back, put some tunes on and get yourself some Christmas spirit.

I know that's what I intend to do. Just as soon as I get some work done (of the paying variety).

Happy New Year

But remember, what we write is up to us:

A Merry Christmas to All ...

... And to All A Good Night

'Autism Night Before Christmas'

Disability is a part of my life. A part of my family's family.

Or, put another way, overcoming challenges is a part of my life. A part of my family's life.

So when I came across this little gem on 5 Minutes for Special Needs (a spot I make it to far too rarely lately), I just had to share. Because it's something I think just about any parent of  a challenged child, be they autistic or not, can relate to.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house

The creatures were stirring

Yes, even the mouse

We tried melatonin
And gave a hot bath
But the holiday jitters
They always distract

The children were finally
All nestled in bed
When nightmares of terror
Ran through my OWN head

Did I get the right gift
The right color
And style
Would there be a tantrum
Or even, maybe, a smile?

Our relatives come
But they don’t understand
The pleasure he gets
Just from flapping his hands.

“He needs discipline,” they say
“Just a well-needed smack,
You must learn to parent…”
And on goes the attack

Now go read the rest of it. Please.

And  a Very Merry Christmas to you all.

And Anudder ... And Anudder ...

As in Anudder Year in a Blog, right?

You know the drill ... the first sentence (or paragraph, depending on my mood) of the first post for each month of 2010. Drum roll please ...

January: It's New Years Day, eh?

February:  Since I've posted.

I suppose it might be time to do something about that.

Ya think, DiNozzo?

March:  It being the 6th day of March.

And this song playing on the radio this morning.

It is now our theme song for the day.

**Now renamed 'Canadian Dream'.
What? You gotta problem with that?**

** April:

May:  I've watched with some degree of bemusement as racism seems to grow into a bigger and bigger issue on almost daily basis in the US. Or, perhaps I should not say so much a bigger and bigger issue as much as more and more the 'call of the day'. The only explanation for everything that happens.

June:  It's been a while, hasn't it?

Like over a week. Not good, I know.

Unfortunately, it don't be looking much better at the moment.

** July:

August:  Having just returned from a 10-day vacation to Cape Breton Island a few days hence (yes, it was a great trip, thanks for asking), I shake my befuddled head and wonder Why, oh why, does "re-entry" seem to get more and more difficult as the years pass?

September:  It's the first day back to school for the crew and, alas, I am feeling too sick to appreciate it at the moment.

October:  I see that Nova Scotia's automobile insurers are crying in their champagne beer again, this time over the Dexter's government minor changes to the "minor injury" cap. Oh dear, what can the matter be? Cue the world's smallest violins.

November:  That's about all I have to say for now.

The trip was wonderful. I must be a very visual person as I tend to take an immediate like or dislike to a city. Based on things like trees and parks. And water. Water is very important.

And so it was that I fell hard for Boston.

December:  I sure can. So. So. Jealous.



** Note that some months just left me speechless, eh?

Posted Without Comment

... And To All, A Good Night

My how time flies ... it seems like Christmas does a better job of sneaking up on me with each passing year!

I must admit that it is my favourite holiday though - the cold and snow outside (although no snow yet this year) and the warmth and love of family and friends inside. 

There is nothing I enjoy better, nothing which gives me more peace than sitting in a darkened room, illuminated only by a Christmas tree and admiring its beauty.  It is a time to muse, review, reflect, renew and rejuvenate.

And no matter what may have transpired this past year (through both the highs and the lows), there is the sure knowledge that hope springs anew for the future.

So to my family and friends, both those I have been honoured to meet in person and those I have been honoured to know only through the joy of technology ... A Very Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night.

Another Year in a Blog

It's New Years Day, eh?

And since I am feeling the pressure to write something ... anything really ... we're going for a repeat of last year.

It's the first sentence of the first post for each month of 2009.

December - Good day.
My computer is in for service (and we all know what that's like) so I am using the one I have relegated to the girls down the basement.

November - Forgive me, please, but I am feeling like I am just a little bit lost in the twilight zone at the moment.

October - Apparently the Supreme Court of Canada docket is ripe with freedom-of-the-press issues this fall.

September - I put off blogging about this particular issue because, quite frankly, it troubles me.

August - I do believe I'm in love.
That's all.

July - I AM Canadian.
And Proud of it.
And yet, today, that pride is tinged with sadness

June - D-Day. The invasion of Normandy.
We have heard those words bandied around a lot today as the 65th anniversary of the "liberation of Europe".

May - My brother is determined to teach me to fly. Okay, not for real (how cool would that be?) but on the computer, play station or some other reasonable facsimile.

April - As much as the word "retard" does personally bother me (and believe me, it does), I must admit that I do rather think that this campaign to "Ban The R Word" is a bit misguided.

March - It's funny how life forces you to go on. Whether you actually want to or not.

February - Yeah, I still have more to say on the Karissa Boudreau story. That will come later. Hopefully tomorrow. But for now, I'm afraid, you really need to colour me green. A deep, dark shade of green. Check this out.

January - Dear Lord, please give me…
A few friends who understand me and remain myfriends;

Yeah, okay, I cheated just a bit on some of them.
So, sue me. Go ahead. I'm sure I can find a lawyer. Laying around somewhere.

Know what else I noticed?

In 2009, I blogged 129 posts. Okay. I guess.
Except that in 2008, it was 254 posts.

Yeah, almost double. So whaddya make of that now?

And So This is Christmas

Or Christmas Eve, at the very least.

I know I've been kind of quiet on the blog lately. Not really sure why.
Not too much to say? Or not enough time to say it? A little of both, I suppose.

And then there's the fact that this month has been tinged with sadness and melancholy for me. Which is a step up from last month, I suppose. When there was only pain and hurt.

The girls don't seem anywhere near as excited for Christmas as they usually are. They were much more excited just to be out of school for two weeks. I asked the Kit Kat what was up with that and she told me that knowing for sure there is no Santa (as opposed to her merely suspecting it but not really wanting to know) takes a lot of the fun out of it. I know what she's saying. But I still find it sad.

Still, we are all here. The four of us. Back from the Christmas Eve service. In our brightly-lit house. With our beautiful tree. I love Christmas trees. I like to turn out all the lights and just sit and stare at it, letting my mind wander.

Tomorrow close friends will join for us for dinner. After a breakfast of the Kit Kat's yummy French toast and bacon. And despite the fact that they are, indeed, growing up, something tells me there will still be some excited squeals coming from underneath the tree (too) early in the morning.

In the meantime, I have gifts to finish wrapping and arranging under the tree. And stockings to stuff. But, alas, not until they all are off to bed. Which, teenagers though they may be, won't happen until we are read The Night Before Christmas.

A childhood friend of my husband's gave him the book as a Christmas present when I was expecting the Blue Jay. He said it was a Christmas tradition in his family to read it to his two young boys every Christmas Eve before bed. And so it has become our tradition, too. Except now, instead of us reading it to them, they read it to us.

But when they are all snuggled in their beds (with visions of I-Pods, books and new clothes dancing in their heads), there will be time for me to have a drink. Or two. And raise my glass to those I love, both those that are with me (or soon will be) and those that no longer are. And to my good friends, who make my life richer. Who laugh with me through the good times and hold my hand in the bad.

And so it is that I will leave you with one my favourite Christmas songs.



Merry Christmas to you, then. And to all, a good night.

Holiday Greetings From The Grinch

Courtesy of the Blue Jay who had a very good last day of school before the Christmas holidays, including watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas during Social Studies

And Now ... I Got Something

Thanks to Kris, that is.

I Got Nuttin'

It's been a whole week since I've posted (here, that is; I've actually been doing much better on the other blawg) and I'm sorry to admit it but ... I got nuttin'. Absolutely. Nuttin'.

So with that said, just carry on with your Christmas preparations. And be sure to let me know. What time to be there. For the party. And the Christmas cheer.

I'll be a'waiting ...

A New Year’s Prayer

Dear Lord, please give me…

A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;

A work to do which has real value,
without which the world would be the poorer;

A mind unafraid to travel,
even though the trail be not blazed;

An understanding heart;

A sense of humor;

Time for quiet, silent meditation;

A feeling of the presence of God;

The patience to wait for the coming of these things,
With the wisdom to recognize them when they come.

Shamelessly borrowed from bc at Lex's

Year in a Blog

Having seen this on Lav Liv's blog and not having much else to say at the moment ... it's the first sentence of the first post for each month of 2008.

December - The memorial service for Mom is this afternoon.

November - So here I sit, moseying through the Sunday paper, much of it proclaiming Obama's win [to be], when I come across this column entitled "Long to-do list awaits Obama".

October - When things are going well, all seems relatively right with the world, I blog.

September - Blogging has been light around these here parts lately ~ no wonder perhaps, given that my house seems to have a perpetual revolving door lately.

August - THE RULES OF RURAL ONTARIO ARE AS FOLLOWS:

July - My Little Spot In Cyber Space To Kick Back And Contemplate Life, Politics, Raising Kids while Raising Parents And What It Means To Be A Canadian In A Topsy Turvy World.

June - Wow! Here's something definitely worth writing home about.

May - What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!)

April - So today's the big day. April 1st.

March - This could be great fun. And might just make you think a bit.

February - How would Jack Bauer have ever survived ... in 1994?

January - It's true, ya know... Oh yeah, now I remember why I don't have any cats.

So what are you to make of that? Hell if I know ...

But just in case I don't make it back here again in time, Happy New Year and all that jazz.

Yeah, I know. You would think I could do better than that, wouldn't ya?

Oh well.

Simple Truths

And so we come to the end of one year and the beginning of yet another.

A time when some will care to make resolutions as to what and how they will do things differently in the new year. To be followed by a time when many of those grand plans will fall by the wayside.

May I suggest that instead of New Year's Resolutions, we strive to follow and remember these simple truths.

Simple. Beautiful. Timeless.

Check them out and see if they might fit your life. I know they do mine.

On Christmas Mornings

While checking out some other blogs this Christmas Eve morn', I was reminded of a Christmas morning in this house many, many years ago.

As most of you would know by now, my oldest, the Blue Jay, is developmentally delayed and a little autistic. It took her a long, long time to pick up on the concept of Christmas. Although at 15, I can most certainly confirm that she has it big-time now.

But I remember one Christmas when she was about 3 or 4. Despite the tree, the decorations and the hustle and bustle, she had no clue that it was Christmas morning or even what that meant. I sat her down by the tree and opened her first present for her. She couldn't say her own name at the time, so this is what came out out ... "Oh, sica". I tried to show her how to open the second one. "Sica, oh sica!" with more excitement. Repeated with an ever-growing sense of wonderment and excitement as I helped her open each gift.

She may not have had the slightest idea what it was all about but clearly thought it was a very good idea. I can't capture her tone, her voice here but I will never forget it.

Scotch pine Christmas tree ~ $30.00
Numerous toddler toys ~ ??
The look on that little girl's face and the wonderment and excitement in her voice ~ Priceless