Holiday clash

Tags

Christmas, Halloween, holiday clash, holidays, Olivia the Pig, Thanksgiving

Tonight after work I stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up red leggings and a red shirt for Olivia, so that she could be Olivia the Pig for school tomorrow.  I walked right into a holiday clash, as this picture clearly shows:

“Happy Halloween” in the foreground, with a Christmas tree in the background…Thanksgiving was nowhere to be seen!

My favorite…today

Tags

Christmas, family memories, family stories, photographs

I spent today with a group of friends with at least one thing in common: we all love photographs and the family stories they tell. So I started thinking about which of my thousands and thousands of pictures is my favorite. The answer changes from moment to moment, memory to memory. But they each involve family.

I think my absolutely favorite pictures is from Christmas many years ago…I’m thinking possibly 1959 or 1960…Mom is standing in front of the Christmas tree in her favorite fuchsia sateen robe, cradling her new hunting rifle and crying to Daddy, “My rifle…you got me my own rifle.”

Or maybe my favorite is the publicity photo from the San Bernardino Sun, showing me in all my fifth-grade glory, pointing out my piano teacher’s oil painting, “American Folk Song,” for which my sister and I modeled (also c. 1959).

Or could it be the picture of The Four DeMurls, sitting side by side — my grandmother, my mother, myself, and my daughter…all of us sharing the same middle name. Or the next set of The Four DeMurls — my mother, myself, my daughter, and HER daughter…

Or the picture I snapped with my phone this New Year’s Eve, with both granddaughters in their bathrobes and holding their Great-Grammy’s vintage noisemakers, ready to head outside and shake in the new year.

No matter how grand or how ordinary, pictures are one of the ways we hold on to wonderful memories and pass them on to our next generations. I am blessed to have loved ones to take pictures of, and loved ones to tell my stories to.

What is your favorite picture? I’d love to know.

The third day of Christmas

Tags

Boxing Day, Christmas, Epiphany, Mary the mother of Jesus, The Twelve Days of Christmas, three French hens

If the old carol held true, I should have received “three French hens, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear tree” today, on this third day of Christmas. But no, there were no hens delivered today, French or otherwise, or any other feathery friends. Christmas Day was glorious, yesterday (Boxing Day in the UK and Canada) went by in a blur, and today was mostly blah.

Today we tripped over teeny tiny toys in the living room, took the extra leaf out of the kitchen table, and said a wistful goodbye to my son and daughter-in-love. The post-Christmas laundry was stacking up and the clothes both girls received as gifts needed putting away. In other words, it was an ordinary day…although made less ordinary by the still-beautiful (artificial) tree and Christmas cards on display.

I will quietly celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas through Epiphany (January 6), also known as “Armenian Christmas”, and think about the “gift of the day” each day as I enjoy Mom’s favorite carol. This Sunday evening will include “lessons and carols” at church…probably my favorite service each year. I never tire of the traditional Christmas hymns, and of singing each and every verse.

Remembering with joy “the reason for the season”, I hope to follow Mary’s example and “treasure these words and ponder them in [my] heart”. May God bring you peace throughout this Christmas season, and always.

A soul-satisfying day

Tags

blessings, Christmas, Christmas traditions, contentment, family

This has been a soul-satisfying day. We wrapped presents, talked, giggled, and loved on each other from slightly past midnight until 3:30 a.m., finishing just in time for Santa’s arrival. What we thought might be a rather “skinny” Christmas ended up being more than abundant. The tree was perfect, the presents piled high, and the love in the room was palpable. I cannot express the joy of having both my children and their beloveds here with me.

As the girls unwrapped their presents, the house was overrun by My Little Ponies and LaLaLoopsies…just exactly what they wanted…the smiles, the laughter, the thanks lit up the room. At brunch we shared our Christmas crackers (thank you, Claire, for introducing us to this tradition years ago), wore our silly crowns, shared the bad jokes, and played with the little toys. The food was simple but tasty, the mimosas delicious. And don’t get me started on the fudge!

All day long the girls played together with their new toys, with only minor squabbles over territory. The grown-ups segued from conversation to nap to conversation (our night was way too short), punctuated with trips to the kitchen for more fudge. Phone conversations with loved ones from afar made the day even better.

We are so blessed. Blessed by love based on deep friendship as well as blood ties. Blessed that our loved ones are out of harm’s way. Blessed by the Christmas traditions passed down through our families for generations. Blessed that we have ample food and a cozy nest, even in today’s challenging job market. Blessed to live in what I still feel is the greatest country in the world, even though our stars are a bit tarnished by human greed and strife. Blessed that those of us who truly believe Christ is “the reason for the season” can live and love with those who think differently in relationships of mutual respect.

Merry Christmas, dear friends…I hope you, too, had a soul-satisfying day.

Time

Tags

blessings, Christmas, Christmas presents, family

Today I was given the gift of time.  Time to wrap gifts with my youngest granddaughter so that we could mail them across country.  Time for lots of conversation about the people they were for, time for three-year old fingers to help hold scotch tape and choose gift tags, time to make another batch of fudge.

Time to spend the afternoon in second grade, helping with the Christmas activities on the last day before vacation.  Time (way too much time) driving in gridlocked traffic and standing in line at FedEx to ship said packages.  Yes, there was time to get them there by Christmas, the young man said.  “That will be $125.50 for the big one,” and I interrupted him before he could finish.  At first I thought I had misunderstood, but he really did say $125.50.  That box will not be arriving by Christmas.

Time to facilitate gift-wrapping by two young sisters who made their Grammy stay in her room while they giggled, conspired, and used tons of scotch tape to wrap a myriad of small gifts they proudly placed under the tree without adult help.

Time to ooh and aah at the presents my daughter brought home to delight those sisters, to anticipate their reactions Christmas morning.  Time to be reminded that I must share them with their daddy’s family occasionally, too, so they won’t be at church with me Christmas Eve (not a time for me to be greedy).

Time to realize how truly blessed we are.

Cousins

Tags

Christmas, Christmas trees, cousins, family relationships, ornaments

Cousins are rare creatures.  They are like us in so many ways, but are unique unto themselves.  And love binds us together forever.

Today was a bonus cousin day.  I knew I would be having Christmas brunch with my aunt and our doll club ladies, then going back to her house for a little visit.  What I didn’t know was that besides my uncle, one of her sons, his wife and daughter (and her boyfriend) would also be there when we returned.  Such wonderful, unexpected cousin time!

I have known my cousin’s wife since they were dating in high school, and our daughters grew up together.  We don’t ever distinguish who is a cousin by birth or a cousin by marriage — that is unimportant.  The important things are the bonds of family experiences, sharing good times and sorrowful ones, and enjoying each others’ company.

Today the fun was focused on Christmas decorations…teeny tiny ones that my aunt has collected over the years to embellish the many small trees she has created.  It was sharing time, and I brought home some special little ornaments for my own small tree, as well as some to share with other family members.  We reminisced about when and where the ornaments were purchased, how they had been used over the years, and what we would do with them this year.

Beyond that, we simply basked in the joys of being with family at Christmastime.  And that was enough.

“Sparkles” the Elf

Tags

Christmas, Elf on the Shelf, joy, Santa, whimsy

“Sparkles” made her first visit this year late last night, and waited in the Christmas tree with her note for the girls to wake up and discover her.  Sparkles is our family’s Elf on the Shelf, and her annual arrival is cause for celebration.

Her note, on Christmas stationery, read, “Dear Lily & Olivia, I’m so glad to be back again this year!  I had so much fun with you last year!  I hope I don’t have to make any bad reports this year so make sure to listen & be nice!  Can’t wait to hang out! Love, Sparkles” (Sparkles is a rather excitable elf.)

Olivia was the first one out of bed, and she was thrilled to see that her mom had put up the tree with its colored lights during the night.  She quickly spotted Sparkles, but not quite remembering what had happened last year when she was two, she ran into the bedroom calling to her sister, “There’s a Christmas girl in the tree!  Come quick!”  “Oh, Sparkles is back,” answered Lily.  “Let me read the note she left.”

Now, for the uninitiated, the Elf on the Shelf is one of Santa’s many helpers, a little fey creature who watches the children in a household each day and reports back to Santa each night.  Any child who touches her (or him), ruins her magic, and causes her to return to the North Pole forever.

Last year Sparkles slid down a zip line from the bookcase to the breakfast bar, made a mess with chocolate sauce and brownies, and wrote periodic progress reports and messages on the bathroom and living room mirrors.  Each morning the girls look forward to getting out of bed and searching for her, each of them vying to find her before her sibling does.  Her discovery is sure to be marked with giggles and whispered admonitions to “speak softly, Mom’s still asleep”.

I love that our Elf brings whimsy and imagination into our home at Christmas.  The girls really do speak more sweetly and treat each other with more kindness when Sparkles is near.  Occasionally there is early morning panic when the adults in the family realize Sparkles hasn’t moved since the day before, and someone needs to quickly get out of bed and find her a new position or predicament.  But for the most part, Sparkles brings an additional element of joy into each day of the Christmas season.

And everyone can use a little more joy.

December, more or less

Tags

Christmas, creativity, December, more/less, NaBloPoMo, small business

I am still amazed that I managed to keep up with the NaBloPoMo challenge for November.  The challenge was to post something every day, whether it was a picture, a poem, a blog…you name it.  I managed 29 out of 30 posts, which I would call a rip-roaring success.  So I’m going to try it again for December, following the theme of “More/Less”.

The most obvious “more/less” pairing for me (and this worked last month, too), is “More writing and less computer games”.  As much as I love my games (and I do, definitely), keeping up with all of them was beginning to make me a little bit crazy.  I would also like to be a better example for Lily in this area, and encourage her to spend more time writing and less time playing games on my computer or mom’s iPad.

Another good pairing for me is going to be “More creativity and less money spent on Christmas gifts”.  Unfortunately, this is a matter of necessity this Christmas, given the reality of my $3,000 Jeep repair.  This works in the “be a good example” for Lily and Olivia category, too.  And since I’m not subbing at all these days, I will have the time at home with them to help them create wonderful, inexpensive gifts for Mom and Dad.

Which leads me to my third (and last) pairing for tonight:  “More Main Street shopping/less Mall”.  The vibe downtown is so much more relaxed than at the mall, and my shopping dollar makes much more impact on those small, independent business people.  (Parking stinks either way, but I suppose that can’t be helped.)

So those are my first three more/less choices for December.  I hope they will encourage you to make some more/less decisions for yourself, too.

There are only 24 dreaming days left until Christmas!

In search of Thanksgiving

Tags

boutiques, Christmas, flyinshirer, small business, Thanksgiving

Today was “small business Saturday”, so I celebrated by visiting a holiday boutique coordinated by my dear friend Tami.  It was my first real exposure to Christmas shopping this year, and it was lovely.  Lots of high quality handmade things, personalized gifts, and unique jewelry.  And since Christmas is barely five weeks away, it was time.   I bought a present and got more than a few ideas for later.

Then I visited a chain department store, because I had a $10 off coupon that was expiring today.  I get so aggravated when I let pure money expire!  I thought I might find a new Thanksgiving wreath for the front door, or possibly a table centerpiece.  We really enjoy Thanksgiving around our house, and our decorations could use some freshening up.

It felt like Thanksgiving in the store — almost.  The ceiling and aisles were festooned with burnt-orange balls and garlands that upon closer inspection were clearly supposed to be Christmas ornaments, but modern and non-traditional.  There was Christmas music playing in the background (yes, it is too early for Christmas music).  I looked and looked, but could not find a single Thanksgiving decoration for sale anywhere in the store.  They had great buys on Welcome mats, if I was ready for Santas, reindeer, or snowmen.  But nothing even reminiscent of fall or harvest or thankfulness.

So I spent my $10 on new underwear for my youngest granddaughter, and went decor-less into the parking lot.  The parking lot reminded me again of how much I dislike holiday department store shopping. Each year I blissfully forget what a mess parking lots are at Christmas time until the season begins again and I am forcibly reminded.  Oh, yes, I heartily dislike shopping center parking lots at Christmas.

Which leads me back to the joy of small boutiques and independent shopkeepers.  This next week I will head downtown to continue my search for Thanksgiving decorations.  I won’t give up.  I know they are out there.  And then, after we have enjoyed our family holiday of thankfulness, I will be ready in my heart to decorate and shop for Christmas.