Christmas is just two days away and I’m already worried about my New Year’s resolution. I make one every year. And break it every year. They are all very doable, all things that would probably make me a better person, but... BUT!
So for 2010 my New Year’s resolution should be something different. I was thinking maybe I should learn another language. Perhaps I should take up Spanish. I have a very good friend that speaks it fluently and I love to hear her speak Spanish to her family, it sounds lovely and I so wish I could understand what she is saying.
I took Spanish in high school as a freshman, the problem was I had a huge crush on a senior that was in my class, and so instead of spending time listening to the lessons, I spent my time plotting how he would ask me out. He did ask me out –success! However I barely passed the class - fail.
So now all I can say is “No hable español” and for dire emergencies I did learn, “Dos Equis por favor”—What? A girl’s gotta drink!
Cheers to you! & Happy New Year :o)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
I Have an Illness...
I love Christmas. I love the meaning of the holiday, I love the music, I love the traditions my family has—I LOVE IT! I really, really, really love the shopping.
When asking my kids what they wanted for Christmas my 14 year old daughter was easy, too easy. Rain boots, a big canvas bag, new sweater and some “Toms” shoes (you know the kind that makes a donation of a similar pair of shoes to a kid in need—yeah, she’s that girl). Wow, I can get all this stuff on a lunch-break and still have time for a latte, I need a holiday hustle! My son, he’s eight, he’s gotta have something hard on his list.
Before going to him I go online and research what the “it” toy of the season is. I discover it’s called the Zhu Zhu Hamster. Most stores are sold-out, and the $9.99 toy is selling on eBay for $45.00! Hmmm I think to myself, he’s never talked about this, but you never know.
I approach my son and bring up his favorite subject, what does he want for Christmas? He goes on and on about different video games, and then he mentions a Lego set, oh and some cool clothes (yeah and 8 year old wants clothes)… Nothing about the “it” toy. This is going to be no fun.com in my world. So I ask him if he has ever heard of the Zhu Zhu Hamster. He says, ‘yeah, they look cheap.’ ‘Really,’ I think to myself $45.00 on eBay is not cheap! Clearly my hunting and gathering skills are not going to be put to any use this season… Unless… ‘Do you think you’d like to have one to play with your cat (he loves his cat!) wouldn’t that be fun?’ ‘Sure,’ he says ‘but if it doesn’t happen I wouldn’t be crushed.’
That’s good enough for me! The hunt is on and I better get one for my daughter too, what if she wanted one, I mean she still a kid too, right? I’m going to ToysRUs first thing in the morning I heard they get new toy shipments every other day…. I know, I know.
Hello, my name is Karen and I have a serious problem. Merry Christmas!
When asking my kids what they wanted for Christmas my 14 year old daughter was easy, too easy. Rain boots, a big canvas bag, new sweater and some “Toms” shoes (you know the kind that makes a donation of a similar pair of shoes to a kid in need—yeah, she’s that girl). Wow, I can get all this stuff on a lunch-break and still have time for a latte, I need a holiday hustle! My son, he’s eight, he’s gotta have something hard on his list.
Before going to him I go online and research what the “it” toy of the season is. I discover it’s called the Zhu Zhu Hamster. Most stores are sold-out, and the $9.99 toy is selling on eBay for $45.00! Hmmm I think to myself, he’s never talked about this, but you never know.
I approach my son and bring up his favorite subject, what does he want for Christmas? He goes on and on about different video games, and then he mentions a Lego set, oh and some cool clothes (yeah and 8 year old wants clothes)… Nothing about the “it” toy. This is going to be no fun.com in my world. So I ask him if he has ever heard of the Zhu Zhu Hamster. He says, ‘yeah, they look cheap.’ ‘Really,’ I think to myself $45.00 on eBay is not cheap! Clearly my hunting and gathering skills are not going to be put to any use this season… Unless… ‘Do you think you’d like to have one to play with your cat (he loves his cat!) wouldn’t that be fun?’ ‘Sure,’ he says ‘but if it doesn’t happen I wouldn’t be crushed.’
That’s good enough for me! The hunt is on and I better get one for my daughter too, what if she wanted one, I mean she still a kid too, right? I’m going to ToysRUs first thing in the morning I heard they get new toy shipments every other day…. I know, I know.
Hello, my name is Karen and I have a serious problem. Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A Letter
So I started going to church regularly about a year ago… About the same time I lost my job, funny how that all works. Anyway, I really like the church I go to, it is very casual and they don’t hover all over you when you walk in the door. The pastor wears jeans and Hawaiian shirts and his sermons are a combination of stand-up comedy and listening to a good friend, so the time flies and I get a lot out of it.
This summer our eight year-old son decided he wanted to play football (he wanted to play last year too, but I told him no and that he would have to wait until he was eight)… He remembered—can’t remember anything else but he remembered this. Unfortunately most of his games were on Sundays so we missed church. We received a card from our pastor saying he missed us and hopes to see us soon—‘nice’ I thought.
Football had just ended and our son’s basketball beginnings and wouldn’t you know it, a lot of Sunday games! Anyway I get a letter in the mail and it is from our church, addressed to me and it looks long and inside there is four post-it notes with the same women’s names on it, including mine—five names in total. The letter starts off with…Life is busy and how we need to make time. I go no further.
In my head I go to a very bad place. As much as I like my church I am very upset that they would just “assume” that I would want to join a women’s Bible study or women’s group. I start to get really mad. Do they not realize my daily drive to work? Do they not realize that I have a family to take care of? And forget about the weekends if I am not doing a 101 choirs, juggling shopping, walking the dog or going to my kids’ sporting events I’m trying to have fun—even if it kills me! Oh I was fuming. That’s it, I told myself, don’t even read the letter, tear it up and throw it away.
A couple days later I picked up the letter right where I had left it. Okay just read what they have to say, call them and let them know you are not available. End of story. So as I read the letter it says, “…life is so busy and we were hoping you could make the time to pray for the women listed on the post-it note, we gave you duplicates for your busy lives…”
There were other things on the letter, but overall they just wanted folks to pray for each other. I was shocked, tears filled my eyes and I felt so ashamed and guilty for being so self-centered. Pray for someone and they are going to pray for me too? So daily I pray for women I don’t know and it feels great and the thought that they are saying a prayer for me is simply amazing and such a blessing… Amen.
This summer our eight year-old son decided he wanted to play football (he wanted to play last year too, but I told him no and that he would have to wait until he was eight)… He remembered—can’t remember anything else but he remembered this. Unfortunately most of his games were on Sundays so we missed church. We received a card from our pastor saying he missed us and hopes to see us soon—‘nice’ I thought.
Football had just ended and our son’s basketball beginnings and wouldn’t you know it, a lot of Sunday games! Anyway I get a letter in the mail and it is from our church, addressed to me and it looks long and inside there is four post-it notes with the same women’s names on it, including mine—five names in total. The letter starts off with…Life is busy and how we need to make time. I go no further.
In my head I go to a very bad place. As much as I like my church I am very upset that they would just “assume” that I would want to join a women’s Bible study or women’s group. I start to get really mad. Do they not realize my daily drive to work? Do they not realize that I have a family to take care of? And forget about the weekends if I am not doing a 101 choirs, juggling shopping, walking the dog or going to my kids’ sporting events I’m trying to have fun—even if it kills me! Oh I was fuming. That’s it, I told myself, don’t even read the letter, tear it up and throw it away.
A couple days later I picked up the letter right where I had left it. Okay just read what they have to say, call them and let them know you are not available. End of story. So as I read the letter it says, “…life is so busy and we were hoping you could make the time to pray for the women listed on the post-it note, we gave you duplicates for your busy lives…”
There were other things on the letter, but overall they just wanted folks to pray for each other. I was shocked, tears filled my eyes and I felt so ashamed and guilty for being so self-centered. Pray for someone and they are going to pray for me too? So daily I pray for women I don’t know and it feels great and the thought that they are saying a prayer for me is simply amazing and such a blessing… Amen.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Ornaments of Life
As I decorate the tree for Christmas it amazes me how the tree really represents my adult life. I have ornaments from my early twenties that my husband and I hand painted—wooden cats, we were too broke for anything else and at the time I thought he was perfect just like our ornaments.
As years went by I joined the Disney Ornament Club. I could hardly wait each month as a new “piece” would arrive. Then in my thirties I received the lovely and I have to say the most precious handmade ornaments by my kids. Handprints with their photo and name on it, or the lovely popsicle snowflake with way too much glitter or wads of fabric and buttons that they don’t even remember what it is and I have to tell them “that is a car.”
I also acquired beautiful ornaments from my previous job as a product development director, several are fine china and are exquisite and cost quite a bit. I found that I started putting these “named brand” ornaments in front of the tree and pushing the handmade gems in the back and forget about the hand painted cats, I didn’t even put them up any more.
So this year as I pull the ornaments out I started to think what was important to me. The popsicle snowflake is right in-front—what a show stopper. And for the wooden cats, they too have come out of the box this year. Yes I see the fault in the painting we did all those years ago, however the love is still there, so deep and true—isn’t that what Christmas is about?
As years went by I joined the Disney Ornament Club. I could hardly wait each month as a new “piece” would arrive. Then in my thirties I received the lovely and I have to say the most precious handmade ornaments by my kids. Handprints with their photo and name on it, or the lovely popsicle snowflake with way too much glitter or wads of fabric and buttons that they don’t even remember what it is and I have to tell them “that is a car.”
I also acquired beautiful ornaments from my previous job as a product development director, several are fine china and are exquisite and cost quite a bit. I found that I started putting these “named brand” ornaments in front of the tree and pushing the handmade gems in the back and forget about the hand painted cats, I didn’t even put them up any more.
So this year as I pull the ornaments out I started to think what was important to me. The popsicle snowflake is right in-front—what a show stopper. And for the wooden cats, they too have come out of the box this year. Yes I see the fault in the painting we did all those years ago, however the love is still there, so deep and true—isn’t that what Christmas is about?
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