Category Archives: holidays

What’s So Great About The New Year?

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Only everything!

If you don’t like New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, you are doing it all wrong. I concede that you don’t have to do it my way – but mark the event in SOME WAY! If you like it quiet, I guess that’s ok, but I’ll be here singing Karaoke.

In the days preceeding the epic event (I still haven’t convinced you?), I enjoy reviewing last year – who says Facebook is a waste of time? I like dreaming about the next year, making lists, goals, and yes, a dreaded ‘resolution’ or five. For the past three years, I have been using the lovely Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year workbook. It is totally cool to spend the last days of the year or the first few days of the next working on it. I think you will thank me – or at least thank Susannah. I would not have known about this book without this smart chick. I think she can help you too – check out her blog.

Sure, you can pick a random time in March or some other time during the year to look back on the year, think about some things you’d like to add to your life or accomplish, write a mission statement – reset, reboot and restart, but are you going to? I’ve made it a habit to do it this time of year. It just seems to make the most sense and I feel like I have the wind at my back.

Get a new notebook.
List.
Clarify.
Quantify.
Dream about what your life would look like if you were in charge! Ha! Wait. You are.
Make a few goals about learning to play a song on the guitar or ‘Kondo-ing‘ your whole house, or lowering your blood pressure or completing a writing class or reading a few books on astrology. Whatever. You pick.

Clearly, this is just my humble opinion – but try it – you might like it. My other advice is to PARTY. If you’re idea of party is way more subdued than mine and my friends, that’s ok too. I’ll heart your Instagram photos of you under your electric blanket with your cats!

Just remeber – I’ll be here singing karaoke. ~ See you in 2018.

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Winter Solstice

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It seems that I have complained about my relationship with the ‘Hallmark-type-Christmas-Holiday’ here and here, so there is no need to beat a dead horse.

Instead, let’s talk about something that I love.

I don’t recall ever hearing the words ‘Winter Solstice’ when I was growing up. Maybe it was because I come from an uber-conservative sect of christianity that might have considered marking this day as contradictory to the belief system. But not so! As far as I can tell, it fits into everyone’s system – we’re all here on the planet with these astronomical events happening all of the time – and I don’t want to miss any more of them.

Such a gigantic, celestial occurence seems to be overlooked by so many. If you went outside and paid attention, you would have known that the sun spent the day in a super-low arc in the sky. My favorite golden orb was framed by windows in my house that seldom see it since it spends most of the year much higher in the sky. It cast nice, long shadows – the longest of the year, in fact. Sadly, so many folks left that unwitnessed.

Dennis and the boys indulged my devotion to the day that the sun comes back. I need longer days! We lit luminaries on the front steps, candles in the house and a fire in the hearth – and we haven’t done that in a long time. I thought I was pushing my luck presenting them with an evening of building graham cracker houses. Turns out, they enjoyed it way more than I thought they would.

I often find it hard to feel joy during this frantic time of year, but I made it through the darkest night with the ones I love, and that makes me feel happy and hopeful.  I will continue to build solstice celebrations into my household traditions in the coming years. You must know how much I love the opposing solstice, right?

New Year

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What’s so good about the New Year?! Only EVERYTHING.

It’s like ‘Hope’ in a bottle. ‘Hope In A Bottle’ is not what caused my party-goers to fall down the front stairs, doze off on the couch or take a little rest on my front lawn. It was beautiful revelry – with a side of Karaoke. Totally my cup of tea.

partyroomThe dates leading up to the New Year…28…29….30….ah! They call to me. ‘Look! A blank page, a new start, a chance to begin again.’ Dennis laughs and asks me if I realize that I don’t need to wait for a date on the calendar for all of these things. Of course I do! There is no avoiding it – it really is 1/1 and to me that is exciting.

The day is a tool. Aren’t they all? It’s a reminder, a symbol and a beacon. It is a clear demarcation – a line in the proverbial sand? Do you know how much I love sand?

I use today to set intentions and solidify my ideas. Last year and this year I used Susannah Conway’s Unravel Your Year workbook. I unraveled, raveled and developed a word for my year. No, I can’t tell you! It’s super-secret. But it’s awesome.

I have a new pen and a new notebook. I have plans, dreams, resolutions and goals neatly line up. I have big ideas that are full tiny details. I am constructing lists. I am one big walking, talking and breathing New Year’s cliche and I love every minute of it.

Happy New Year everyone. You don’t have to do it my way, but do it someway. Sure, it’s just another day, but it is all that we’ve got.

Can you guess what one of my New Year’s Resolutions is?

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20 Years

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“Twenty years now
Where’d they go?
Twenty years
I don’t know
I Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they’ve gone

And sometimes late at night
When I’m bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin’ a ghostly white
And I recall”

Thank you Bob Seger.
It is Ethan’s birthday. For me, this day marks 20 years of parenting with 100 more to go.
Many years before there were 4 boys comprising this crazy and chaotic clan – there was just three of us. Dennis. Me. Ethan. 5 1/2 years. Just us.
His Story is something I remember with emotions that can bubble to the surface even as I read it today. Living with Ethan is incredibly intense – that’s the truth. He is intensely complicated, intensely persistent, intensely funny
…and intensely loved.
Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Sappy Valentine’s Day

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I tried to buy a Valentine’s Day card for Dennis. I really did.

We do not use the words, ‘Darling’, ‘Sweetheart’ or ‘Honey’. Never have and never will. He often refers to me as “Borland”, my maiden name. I just call him, you know, Dennis. Or ‘dude’.

The cards were so sappy, that at this point in our relationship (the 20-year mark) they seemed condescending.

I think if cards said things along these lines, they would be more authentic.

To The Guy I Married,

I love you because you’ve changed as many diapers as I have and you know when to make the kids take showers and when to just send them to bed.

I appreciate that you have learned to consider grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup dinner and you know just when to order pizza.

Thank you for ALWAYS coming by and unlocking my car with your key fob when I lock my keys in the car – again, and bringing jumper cables to the mall because we left the interior lights on – again. I love you because you say ‘it’s no problem’.

I love you because you understand that library fines are just a part of life.

Thanks for always offering me the big tv and the more comfortable couch. Love comes in many forms.

It means so much to me that you go to work – everyday. I know you love me because you have never let the household utilities get shut off or the house go into foreclosure, you make sure the kids have sneakers and you understand that $523 at Costco IS a bargain.  Thank you for consistently improving our FICO over our 20 year marriage.

Thank you for the date nights we’ve spent in Target – I really like being there with you. I truly love ‘family date nights’ to arcades and the boardwalk.

You are never better-looking than when you are vacuuming and your household ‘to-do’ list makes me feel very special.

The times we spend together are, indeed, the very best of my life. Mean it.

You see, it just depends on what you consider ‘romance’ folks.