Choose Christmas!

Fixing a cup of Sugar Plum Spice Tea ...Takes only a moment!

Fixing a cup of Sugar Plum Spice Tea …Takes only a moment!

I am very much a Christmas Person.
I Love It!
All of It!
I Love the Brightness of the Faerie Lights at the onset of Winter!
I Love the Kindness!
It also helps that my Partner is the Living Personification of the character of ELF that WILL FARELL played in the Movie.

I Love the Madness of Family Get Togethers —
Seeing Relatives I haven’t seen in a year, when I am at my absolute worst — Tired and Bleary-Eyed and Feeling Overweight!
I Love the torpid wee hours of the morning wrapping presents for people I Love!
I Love creating some inspiring Christmas Card story that doesn’t usually manifest until Valentine’s Day or sometimes Easter!
I hate SantaCon.
Last WeekEnd was SantaCon.

One of many Drunk Santa-Con-Artists passed out in Penn Station last Saturday for the children to see

One of many Drunk Santa-Con-Artists passed out in Penn Station last Saturday for the children to see

C’mon! Using Christmas as an Excuse to get drunk and fall down in the street, plastered.
It seems ingenuous, Reactive — not in keeping with the Spirit of this Holiday — taking a hatchet to the Holiday and smashing it just for the sake of ruining it,
They were out in ill-fitting Bright Red Suits and wreaking a bit of havoc, creating a kind of PottersVille.
I Choose Bedford Falls!
I was spending time with MAMA who is approaching 90.
I choose “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!”
And that’s the thing: You get to choose!

Do you wanna’ run through the snow calling out, “Merry Christmas, You Beautiful Building And Loan!!!” or do you choose to sit at your desk and count your money and snarl like a curmudgeon, “And a Happy New Year to you! In Jail!”
It’s Your Choice!
Christmas is just a Week Away.
Create the Christmas you would like to have!
You want Bright Lights?
Hang a string — takes five minutes!

We wear our Christmas Socks to Work! It brings us Cheer!

We wear our Christmas Socks to Work! It brings us Cheer!

You want to have a Lot?
Give a Lot!
As THE COURSE IN MIRACLES tells us, “Having rests on Giving, and not on Getting.”

Want to feel some Christmas Spirit?
Go and Help someone in need.
Offer some Kindness.
Create some Holiday Magic where it is least expected.
…Can be a simple thing!

Nathan' sayin' we can't don a Santa Hat while we work

Nuthin’ sayin’ we can’t don a Santa Hat while we work

Commercially, the Season is rushed to create a kind of buying frenzy.
But Actual Christmas?
It happens Simply.
And without Pressure.
It’s Fun.
It’s not a StressFest.
It’s a MagicFest!

Sometimes we pause in the middle of work to listen to our friend & colleague's favorite Christmas Carol from when he was a Child -- This is us on the "Ole' Ole' Ole'" part

Sometimes we pause in the middle of work to listen to our friend & colleague’s favorite Christmas Carol from when he was a Child — This is us on the “Ole’ Ole’ Ole'” part

When I was a kid, the Tree went up Christmas Eve.
(SANTA brought it!)
There was no “Black Friday.”
(And if there was, nobody paid any attention to it!)
You didn’t even think about Christmas until around December 15th
Then, all of a sudden (and at the same time feeling it had taken forever to arrive), there was a rush of excitement…
‘In just over a week, it’s Christmas!’
You began to make a List and shop for some presents.
You might decorate a little bit the weekend before — certainly not more than a week in Advance!
SANTA brought the Tree.
It was simply decorated and went up Christmas Eve Night.
You would often Make Gifts!
MOM sewed and DAD assembled toys.
It was FUN!
It was MAGIC!
And there was No Pressure!
It was something you did because you wanted to do it!
It was all focused around the day itself.

The SEE's Candy Order arrived last night! Ready for Treats...

The SEE’s Candy Order arrived last night! Ready for Treats…

So, if you’re like me, and you are Crazy Busy at Work right now and feeling like you are way behind because you haven’t started it yet,
It’s Not Too Late!
In fact, you’re Way Earlier than we used to do it!

So have your Christmas!
Choose Christmas!
It is yours for the Taking!
…Yours for the Making!

Maybe you wanna’ bake a batch of cookies or Pumpkin Bread this Weekend?
Maybe you wanna’ pick up a Christmas Tree and decorate it?
Maybe you wanna’ Volunteer at some Holiday Event at a Soup Kitchen or Homeless Shelter?

Maybe you don’t have 60 days to prep for Christmas,
But maybe it doesn’t take that!
It’s still over a week away.
In the Sixties, we were just beginning to think,
“Hmmmmm…. What would I like to do for Christmas this year?”

There will be some Kissin' this Christmas!

A spontaneous purchase while at TRADER JOE’s — There will be some Kissin’ this Christmas!


# # #

Half Holiday, FULL JOY

20161207_143509I Love Christmas!

I was never one to give a sweater or a tie as a Christmas Gift.
I never could make much of Black Friday Sales.
Gift-Giving, to me, is a way to reach out to someone,
Take them in,
Touch their Heart,
Express to Friends and Loved ones that they are Known and Loved…
Gift-Giving to me is an Opportunity
To Elate
To Delight
To Bring Joy
To Say Out Loud, “I LOVE YOU!”
To acknowledge that we are all in this Together
To make you feel that you are not Alone!

How to accomplish that in this current climate?
Let’s just start where we are.
(more…)

Letting Go

live-trees-1“If need be, let go of everything, no exception, no exclusions. Nothing less than renewal of the Spirit is at stake.” — Ralph Bloom (The Book of Runes)

Letting Go
Letting Go of Ideas
Letting Go of PreConceived Notions
Letting Go of Any Thought that I know how to do this — or Anything!
Letting Go of a RelationShip
Of My Cherished Misconceptions
Of My twenty-year-old Body that I still carry in my mind thirty years Later.
(more…)

Giving Thanks, 2016

Me and MOM at GivingThanks Day, 2014

Me and MOM at GivingThanks Day, 2014

 

 

Has there Ever Been a More Welcome Holiday!?
Has there Ever Been a Better Time?

Pause and Give Thanks!
STOP!
BREATHE…
Let us Take a Moment and Just Be Grateful for What We Have!
Give Thanks to God
Or The Universe
Or Each Other
Or Whatever Divine Force You May Believe In
Or Just to The Air
Or the Sun
Or the Moon!
Just Speak It!
Just say it OUT LOUD,
Even to No One, in particular!
Just say the Words, “Thank You!”
(more…)

On the Border of Us and Them

from THE COURSE IN MIRACLES

from THE COURSE IN MIRACLES

I don’t want there to be an “Us” and “Them.”
I am trying to avoid that path of thinking.
UNITED States!
UNITED States!
Stay UNITED!

Trying to get on with my Life and get back to Writing and Working and Taking Care of MOM,
Casting Shows, and Being Present in my Teaching, and Organizing for Christmas, and Cooking for GivingThanks Day…
I have to make Apple Sauce!
(I know. Who does that!?)

I go back and forth
Between my Fundamental Belief in the Good of People
And Trying to pick Myself Up Off the Floor from all of this!
(more…)

HOPE (Still and Again)

and-the-light-shines-on-in-the-darkness-and-the-darkness-did-not-overcome-it-john-1_5Hope
And Despair
Hope
And Despair
Hope
And Despair
And Hope…
And Hope…
And Action!
Hope and Action…

The first thing I noticed Wednesday Morning,
Was how Kind Everyone had become — all of a sudden.
(more…)

The Morning After

A Meme from the Internet

A Meme from the Internet

Soothing.

Healing.

Licking our Wounds.

 

Breathe.

Center.

Breathe.

Relax.

Let Go.

Breathe…

 

The Popular Vote went to HILLARY CLINTON.

Let’s not forget that.

We still Live in a Country in which the Majority of people Believe in Freedom and Respect and Love

More than the Values DONALD tRUMP touted throughout this campaign.

More People Believe a Woman deserves to be President than subscribe to Misogyny.

More People are willing to fight Racism and Xenophobia than are Willing to tolerate it.

We are still the Majority.

Remember that.

The Electoral College was founded by Rich White Men to protect Rich White Men.

And as we have seen, it is quite an effective tool.

(more…)

States of America

i-must-learn-forgiveness-yet-again-at-this-stage-of-life-i-must-learn-it-as-if-for-the-very-first-time“There is no way to Peace. The way is Peace.”
— A. J. MUSTE

As early as Kindergarten, every Grammar School Class I remember began with the Pledge of Allegiance:
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America…”
Even today, I take that pledge very seriously.
It never occurred to any of us then that there might come a day when we would be somehow Less United.
Yet here we are, at Election 2016.

I want to Show Love and Respect for Every One of God’s Creatures.
I want to see the Good in People.
I want to Live in a World that is Peaceful and Brimming Over with Beauty and Love and Rampant Kindness.
I am Imperfect — very much so — but these are the Ideals toward which I strive.
(more…)

TAMMY

Tammy Grimes

Tammy Grimes

I knew TAMMY GRIMES.
I had worked with her a bit, and kept bringing her in for Auditions over the years.
She was known for her eccentricities,
But invariably a constant Delight!

One of my first Jobs out of College was as Assistant to the Producer of SUNSET,
A Musical at the VILLAGE GATE
Which opened on November 7th, 1983
And closed on November 7th, 1983.
It was a Musical based on the film SUNSET BOULEVARD — an idea, clearly, ahead of its Time!
sunset-2
TAMMY was a STAR!
(more…)

A Day for Fun…

2016-10-09-15-14-43Halloween.
Let it be a Day for Fun!
Silliness and Treats and Creativity and Imagination…

Halloween is about Social Activities.
MOM had a Costume Lunch at the Senior Citizen’s Center on Friday.
I found her a Fabulous Witch Hat.
And she seemed to enjoy that!
I asked how it was, and if she wore her Hat.
“YES!” she replied, “And my Orange Coat! Betcha’ didn’t know I even had an Orange Coat!”
(more…)

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  • Life Adventure

  • Some Good Movies

    IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
    THE SIXTH SENSE
    SAINT RALPH
    I AM
    PRIDE
    THE GOOD LIE
    MAO'S LAST DANCER
    MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
    CALENDAR GIRLS
    WALK ON WATER
    CINEMA PARADISO
    SLIDING DOORS
    THE LIVES OF OTHERS
    LOCAL COLOR
    BREAKING THE WAVES
    EVERYBODY'S FINE
    READY? OK
    INKHEART
    THE LIVING END
    MARRIAGE, ITALIAN STYLE
    THE BUBBLE
    BIUTIFUL
    GYPSY w/ ROSALIND RUSSELL
    and Anything by PETER HEDGES

  • Arnold J. Mungioli