Still Celebrating.
Still Enjoying.
Still in search of Peace.
Still getting in touch with all the Myriad Ways we can feel God With Us!
Deep Breath…
Monday was that unusual Federal Holiday celebrating New Year’s Day because January 1st was on a Sunday this year,
So it felt like an Extra Day!
It was nice.
Many People chose to take down their Tree and Christmas Decorations, as it may have seemed to them an ideal time to make that happen.
Not to me!
Monday was the Eighth Day of Christmas!
Today is the Eleventh Day of Christmas! (more…)
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
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!
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!
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
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…
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?”
A spontaneous purchase while at TRADER JOE’s — There will be some Kissin’ this Christmas!
I like the Lights.
When I grew up, the Tree was put up on Christmas Eve.
Children awoke Christmas Morning and were told that Santa came and put up the Tree in the Night.
Parents are Amazing in their SuperPowers & what they can come up with…
The Lights and the Decorations were all a part of that one brief event: Christmas.
It has all grown very secular
And that’s fine if it makes it more accessible for more people.
Celebrating Kindness…
Celebrating Giving…
Celebrating Gratitude…
Celebrating God With Us…
All of these things are Christmas to me!
And all of them can be celebrated with a string of Lights, or a SnowFlake, or a Wreath or a Drum, as well as anything else. (more…)
Less than Two Weeks ‘til Christmas.
What a Beautiful Time of Year!
Oh, I realize it is quite Out-of-Fashion to say that!
What’s popular now is Ugly Sweater Parties
Disparaging Christmas, making a mockery of it.
Santa-con — Reducing Christmas to the most debauched aspect of St. Patrick’s Day!
That seems to me just too Easy!
It’s Easy to Stand on the Outside in Jeer and Derision.
I advocate: Show Up for Your Life!
It’s way more Rewarding to Actively and Joyfully participate IN it. (more…)
Drummers Drumming… Pipers Piping… Lords a Leaping…
Dancing… Milking… Swimming…Laying…
It has been Quite a Season!
And this is Twelfth Night
(as SHAKESPEARE put it, “or What You Will”)
EPIPHANY
“Little Christmas”
THREE KINGS DAY (more…)
…and the Second day of 2015.
Numerologically, this is the year of 8.
2+0+1+5 = 8
8 signifies Balance.
Therefore this is the Year of Balance.
And Today, the Eighth Day of Christmas, is Also about Balance.
So, Have Some.
Or Get Some.
Or Let Go of Whatever is Creating an Imbalance in your Life.
Let it Go
And Open to your Natural Equilibrium, Poise and Stability —
Your Inherent Goodness
The Person you Truly Are… (more…)
Well, Already I feel like a Crazy Person.
Christmas was Last Week and I am still Celebrating!
It’s only the Fifth Day of Christmas and already I’m a Social OutCast.
No one else on the train is wearing Christmas Clothing or carrying brightly wrapped packages… I am the only one.
I look around and sing to myself, “Do They Know It’s Christmastime at All?” (more…)
Today is the Second Day of Christmas.
This year, it falls on a Saturday so it might be a bit easier to Relax and Celebrate.
Have you been interrupted this week by Work Responsibilities?
Those of us in the Second Half of Life
Remember when such a thing was unheard of…
Christmas was a time to be with Family and Friends
Pause
Reflect
And while some who worked operating Trains and Busses
Or in the Medical Profession
Would be called to duty,
Most Clients and Bosses Left People alone.
Notice how that’s changed?
Yes.
Christmas changes over time.
Even here in America (more…)
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
Still Celebrating.
I like the Lights.
Live The Questions Now 