I am not going to write a lot today and maybe not a lot in the days following. We finally have all four adult kids in one spot for the holidays. We are having Christmas morning Part Deux and I’m loving every minute of it. The Wise Connector on X posted the meme above. December is a beautiful door that opens to 2024 and closes on 2023. Open doors can be welcoming and exciting, and yet when closed, doors also keep us safe and protected. I love December. I hope that it has been a good one for all of you. See you tomorrow.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Merry Christmas Eve! Anticipation is a word that comes to mind on Christmas Eve, doesn’t it? Anticipation is a word full of hope, with a little impatience and exhaustion of waiting. Anticipating goes a little beyond hope. When you anticipate something happening, you firmly believe that this something will definitely happen, and also that it will happen in the near future.
The commercial above was legendary when I was a kid, especially being a kid from Pittsburgh, the home of Heinz ketchup. The idea from the commercial is that anything that takes a while to come to fruition, is worth the wait.
These days we start anticipating the holiday season right after Halloween. Christmas decorations are all over our towns and our stores for the last sixth of the year. We buy presents, we decorate our homes, we order cards and then we write them out and send them (for those of you on my Christmas card list, we are anticipating New Years Day cards this year – oops!), we wrap the presents, we prepare religious services and celebrations, and we get gobs of food in our freezers, well in advance to these last days of any year that culminate into “The Holidays.” And now they are here. The anticipation is over and the time to savor has come.
Here are the lyrics of Carly Simon’s song “Anticipation” that was featured in the Heinz ketchup commercial:
We can never know about the days to come But we think about them anyway And I wonder if I’m really with you now Or just chasin’ after some finer day
Anticipation, anticipation Is makin’ me late Is keepin’ me waitin’
And I tell you how easy it feels to be with you And how right your arms feel around me But I, I rehearsed those words just late last night When I was thinkin’ about how right tonight might be
Anticipation, anticipation Is makin’ me late Is keepin’ me waitin’
And tomorrow we might not be together I’m no prophet and I don’t know nature’s ways So I’ll try and see into your eyes right now And stay right here ’cause these are the good old days
And stay right here ’cause these are the good old days (These are the good old days) (These are the good old days) (These are the good old days) (These are the good old days)
“And stay right here ’cause these are the good old days.” We are here now. No more Christmas to-do lists. No more Christmas bustle. No more travelling a desert, following a large star. The time is here to be still. The time is here to just notice and to be aware of our feelings, to notice the deep love we feel for those surrounding us, and also for those who aren’t with us, but who are always nestled inside of our hearts. The time is here to appreciate all of the miracles that are part living any one life. Be here now. These are the good old days.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Merry Christmas Eve. I hope that this finds you well, and warm, and in good spirits. This time of year is a big time of reflection for us, isn’t it? The world slows down, just a little bit and we start thinking about the past year in review. We also start musing about what we want in the new year and beyond. I’ve heard a lot of people mention that the year 2023 is a year for healing. I like that thought. Collectively, we’ve been through a lot in the last few years. I don’t feel like we’ve had a lot of downtime, or much of a “pause”, in order to process everything which we have been through. It is my hope that 2023 is a calming, healing, easy going, “let’s catch our breath and recalibrate” kind of a year.
The Wise Connector asked his Twitter followers to list three things that they have learned in 2022. I plan to ponder on that thought for a little bit. I like to integrate important lessons, so I am better equipped for my journey moving forward. This year I have learned to trust the mysterious ways of the Universe more, and the way that the Universe works in my life. I have learned that if I am pushing against a wall that isn’t ready to move, I only hurt and frustrate myself. When the wall is ready to be moved, it’s almost like magic how quickly the wall just disappears, like it was never there before. When it is time for me to walk through, and past a problem, it’s almost like the wall was never there. I hope to stop myself from knocking my head against walls in the new year and into the future to come.
I’ve also been telling my body lately, “I’m listening to you.” I’m taking care of you. You need rest? You’ve got it. You need to stretch and loosen up? We can do that, and you’re right, it feels amazing. Going along with the 2023 “Year of Healing” idea, I plan to start offering up the same courtesies of listening more to my mind and to my spirit, and really heeding the needs of all three entities which make up the whole of me.
I am wishing for peace and for pause for all of us during this holiday season. Thank you for being daily witnesses to me and to my writing. I love you. I appreciate you and our feeling of understanding and connection. Merry Christmas. All is well. Believe it. The walls will dissipate at just the right time and the path will be clear and bright.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning. Merry Christmas Eve!! Welcome to Favorite Things Friday. I have shared my favorite rendition of one of my favorite Christmas songs above. I have shared this song before on the blog, but I haven’t found anyone who can trump Martina McBride’s version of it. (kind of like how nobody can top Whitney Houston’s version of our national anthem) Listen to it all of the way to the end when she holds the notes into eternity. Goosebumps. Magnificent!
If you want other fun takes on the Christmas classics, I recommend looking up the band, Boney M. They do a great job with “Little Drummer Boy” but this song below “Mary’s Boy Child”, has always been one of my all-time favorites. It’s one of the happiest, upbeat Christmas songs ever sung. “There’s hope for all to find peace!” It’ll get your juices flowing:
Today, I have just one other kind of random favorite to share. Here it is:
Clare V “Ciao” earrings and pendant – I was wearing this pendant the other day and my husband asked me, “What does that mean?” He knows that “Ciao” usually means “good-bye” in Italian. I think that he was concerned that I was sending hidden, subliminal messages in the form of jewelry. Ha! The reason I bought these items is because I have always wanted to be Italian, or to have some other more fanciful and exotic background, other than my mostly staid English DNA. I would say, “Ciao!” or “Grazia!” to my kids all of the time and they would say, “Mom, we’re not Italian.” I bought this nice quality, fun, faux jewelry because it reminds me of these silly, fun times in my life and that fun, silly, off-the-cuff version of myself. “Ciao” can actually mean “hello” or “good-bye” in Italian. I think that I will use this jewelry as a reminder that I am in control of the “hellos” and the “good-byes” in my life. I can say “hello” to love and joy and peace and fun and creativity and I can say “good-bye” to bad habits, toxic people and difficult situations. Ciao!
How are you doing today, my friends? My hope, for all of us, is that during the last minute whirl of activity, hoopla, tumult, excess, distraction and chaos that can come with the holidays, we can find the peace. We can find the calm. We can find the love. We can find the uninterrupted, eternal stillness. We can find the quiet, deep, unquestioned knowing that despite what we fear, the truth is “All is well.” That’s the real point of the day, isn’t it? All is well. “All is well.” A precious little baby came to Earth to remind us of that fact. And it changed the world.
I’ll finish with this wonderful compilation that my husband and I will be listening to as we do some last minute wrapping. It’s a good one:
Merry Christmas Eve! I love and I appreciate all of you! You are gifts to me with your precious time and your attention.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Merry Christmas Eve, my dear friends and readers. I am late in writing the blog this morning, because I slept so soundly and late into the morning. A mama always gets her best rest when all of her babies are nestled gently in her own feathered, welcoming nest. Oh what sacred and delicious sleep I experienced last night!
There is always a huge build-up to these last few days of the year. I had to pick up a few things at the grocery store yesterday, and it was the proverbial zoo. I had to ride around the parking lot a few times in order to find a spot, to park my car. The frenzied energy of the holiday build-up was intense. People were seemingly excited, agitated, distracted and gleeful, all at the same time. I think that is what makes Christmas Eve so special. It is difficult to keep up an ardent and vigorous whirlwind of action and emotion for a long period of time. The buildup of this intensity, in all of us, seems to hit a pinnacle, particularly at the end of the year. We are busy in preparation for this moment of celebration. We prepare food, we prepare our homes, we prepare ourselves for nostalgic emotion, we prepare our children that the anticipation is almost over, and in all of this preparation, we often get exhausted and completely overwhelmed. And that is why Christmas Eve feels so particularly restful and peaceful and beautiful. All that is asked for us on Christmas Eve, is to savor in the tranquility, and awe of it all. It is interesting to me that there is such tremendous buildup, escalation and ballyhoo, to bring us to the most peaceful, placid, hopeful, still and quiet, moments of the year. Perhaps it is the extreme contrast of feelings and energy, that is truly needed to fully experience the miracle of the moment. Perhaps to really be able to fully sit still with our hearts, and with our souls, we need to release all of the excess, pent-up “other stuff”, to clear it out of the way. Would the birth of Jesus have been as profound if He had been born in a decked out luxury resort, with flashing lights and announcers, and banquets and showy background singers?? I think that the miracle of Christmas Eve, is that it is the subtle reminder for us, to lose all the “other stuff”, in order to gain ourselves. It is the quietest, most observant, deepest part of ourselves, who waits patiently, and knows that at one point, in this loveliest time of the year, we will be completely spent and overwrought and overstimulated, and we will crash deep down, and we will find the calm. We will find the peace. We will find the hope. We will find the faith. We will find the Love. And we will bask in the glow of it all. We will bask in these best gifts of this lovely, lovely season. How sweet it is!
I wanted to write about my favorite character in the TV series TheMandalorian, but a person named Corey Plante says it better than I ever could. He says this:
“Everybody loves Baby Yoda on The Mandalorian, and the bounty hunter protagonist is undeniably very cool, but the best and most under-appreciated character on the Disney+ show is definitely the Ugnaught named Kuiil who appears in the first two episodes to toss some no-nonsense shade around like a hilarious, crotchety old Boomer that you actually want to hang out with.
Imagine being able to instantly end any conversation you wanted by uttering three simple words: “I have spoken.” Feeling trapped in an awkward conversation at a party? “I have spoken.” Walk away. Exhausted by family meals during the holidays? “I have spoken.” Leave the room. If you assertively end a conversation early, nobody can argue with what you said. What if we all ended every conversation this way?
For the pig-like alien Kuiil, who speaks directly and without hesitation, this is how he ends every conversation. He comes across as deeply rational and admirable, even if many people might mistake him for a bit of a jerk.”
Kuill is based on Nick Nolte. Despite being a short, pig-nosed alien, the likeness Kuill has to Nick Nolte is uncanny and of course, he speaks in Nick Nolte’s voice. Nick Nolte is a very talented actor, now aged 78, who has certainly gone through some wild rides in his life. Who can’t conjure that image of him, in that greatly parodied mugshot of a very disheveled Nick Nolte, having been arrested for drunk driving some time in the early 2000s? When I googled Nick Nolte in conjunction with redemption, a movie called Warrior kept coming up, where the above meme came from. I have not watched Warrior. Apparently, the movie is about a recovering alcoholic, who is hired to manage his estranged son, who is a wrestler in the MMA.
Why am I writing about Star Wars, and Nick Nolte and MMA extreme fighting, on Christmas Eve? Are you concerned that I have finally lost it? No. I’m okay. I am just thinking a lot about redemption. We are coming close to the end of the year, and to the end of a decade. We have an amazing fresh start available to all of us, on the brink of a whole new decade, a whole new year, a whole new day. My beliefs are that Christmas is a lot about redemption, and that very hope that is available to all of us. I don’t expect you to share my beliefs. As the beginning quote by Socrates states, we must find our own truths and to truly believe these truths, they must come from inside the deepest cores of our own knowing and understanding, not from anyone or anything outside of us. Still, no matter what your beliefs are, I hope that you can find that tiny manger within yourself, and find that healthy, beautiful, innocent, yet so, so, so powerful infant of light, inside that manger, always there for you and always available to you. I hope that you can find some quiet time to yourself for reflection and gratitude and getting your vibration back to a calm, harmonic, and peaceful tranquility, and I hope that you and I, experience that stillness, that pure Love, throughout the holiday season and into the new year, and throughout the new decade.
Merry Christmas Eve, my friends!! I hope that this juncture in the holiday season, this beginning of the ending of the year 2019, the near end of the decade known as the 2010s, has you in a relatively peaceful place – a place of acceptance, a place of less resistance, a place of hope and a place of healing. A place of wholeness. A place of redemption. As always, know how grateful I am for your presence in my life. I am so grateful for your time, your feedback, your talents, your inspiration and your support. I hold you in my heart always.
Merry Christmas Eve, my friends! I recently saw a sign that said, “Today is a good day for a good day!” Sometimes we think we don’t have control of what kind of day that we will have, but honestly, we do have a lot of control of our daily experience. It really does always come down to perspective.
The first year that we moved to Florida from up north, I was in a store, talking to a clerk (story of my life) and I was complaining how weird it was to have a warm Christmas. I was telling the clerk that I was finding it difficult to believe that it was Christmas-time and that I was having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit. Christmases should be cold with a chance of snow is what I was thinking and conveying. I guess that I finally got on her nerves enough, so that she finally retorted, “Hmmm, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Jesus was born in a climate a lot more like this, with palm trees, to boot.”
I like it when people wallop me back into the reality of how I’m coming across. I honestly do, especially when I agree with them. I read another really good piece of knowledge on Twitter (FofF) the other day. It went like this: Some people create their own storms and then get upset when it rains.
I think I want to be my own best friend on this lovely Christmas Eve. I don’t want to create unnecessary storms for myself or for others. I want to try to focus on all of the good stuff. My husband and I are so lucky to have all four of our kids home for the holidays this year. I’m having so much fun getting to know our new fluffy puppy. Today really is a good day for a good day! I hope that today’s among the best days that you’ve had, all year long, my friends! Merry Christmas Eve!
