Celebrations of Light & Hope

                    
Today is the shortest day of the year... and the longest night. It is the first day of Winter. It is the celebration of Yule. It is an acknowledgement of Hope. That Light and Warmth and other good things will always return after the darkness. It is the day that G. and I celebrate as our personal Winter Holiday. In ancient times, this was the festival of the rebirth of the new god and a promise that after today the days would get longer, the nights would get shorter, and warmth and Spring WOULD come.

Yes, secularly we, like so many others, celebrate Christmas. In the United States, Christmas is no longer just a religious holiday. With the gift giving, and Santa, and the decorations... Christmas has become more, and less, than what was originally intended. Everyone takes the pieces and parts of the holiday that works for them. Some embrace the religious parts, and try to ignore how secular it has become... others embrace the secular with it's parties, lights, Santa, and presents and ignore any religious beginnings of the holiday. But, at it's heart, it is still a Winter Holiday.. A celebration of Hope. And every religion/belief system seems to have a celebration of some type that embraces this.

I grew up in the States, and therefore my memories of a Winter Holiday include all of the above. And Christmas itself is as much a melting pot as the United States itself. The Christmas tree is German, and Santa is the culmination of a blend of traditions from many countries. Mistletoe? Druid. Christmas Cards? England. You see what I mean. G. and I will be celebrating with my brother and his family on Christmas Eve at his house. That's the day we all have off together. Christmas Day G. is working so a co-worker can be home with his small children for the Santa Claus ritual <g>.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter who you are, or what your core beliefs are... There is a place in the Winter Holidays for all. But, please, take a moment this season, whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Yule, or Christmas, to remember that the REAL reason for all of these celebrations is to celebrate HOPE in all of its forms.


graphics by useless graphics

Where Did December Go??....

Well, First I guess I should tell everyone why I've been away so much since last week.... I got a part time job! It's not much, only a few hours most weeks, but it will get me out of the house <g>. I took a class last Tuesday on how to deal Blackjack, and apparently I did well because they offered to let me deal both Friday and Saturday of this last week!

I think I would have been more nervous than I was if real money was involved, but luckily, it isn't. This is one of those 'Casino Party' things. They give everyone at the party 'chits' that are each worth 5000 chips. Usually there is a charity involved, and if they want more chits they can donate to the charity and get more chips. Soooo, since no one is actually gambling with their own money everything is very laid back and a lot of fun. I wasn't sure I would like it, but it turned out I had a great time. It isn't something I'll ever make any real money at, but it's fun and only 4 hours at a time. It's also an on-call thing. You call in at the beginning of the week, they tell you what's available, and then YOU decide if you want to take any of the slots... kind of neat since you CAN make other plans if you need to.

                

In addition, of course I am also trying to finish up our holiday stuff. I am such a procrastinator this year. Usually I have all of my shopping basically done by the first week in Dec if not before. Tree and decorations go up the weekend of Thanksgiving (sometimes even the night of <g>). Cards are sent out the next weekend after Thanksgiving... and the only thing I have to finish up is making candy, which I don't want to do until closer to the holidays so it will be fresh. This year.... well, let's just say I still have a couple of gifts to pickup, the only decorating I did was the tree, and well I haven'tmade the first batch of candy yet..Oh yeah, and I'm mailing the cards tomorrow. (I hope they actually GET there by Christmas <sigh>) I don't know why I haven't gotten into the Holiday spirit this year, but I just didn't.

What else has kept me busy?? Well, I have waaaaay to many Journals on alert (I've even managed to comment on a few of those), the J-Land Bar & Grill and regular message boards have been humming, my e-mail has been full of Holiday stuff, and some days I'm lucky just to get thru that stuff <LOL>. But, I must say I've so enjoyed the Journals lately. The pictures, and stories, and just plain hearing about people enjoying (well mostly <g>) the Holidays. Some of the stories have been heart-warming, some funny, and a few sad... but all touching. I'm so glad that these people have decided to share pieces of their lives with us. Sometime I feel like my friends in J-land and the rest of cyberspace are more real than the people next door! <bg>

Graphics from Useless Grapics

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

                         

Whew.... It's finally done. Seems like it took forever to put my tree up this year, but you know there is a story behind it.... (with us there always seems to be a "story behind it" <eg>)

Remember the entry I made a few days back about the cute little kitten I got, that wasn't very cuddly?? Well, her first Christmas she was about 4 months old. I put up my tree like always, and she took it down.... multiple times! Finally, I gave up and took the tree down myself. For the next couple of years my roommate and I made do with a smaller version of a Christmas tree.

Now, this was a very annoying tree! I don't know if anyone will remember them or not, but they were called "Singing Christmas Trees". They were about 3 feet tall and looked like an undecorated miniture tree... till you walked past. They had a noise/motion detector in them. When set off, eyes would pop open and a mouth would appear and it would sing Christmas songs...cute the first 5 or 6 times. After a while, we turned it off unless someone who hadn't seen it was around. This is the tree I used for the next 8 years (5 years of which I was living in a train room and being small it fit really well <g>).

So, the first thing I said after Halloween was that I wondered how D.K. would deal with a Christmas tree now. G was less concerned with her than with Morgan, who is still basically a puppy at only 1 1/2 years old. Well, I was adament that I wanted a big tree.

The day after Thanksgiving I bought a tree, when put up a couple of days later...it was discovered that it had a short in the "prelit" strands of lights. On the weekend, G took it back and exchanged it. Again I put the tree together...and Yeah! The lights work AND they stayed lit. Now, being the cautious person I am, we decided to leave the tree up with just lights for the next few days. Three days, and no one offered to climb/chew/demolish the tree, so today I drug out my box of ornaments.

That was 8 years ago that D.K. caused me to take down my last "big" tree. These ornaments have been in storage since then. It was almost like Christmas opening up the box and going thru the ornaments and other things I had packed away. I had forgotten how many neat ornaments I have. Many of them are Hallmarks, but some are from obscure shops/craft shows/and even a few from my artistic efforts overthe years!

So, I thought I would post a picture of our tree.... and one of my favorite ornaments. Iwill post more pictures of favorite ornaments  over the next few days.What fun!

Oh yes, side note: Both Morgan and D.K. watched me while I decorated the tree, but neither offered any "help" until I started to put the icicles on. Hmmmm... shiny silver things hanging down and waving. So far, neither one has done more than sniff the icicles that are on the bottom branches, but we will see. I did have to catch D.K. and help her "remove" a couple of icicles that stuck to her head! <snicker>

Graphics by Syruss.com

Quirkiest News Stories of 2004

This time of the year (and on thru January), we will be seeing a lot of these lists.... Lists of Most Fascinating People, Movies, or News Stories....

This particular list catches my eye every year because the stories are usually along the lines of the "Truth is Stranger Than Fiction"
Quirkiest News of 2004: Flatulent Fish and Beyond
Lots of interesting things here.... Cloned cats, lobsters urinating in each others faces, naked sports & plenty of partying, exscaped snakes vieing with alligators in the Everglades, Alien contact, "living" computers, and farting herrings. Something for eveyone <eg>.

And, tonight on ABC we have the Barbara Walters Special
The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2004
At least according to Barbara.

I don't always agree with the lists, or the people who make them, but they do make you think about the last year. The people, and events, both public and private, that made this year different from any other.... and worth remembering (or not <g>).

A Present for Cindy Lou Who...

                             

                     

At this time of the year, I go out looking for presents. Whether it be for Christmas, Winter Solstice Celebration, Kwanzaa, Hanukah... whatever, for me this is not just the time of year to buy a present for people, but the perfect present.... Or, at least an appropriate one <g>. Sometimes the perfect present is a little beyond my reach financially. Sometimes I search and search for the present, and sometimes it jumps right out at me, practically falling in my lap. But, the fun is in the search, and the thinking about the person.

With the thought of finding an appropriate present for Little Cindy Lou, I was just about to fire up my Search Engine and venture out into that vast wasteland that we call the Internet. She has been so patient, waiting her turn. And, like magic, what should appear in my e-mail, but the Perfect Cindy Lou present. Just as The Grinch's fit him so well, so too does Cindy Lou's fit her. Cindy Lou would like to Save Christmas, and this little game will give her  a chance. Go here and check it out. Together we can save Christmas from the Evil Artificial Trees... but be careful and don't hit an elf!!

                                                    

Just as a side note, I actually have an artificial tree. I like to put my tree up pretty early, and I always worry about the fire hazard with a real tree that becomes dried out. But, I remember as a child going to my grandparents and how they would wait till the weekend before, give or take, to go and purchase a real Christmas tree. It made the whole house smell good.

I was mentioning to G a few days ago that I loved that smell, and we got to talking about Christmas trees. My mother bought a (at the time) expensive artificial when I was around 7 or 8 because, like me, she liked to decorate the whole house starting the day after Thanksgiving. That's where my tradition of putting up the tree on Thanksgiving night, or at least over that weekend, comes from. It was a perfect solution because Mom had the two little helpers to decorate the house and tree, and it was a project that she could use to keep two hyperactive children occupied over a long weekend. We had that tree for many, many, many years. In fact, I got that tree from my mom when I moved out on my own and I actually used it for 3 years myself <g>.

I asked G about his tree, and he told me that his mom got one of the silver artificial trees when they were all the rage. Remember the ones? They came with one of those disks that you shined on the tree that had the 4 colors on them and rotated. I laughed and said that I remembered them, but since my mom made our artificial last so long I was very glad that we got one that looked like a real tree (and it really did, you couldn't tell till you got close up). He looked at me a little strange, and then started laughing. Seems that he was little when they got that tree, and he remembers it going up every year until he was in his teens and went off to join the Navy!!<g> 

                                                                              

graphics by Syruss.com & Useless graphics

To Us It's History

Some things just make you think... I don't know why this article set me off on a tangent. Maybe because my own grandmother turns 90 this year. I find talking to her about her life to be fascinating... But, I find most older people to be fascinating... Sometimes you just have to slow down so you can hear them!

I ran across this article on AOL's main page today.AOL News - Oldest American Dies at Age 114 in Ohio... This woman was sharp and active up until just a few months ago. She didn't move in with her daughter until she was 98... and her daughter was in her 80's!

From the Article:

Johnston voted in every election since women earned the right in 1920, even casting an absentee ballot in November.

Johnston lived a wholesome life, rarely visited doctors and never used the deductible on her health insurance policy, relatives said. The secretary at her doctor's office said Johnston had the thinnest file on record.

Drake University recognized Johnston as its oldest graduate. Johnston attended the first Drake Relays in 1910, when tuition was $54 per year.

Johnston is survived by her four children, who are now all past 70.

This woman voted in every election... Since Women were given the right to Vote!! She remembered a time when this wasn't something she was allowed to do. She was born in 1890, so she would have been 30 years old when she voted in her very first election. This means she has voted for every president since Harding... including this last election, although she had to send in an absentee ballot todo it.

What amazing things she saw!

Radios, automobiles, Airplanes, submarines, television, personal computers, video games, recordplayers, VCRs, the list of technological advancements just goes on & on.

She lived thru the First & Second World War, Vietnam, Korea, the Gulf War and saw the beginnings of the current conflicts. She was alive to see the building of, and the destruction of, the Berlin wall. She was alive when they bombed Pearl Harbor, and still with us when the Twin Towers fell in New York City on Sept 11, 2001.

What amazing, horrible, wonderful, frustrating, inspiring things she was alive to see. Goodbye Verona Johnston... Rest in Peace!

                                                   

Graphic by Free Graphic Store

Jealousy Rears It's Head

 Well, the cat keeps looking at me like I'm a traitor... The dog got her own entry, and she's wondering where hers is.... Soooooooo.....

Here we go, an entry dedicated to D.K. the little bitc.... I mean Ruler of the house! (she's watching me... gotta say good things<g>)

            Drumroll Please!!!!

                                                                   

I got D.K. as a very small, not quite 5 week old kitten. Knowing that she wasn't even old enough to be weaned yet (it was an emergency that I took her), I was expecting a small, weak, fragile little kitten. One who, between being given kitten formula and being taught to eat soft food, would love to sit in my lap while I played on the computer, or cuddlewith me while I watched TV ..... I even picked out her name... Pixel... after a cat in one of my favorite books... I was very excited!

What I got was a little hellion. My roommate swears that she never slept for the first 6 months we had her. Pixel, as a name, only lasted about 2 weeks. She quickly became known as Devil Kitty, or D.K. for short. She has calmed down over the 8 years that I've had her, but only in activity. The attitude is still the same. Cuddly? Well, she will allow you to pet her. On her terms. When she decides. For the length of time she decides. Unfortunately you often aren't informed ahead of time when your time is up. Luckily I have good reflexes.

D.K. is pretty smart. She has me trained. The litter box must be cleaned 2x  a day.. she isn't going to use a dirty box! Food must be supplied as soon as I am up and the dog has been out (before would be better,but we finally compromised. Morgan really wants out as soon as we are up <g>). And, if she jumps up on her stool, she is supposed to get treats, don't make her meow for them!

When we got Morgan, I actually wouldn't leave them in the same room together without supervision. Morgan immediately wanted to be friends.... D.K. thought Morgan looked Yummy! Now that they weigh about the same, they play together... When D.K. wants too <LOL>. It is soooo funny to watch them run thru the house. First Morgan chases D.K.... Then they come tearing back the other way with D.K. chasing Morgan. They wrestle, and play fight. When D.K. is thru, she just jumps up somewhere that Morgan can't reach...

Anyway, Here are a few pictures of the Princess.....

This was one of her favorite places on the train... Way up above everyones heads....

Gotta Make sure the toes are clean!!

As you can see in this Picture... D.K. and Morgan are almost the same size!

 

I don't know why, but she loves to lay on her back... I've noticed this in other felines.. I have a bunch of pictures of our Tigers doing this..

They will sleep together... but notice the "I'm not moving" face Morgan is making, and D.K. gets the afghan! <LOL>

                                                             

This entry was all in fun... D.K. is a spoiled littlegirl, who we love dearly.... I hope you enjoy her pictures!

<sigh> I suppose thehorse will want HIS own entry next....

graphics by Flaming Text, Animation Station, and Useless Graphics