Belated Merry Christmas

Hi, sorry in my typical whine I forgot to wish my readers a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays. That's not the only thing I forgot this holiday season. I overlooked mailing my holiday cards early, so for those of you who did not receive them yet, there on their way.

Others things left by the wayside this holiday season: Christmas cards with our annual pictures of the boys, a present for my brother-in-law (which technically ended up costing me more than I anticipated on spending because guilt stepped and threw in an extra gift.) I also forgot to get a hostess gift for my sister-in-law, left behind the packages of cookies and candy treats on the sofa on Christmas day and most pressing my willpower to eat less of everything fattening during the holidays.

From the long list it's looks like I can use another round of the Brain Fitness Program to sharpen my mind. One thing I remembered in this hectic holiday season was to treat myself good. For every two gifts I purchased, I bought one for myself. :)

OMG I am more like my mom than imagined!

Christmas music is on, I am humming, food is cooking on the stove, a fine mist of flour covers too many surfaces in my kitchen. OMG I became my mother. Yeah.

Like many, there are some things I rather not repeat from generations past but they are very few. I think its because my mom died so long ago, I want to emulate her and put her motherly warmth in my home just like she did.

Yesterday, I told hot husband I missed my mom and I truly do. Christmas is always a difficult holiday to get through and particularly though when both parents are gone. But I do like the feeling that I am like my mom in certain ways and this thought came as I was humming to Christmas music.

This year we are very blessed to have each other and add more traditions to our holidays. One is my recipe chocolate fudge cookie. Apparently, it's all the rave with my nieces and nephews, who are putting in special orders on Facebook. So yesterday, I made double my usual holiday supply. I also somewhat perfected a fudge my mom made us when we were little. I boxed wrapped it special for my sisters and sent it on its way. Just a little reminder of our youth and our mom.

Sometimes it's okay to be like your mom.

Getting into the spirit of Christmas

The other week, I was down in the dumps for absolutely no reason. A complete lie. For many, including me, this time of the year sometimes trudges up old shit. And if I am not on top of it it creeps back into my life. So, instead of rehashing the hurts and pains of yesteryear I will just say Christmas time was as perfect as it could be.

But when you have young children you really don't have the time to explore and lull in this. I needed Christmas spirit. I bought my first artificial tree in the hopes that putting it up at the end of November would kick my butt into holiday mode. To no avail. I left it there unadorned for two weeks and marveled at the idea that I could live with it just like that.

I took another stab at it by making my husband put more lights up the only thing it changed was the utility bill. See, the holiday blah blahs. I wanted to get into the spirit early and get the shopping over with but not much aided my quest.

So there I stood in the super sized store of super sized everything, Costco. Looking intently at the all the merchandise holiday related without much luck. Then something struck me, I needed something to put me into the spirit soon. Ah ha, walking down the book aisle I found just the thing. A mushy happy go lucky Christmas book. The book pointed in all the right directions of a Hallmark made for T.V. movie and best of all it cured me of the blah blahs, put a smile on my face and kicked my Grinch Ass.

With nine days to go, I am almost done the shopping and gearing up to bake some yummy treats with the boys. Even Hot Husband is in the Holiday spirit. I love it.

Substance

Substance has many meanings but I particularly enjoy this one: "the actual matter of a thing, as opposed to the appearance or shadow; reality" from dictionary.com. Why substance? In the last couple of weeks the world is inundated with the martial woes of a certain golfer.

It got a little over done when every media outlet led with this story. Okay, the guy messed up, big time, but is it really any of our business? I don't think so but other people do. I think mainstream media believes we want this kind of information 24/7. Would you want your transgressions or errs "mediacized". No. Why do we tune into the nothingness of other peoples lives. Are we turning into a shallow society that gossiping voyeurism is becoming the new news?

This got me thinking of the substance of news and the value we put on it. What is our threshold of information, are we all twittering idiots that we need moment by moment updates? Put yourself in the hot news topic of the day. Unless your thirsty for the nouveau celebrity, which, I am learning is something like the new 30, you would definitely dislike the onslaught of paparazzi into your life. I am absolutely certain a week of full exposure to the world would turn you off. As they creep into your life and start rummaging through your closet to find anything that could be turned into a nightly news story.

Ah, the age of information. It's only my opinion. Have a wonderful day.