I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!

 

Merry Christmas!

This gets me everytime...

Charlie Brown Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!  Enjoy spending the holiday with those closest to you.

*Friendship is a sheltering tree* Samuel T. Coleridge

Christmas is the quintessential time of year for catching up with friends, new and old.  Today was especially special (if that's possible?) because I curled up in a coffee shop this morning and chatted with an out-of-town best friend, for two hours, long after the coffee was gone. Then tonight, I got a surprise phone call from a friend that I haven’t spoken to in nearly two months.  It got me thinking about friendship. I consider these girls some of my very best friends in the whole wide world, and yet due to the daily grind of careers, families, commitments, and the miles of highway between us, we don’t get to speak (or see each other, for that matter) all that often.  Even though we may not know every detail of each other’s day to day life like we once did when we were in high school or college, the great thing about our friendship is that we can always pick up right where we left off. It’s never awkward. It’s never forced or obligatory.  We understand each other and feelings don’t get hurt if phone calls aren’t returned for a week or two.  Most friendships will start to drift if they are nurtured regularly and if purposeful efforts aren’t made to stay close.

It’s rare to find the sort of friendship that remains strong regardless of lapses in communication.  It’s the type of friendship that will always be there.  You know when those sweet, yet rare, opportunities arise where you actually get to spend time together, face to face, that it will be as though you saw each other yesterday and the day before.  Nothing ever changes. It’s the type of friendship that is so deeply rooted, it doesn’t need much maintenance.  I like to think of it as a large oak tree. Steadfast, unwavering, and constant. Providing shelter from stormy weather when it’s needed and strong branches to sit and dangle our legs from on sunshiny days. And since I don’t have a real-live sister, I feel so incredibly fortunate to have several friends that I have this sort of “sisterly” relationship with.  Whatever life throws our way (through marriage, motherhood, joy, and loss), I will always have someone to share it with. Even when we are all ninety years old and crotchety as hell with blue hair and failing bladders, I know that I will have a cantankerous collection of elderly women within telephone's reach.

Being blessed in this life with a single friendship such as this would be enough of a treasure, but I have undeservedly been blessed over and over again with a small, beautiful orchard of trees.

Friday's Favorites: Music at Christmastime!

I love Christmas music. I believe that if the world listened to Christmas music year-round, we’d all be so much more serene and generally happier people.  Lyrics about silent nights, and twinkling lights, and starry skies, and softly falling snow, and peace on Earth, and going to grandma’s, and sweet baby Jesus… it doesn’t get much better than that.

Everyone has their favorite Christmas song (or if you are me, songs). I have probably 50 favorite Christmas songs (I have a very hard time picking a single favorite anything)… ranging from the happy to the sappy to the downright depressing (yes, depressing) to the beautiful ones that give me chills all up and down my spine.  It’s all wonderful to me.

This was my third week of listening to Pandora Christmas stations at work all day long.  And in my car. And while I cook dinner. And even while I am walking old Sammy boy after work.  It's so peaceful to walk around the neighborhood at dusk this time of year, and get to enjoy the beautiful Christmas trees peeking out from living room windows and outdoor light displays.

And will I get sick of Christmas music by Christmas Day, you ask??  Not a chance. I actually am feeling a little bit pressured down in my gut to make sure I get my fill of Christmas music, since there are only 9 days left until Christmas. So much music, so little time!

When I was a small child, my favorite Christmas song was "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano.  No "Jingle Bells" or "Frosty the Snowman" for this girl. My parents claim to have no idea why I loved this song so much, but if I must divulge, my other favorite song as a child was "La Bamba." (You know the song that goes "lalalalala bamba...". It's all in Spanish so I really can't tell you the rest.) I am only 98% sure my parents did not adopt me from Mexico.

Here are some of my favorite Christmas tunes to get your weekend started off right! In no particular order...

O Holy Night - Celine Dion

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth - Bing Crosby & David Bowie

Merry Christmas, Baby - Hanson (don't judge)

I Wish I Had a River - Sarah McLachlan’s remake of Joni Mitchell’s hit

What Child is This? - Andrea Bocelli

White Christmas - The Drifters

Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano

Somewhere in my Memory - John Williams (Home Alone!)

Christmastime is Here - Vince Girardi Trio

Do You Hear What I Hear? - Bing Crosby; also love Whitney Houston's version

Silent Night - Josh Groban

Mary Did You Know - Clay Aiken

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays - N'Sync

O Come All Ye Faithful - Josh Groban with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

Joy to the World - Mariah Carey

The Christmas Song - James Taylor

All I want for Chrismtas is you - Mariah Carey (If you don’t love this one, you are un-American)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and is feeling the Christmas spirit!

A Few Notes on the Stomach Bug

1) Just because you have a stomach bug, it doesn't mean there has to be movement in the North or the South (if you catch my drift...). Instead, you can just be miserably queasy, have stomach pains that turn the thought of having a sumo-wrestler bounce on your mid-section into a preferred alternative, and make watching IHOP and Chili's commercials grosser than they already are.... for DAYS ON END.

2) Also, I am not sure why they call it the "24-hour" stomach bug because I am pretty sure mine lasted a full 96-hours.

3) Pre-marriage stomach bug: People ask you if you are hungover or assume you ate week-old Chinese food found in the dark, moldy back corner of your fridge.

4) Post-marriage stomach bug: People start raising their eyebrows and toss out the phrases "morning sickness" and "first trimester." And when you tell them, "Nope. Sorry, no surprise babies in this oven," they raise their eyebrows even higher and think you are lying. And then they start to get excited and ask you if you will find out what your having or keep it a surprise, and they start mapping out due dates, and telling you that late summer is the perfect time to have a baby, and that they will love it like their own, and that it will have his eyes and your nose.  And then you start to think you are lying to yourself and that you really are with child. And the panic sets in and you are sprawled on the couch fighting the urge to vomit, desperately googling the symptoms of pregnancy because you are now sure that the reason your appetite is gone is because the baby just isn't hungry.

5) This unnecessary hysteria is what drove me to visit the Doctor's Express at 3 pm on Saturday afternoon, after laying like a groaning, dead fish on our couch since Thursday.  Well, that, and the hope that I could score some potent nausea meds that would knock me out until next Tuesday. The doc-in-the-box confirmed what I knew all along. To my relief- no baby. Now is just NOT the time.  I am a "planner", and don't want a kid crashing my party before it starts.  He/She needs to wait for their invitation to come in the mail, then répondez, s'il vous plaît, thankyouverymuch.

6) After leaving the doctor, I had to drop off my prescription and wait, so I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few sick-person staples. Tropical Punch Jello. Powdered Mashed Potatoes. Arctic Freeze and Grape Gatorade.  And I also picked up some Febreze because my camel peacoat smelled like fire after standing by a chimney at a Christmas party earlier in the week.  I was looking my finest, complete with greasy hair, no make-up, and an old t-shirt that has make-up stains around the collar from where my make-up has dripped off my face when I am working out (in my defense, it is o-so-comfy).  If it can only get worse. O it does. Here is my conversation in the check-out line...
Cassandra the Check Out Lady: (eyeing my purchases, suspiciously. Or am I just paranoid?)
Greasy Lady: (making simple conversation) Yep, we've got the stomach bug at our house.
Cassandra the Check Out Lady: O, sick kids?
Greasy Lady: O, no, I don't have any children. (I am pretty sure I stood up very proudly as I said this, as I was still riding high from my negative at the doctor)

Cassandra the Check Out Lady: Husband?

Greasy Lady: Um, no, actually me.

As I say this, she is ringing up the Febreze, and I feel like she pauses ever so slightly before passing the Febreze to the bagboy.  She looked up at me and said "O, wow. That will be $10.43". I feel my face turning beet red and I am 98% sure I am going to throw up at the front of the grocery store. I can only wonder what she is thinking needs a good dousing of Febreze at our house.  I grabbed my bag with one hand and my stomach with the other and scampered out of there before I can watch her click off her Lane Light to take the time to disinfect her entire station. When I got out to the car, I remembered the one thing that I forgot in the store. Draino. For our bathroom sink that keeps stopping up.  Then I thanked God for the small things in life because I cannot even imagine what mental image I would have left Cassandra with had she known that the greasy lady with the stomach bug included both Febreze and Draino in her "sick" purchases.

Anyhow, like most uncomfortable experiences, my humiliation and my stomach bug have now moved on along and I have rejoined the land of the living.  And I am also grateful that I looked so terrible when I went to the store, so hopefully, Cassandra won't recognize me next time.  However, don't even think for a second that I won't look twice before I squeal my cart into a check-out lane to make good and sure Cassandra isn't back there to check out (pun intended) my purchases.

My final note on the stomach bug is that once you're feeling human again, and you can actually fathom the thought of putting solid food in your mouth, nothing beats a feast of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (with the nasty bits of chicken picked out) and an old school Grilled Cheese (with Kraft singles, of course).

And I'm Back.

O my Goodness! My brain is feeling quite clogged up with my random musings, ideas, rants, raves, ramblings, and Christmas mush since I haven't come here to dump it all out in what seems like a century.

Junior League Holiday Market has come and gone, so I can finally resume my normal life and start to really enjoy the holiday season!

So, to get me back up to speed, I am creating a landfill of my most recent activities and thoughts…

* Holiday Market wound up looking fantastic! It was tiring and time-consuming, but in the end, completely worth it.  However, I am not sure I will ever stop finding minuscule squares of glitter in my hair.  We are going on a solid 9 days of Glitter Discovery each morning when I blow-dry my hair. (I think I must be excreting glitter from my pores. Festive.)

 I stole these pictures from the Decorations Chair, Erin’s, blog to show you some of our handy-work...

via

*  Last week, I managed to not only decorate a 40,000 square foot building, but I somehow also managed to decorate my own tiny 1,400 square foot home. I am not sure which was more taxing... However, now that it's done, it feels incredibly nice to have the house all Christmasy and cheerful, and it was finished just in the nick of time for friends to come over to grill some burgers and watch some good old football.  Go Tigers!

* David and I spent our Saturday bonding over this mountain of leaves.  We guesstimate that there are probably one million leaves in this pile. Or at least that's what the blisters on my hands are telling me.

* I've got some splendid recipes to share with you now that I am back to blogging. You won't be disappointed. One involves bacon and the other involves soy sauce.  In my opinion, you really can't go wrong with either ingredient.

* The other Friday, I was feeling rather lazy and tried to wear my slippers to work with corduroys. I walked into the kitchen and David immediately looked at my feet and raised his eyebrows.  He asked me if I was really going to wear those things to work. And I replied "Yes, I am really going to wear these to work. What's wrong with them??" And he responded "Um, they look like slippers. Let me see the bottom of them. I bet they don't even have a rubber sole."

I grudgingly held up a foot for him, and proved him right. The sole is actually this soft felt material.  I don't see anything wrong with shuffling up and down the carpeted hall at work on a Friday in my slippers.  The only reason I decided against it is because I have only been married not even a year, and I can't let David think that his wife is already letting herself go.

Also, in hindsight, it could be a violation of the dress code at work. I keep forgetting to check and see if wearing slippers to work is frowned upon.