Happy New Year to All!

Happy New Year! I pray this for my friends: that this year is the most fulfilling, least worrisome, most prosperous year that you've had EVER in your life! That your trials will be few and your blessings MANY!


How was your Christmas?


Ours turned out good after all. All that worrying, and still had a good holiday.


Robert ended up getting a contract signing bonus....when the union where he works settled on a new contract. What good timing! Now it wasn't all that spectacular of an amount, but it sure helped right before Christmas.


We had a lot of bad stuff come about in December of this year. Lots of financial blows, but that was one windfall, and for it I am grateful.


The Friday before Christmas I was feeling yucky, then I got a really sore throat, which got worse the day after Christmas. Now I'm feeling pretty good, just a little nasally. ;)


I have gotten A LOT of sleeping in done. Sleep, sleep, sleep. I love it.


Bipsy's in Paris. I was watching her house (and feeding the kitty cat) as well as watching the home of a friend in our neighborhood. Bipsy's house watching comes with the perk of a hot tub, which I enjoyed several times. Yay! Love that hot tub! Nothing like a hot tub to ease holiday stress! ;)


The Saturday before Christmas we finally got DISH put in! Yay! Two years with nothing but 28 crappy cable channels and now we have 300 and some crappy satellite channels! Yay! Robert finally feels at home in the sticks and I finally have him off my back about "not having anything to watch." What a relief!


I don't really watch t.v. much, normally, but since I've been off, I've been a regular couch/bed/chair potato. I've been wallowing in the t.v. watching. I did read a little bit of a Christmas novel by Debbie Maycomber. Other than that, I've watched "Animal Planet," "Lifetime," "Oxygen" and more mind numbing t.v. than I can count. I have watched "Rachel Ray: 30 Minute Meals," "What Not to Wear," "Monk," "Cold Case," and some shows that really rotted my brain cels like, "Bad Girls Club," and "I Love New York." I feel my intellect decreasing daily. ;)

Okay, it's now January 2, 2008, and I'm back to work.

Robert and I ended up going to TGI Friday's for dinner, and that's where we rang in the new year. We were home by 12:30. Nothing exciting.

I don't really do New Year's resolutions, typically. Do you?

Of course I want to be healthy, more prosperous, etc. But that's an everyday endeavor for me. Doesn't start or end with a new year. I haven't seemed to conquer the desire to get healthy, but I believe since I have more time than before, I can make it happen, one day at a time.

So, did you get anything fun for Christmas?

I got fleece jammies, house slippers to match, a generic "Magic Bullet," since my "real" one is missing in action. Could it be in storage? Still at our Xenia house? Who knows.

Let's see...potpourri, candles, lotsa fleece gloves, perfume, some bath goodies, a pocket sandwich maker, socks, and a really nice pair of suede winter boots. Fun!

I got a lovely blanket from Denise, which she made! Boy, did that come in handy during the few days that I was sick and chilled! I had to fuss with Jess over it, because she seems to think it's hers. :) Today as I left for work, she was cuddled under it. So sweet.

Bipsy gave me a cozy LLBean fleece jacket. Looks like that's going to come in handy this year.

The kids got what they wanted....we pulled it off! Wheh! Every year it's touch and go.

We had a good time during our time off. I am rested and I was ready to head back to work. It's nice to get a mini vacation.

How about you? How did your holidays go? Do tell!

Again, Happy New Year and many blessings to you and your family!

Big hugs!

A Couple of Things That Have Made Me Smile This Christmas Season

It's easy to think that my holiday season has been all bleak and sad this year. But that's not entirely true. Yes, I'm fighting the blues, blah and all the stresses that come with the season.



But there have been some smiles along the way. For example:

• Rudolph and Clarece that Robert and Jess made for me at the end of November from Build-a-Bear. (B-a-B ought to pay me for all the free ads they get on my blog, lol!) Rudolph's nose lights up and if you press his foot, it plays a song. How sweet!


• We've had a lot of snow around here, so it may be a white Christmas!


• I was able to get Josh and Jess' gifts through Ebay much cheaper than anywhere else and they did get what they want- though used- and they are okay with that compromise.


• I set out to make my holiday cards this year, and I did that, and I got them all out except one or two, which I am working on. I managed to get the holiday pictures taken and the letter written as well. That was quite a project, and I feel I accomplished something.


• I still have a job.


• I still have my sanity (I think.)


• I made it to my dear friend, Bipsy's holiday party Saturday, despite a freezing rain storm. I even blow dried my hair and used a curling iron on it when I was getting ready to go! I have been using the "heater in the Jeep" blow drying method for months now. Felt good to primp a little.


• A friend sent me a picture of her office, and in it I saw several items I had sent her over the last year. It brought tears to my eyes. And a smile to my lips.


• I got pretty flowers from the former general manager of our sister company: The pictures does not do the arrangement justice. They are especially lovely now that the roses have opened up.

• I got a Christmas card from one of our sister company's employees. I had only met this employee once, during one of our training trips. It was an unexpected and welcome surprise.


• Yesterday, my friend, Sandy, stopped by with this sweet book:

• Sandy's daughter, Beth is in town and I got to visit with her Saturday! How fun! We swapped ringtones and compared phones and did a lot of catching up.

You know, there's so many more happy little moments in my month that I haven't listed here. I've had lovely chats with my friends on facebook, I've reconnected with some people I only catch up with once a year, and I've spent an hour here and there snuggling on the couch, watching Christmas dvds with the family.

So maybe this celebrating the joy of Christmas thing isn't about having a stress free season. Maybe it's about happy little blessings that light upon us like butterflies- so lightly that if we're not careful, we'll miss them altogether.

If I don't get another chance to say it, Merry Christmas and a very happy 2008!

Where Are You Christmas?

Where are you Christmas?
Why can't I find you?
Why have you gone away?
Where is the laughter
you used to bring me?
Why can't I hear
music play?

My world is changing
I'm rearranging
Does that mean Christmas
changes too?

Where are you Christmas?
Do you remember
the one you used to know?
I'm not the same one
see what the time's done
Is that why you have
let me go?

I would type the rest of this song....about Christmas being here if you care and so on....but I'm just not feeling it right now. Faith Hill sings the song beautifully. But I'm not past the "Where Are You" part. The joy of Christmas alludes me yet again. Anyone else there in their life right now?

One too many stresses....losing a portion of my benefits here at work right before the holidays....(about $400 a month)....ongoing drama with life in general. Sigh.

I love Thanksgiving. Spending time together, cooking, laughing, eating, watching the parade. No huge expectations and potential dissapointments.

But Christmas...it's becoming a holiday that no matter how hard I try to celebrate it, I find myself dreading it more every year.

Teenagers have expensive wants. Budgets are tight all year, and then add Christmas to it, and things become next to impossible.

I love giving. I love wrapping gifts. I enjoyed making cards this year.

I just don't enjoy the worry that comes along with the whole thing.

Sometimes I wish I was Amish.

Then I wouldn't be shopping for MP3 players and video games right now.

Hope you're feeling the warmth of the holiday season. Send a little of that joy my way, okay? I could use some right now. ;)