Little Red Wagon

 

Don’t know how about you, but I like the week between Christmas and New Year.   For me, over the years, it has become more than a marking time week of post-holiday leftovers and decorations beginning to wear out their welcome. It has become a week of quiet of the good sort.  Where I live, it is most often a time of cold and snow and that makes the world an even quieter, cleaner, and fresher place. It's comfortable. It is also restorative somehow – at least it is if you manage to miss the weather extremes.  It also makes you very thankful for a warm home and simple accoutrements like gloves and thick socks.

When I was a child (many, many moons ago), I had a little red wagon. I wore it out over time.  I would sit half in the wagon on one knee and hang the other leg outside to use as a brake or a pusher. It was a time of scabby knees and pony tails. I could scoot along or drag my one foot as needed to pretty much control the speed. I could also use it to gather treasures along the way. You know, things like the perfect stick or proper skipping stones. My old Keds took a beating. The nice thing about those wagons is that you could steer them with the handle bent toward you as you rode along. You were the driver… in charge.  It was nice. Even riding over the bumps was sort of fun. 

Past the little red wagon stage now, but I like to think that I am still in the driver’s seat of my life and the week between Christmas and the New Year is, perhaps, the time to ride along nicely and hope that your Keds are up to the challenge.  May we all have one week to just enjoy the peace as we ease into the next year. Maybe we can even find perfect small treasures along the way -- you know -- for future adventures.  

In 2023 we are able to begin again ... a fresh start …. Happy New Year….  May your wagon miss the big bumps….

Three sleeps 'til Christmas...

 

Okay -- It's that time.  I am tearing up watching tv commercials. Traditional holiday songs bring me to the brink of tears, and commercials with "the music" push me over the edge. I am, once again, avoiding the Hallmark Channel out of necessity.  It must be almost Christmas. 

People who have been around for a while may agree that any holiday season is bittersweet.  Each holiday offers a lifetime of memories – memories of good times, of hopes and dreams and also, as time passes, of loss.  Perhaps that is why the joy of a child is always something to cherish -- especially now in the week before Christmas.  There is something amazing about being able to manage even a momentary glimpse of the world through a child’s eyes – moments of pure joy, innocence and wonder. Wish there were a way to hang on to that ... and yet ... perhaps there is.  Perhaps it is through creating the best holiday one can for those close to you -- whether they are near or far away -- moments to enjoy the comfort of security of family and friends, and of the peace of unconditional love. Perhaps it is in the creation of memories they will cherish when they, too, have been around for a while. 

Wishing you a wonderful holiday with lots of good memories of old times and ... with the creation of lots of new good memories as well.  

                                        

                       

Starting off on the right foot...

 

As I attempt to work on this blog today, parts of my brain are competing.  It is a tossup as to whether the Christmas music that is stuck in my head on replay or my ideas for the blog will win out.  I am hoping that the “sleigh bells in the snow” will become a soft background music. Fingers crossed. I am trying.

Okay – so here it is. Thanks to an unasked for and unappreciated latest update, my trusty old android is now able to give me a weekly report on how I am spending my phone time.  This week I spent 38 minutes texting, 16.7 minutes looking around on Amazon and over an hour on Facebook.  This, of course, does not count all the time that I spent on my HP PC or the iPad. This iPad is a device with which I am still not on friendly terms.  Someday, perhaps, someone will find said iPad on the bottom of what I call my horse pond and wonder how it got there.  The pond will know, of course, but seems to be very good at keeping secrets. It has shared literally nothing with me over the years.

Anyway – all this got me to thinking about how I spend my electronic time as well as wondering why my android is tracking my behavior.  I did not ask it to. It bothers me a bit -- but I will think about that later. For now -- this report called to mind something I saw on Facebook this week.  It was a word jumble provided by “Love quotes for you”.  (Isn’t that a gentle and lovely name?) Apparently the first four words that jump out to you from line after line of letters with no spaces in between will be your Mantra for 2023. I was game.

I liked the first four words that I saw, so I went ahead and picked four more. I stopped there, but wondered how many more I could find if I really tried, but my time was limited.  Anyway – here they are - in no special order:

                  POWER  LESSON  PURPOSE  CONNECTION

                   CREATION  STRENGTH  CHANGE  FAMILY  

Then, because I am a sentence person,  I went about putting them all into sentences – one of which I could use for my mantra for 2023.  I came up with a few actually.  I will spare you the details. They were all very wordy and heavy on strong nouns.  Even so -- I must mention that I like positive games for sure.  I am hanging on to the positive as we get closer and closer the beginning of 2023. I like new beginnings as well.  Things positive and new beginnings form a strong combination -- hopeful and somehow comforting.  It is a combo that helps one to put the best foot forward when starting a New Year. Trying counts... at least that has been my experience.

A Very Merry Corry Christmas

 

The days before Christmas in the small town I call home have always been, for me, a special time. This season is no different. Picture this – it is the first Friday of December.  Amazingly -- it is above freezing here in NW PA as the sun sets, and ... it is not snowing for the first time in a couple of days.  ... so begins a fun evening in downtown Corry. It is the First Friday celebration.

Every lamp post on the Center Street is decorated with a wreath and lights, and this main thoroughfare is closed to traffic for a few blocks. There are horse and tractor drawn wagon rides – free to all.  Music is in the air everywhere. All the shop owners have removed every trace of snow from the sidewalks. It is safe walking (so nice for those of us who no longer think it is fun to slide on ice). Smiling people are milling about. Lots of Merry Christmases are to be heard. Small children are especially excited. It is hard to describe their smiles. Beyond wonderful! Heart touching.  Santa is here… as are Rudolph, the Grinch, and some darling elves.  Excitement is high. The shops are full. (Busy shops and photo ops.)  Food is available in every direction.  The local Rotary Club is offering hot chocolate to all passersby. The local champion dance team is performing in the decorated gazebo in the City Park. A crowd has gathered to watch. There are carolers moving about.  It is a "happening. It is a lovely evening all around. It is a Very Merry Corry Christmas.

What did I miss?  It was a gentle and festive start to the holiday season. Thank you, wonderful people of Corry. Again I must say … I love small town America. 

Merry Christmas! It will be here and gone before we turn around twice.  Enjoy!

At the end of the day...

   

Here we are in the Post Thanksgiving, Pre Christmas season and in addition to feeling thankful for innumerable blessings and anticipating the joys of the upcoming Christmas season, I find myself at times caught up in the ugly dramas of the world. The challenge is always to figure out a way to step up and out of those things and to keep oneself from falling back into the muck.  I am going to try to do this by finding examples of good "things" and by ignoring the "headlines" for a bit. I still devoutly believe in the existence of good.  And so -- I begin...

Recently I heard of a family who took part of their post Thanksgiving feast time to discuss how they were going to give to others during the upcoming holiday season.  As has become their family tradition - in lieu of exchanging gifts with other adults in the family -  they would again pool their money and determine together where a donation would be most needed -- locally. I am deeply touched by that kind, quiet generosity. 

Personally my major concern is hunger. I cannot stand the thought of people going hungry.  I think I got that from my parents. I remember my Mom feeding "hobos" at our kitchen table. This happened quite a lot actually. We were on the "Hobo Route", I guess. My Mom used to say that our house was marked somehow so they knew where they would be welcome.  (Many a calm afternoon of my childhood was spent looking for said mark. Never found it.) Anyway -- I particularly remember one man devouring an entire box of cereal -- while he was crying.  Memories like that stick with a person. My Dad would give them clothes, shoes, and/or perhaps a warm coat,  and then drive them on their way – a least a few miles or so in whatever direction they wanted to go.  I would often ride along in the back seat. (I was a tag-along whenever I could manage to do that.) There were other times -- also when I was in grade school -- that my Dad would have me ride along with him with a small pile of envelopes on the seat between us.  He would stop in front of a house, I would jump out, knock on the door, and hand an envelope to an adult without telling them who I was.  It was sort of scary and people cried sometimes.  I think I got “it” even then. He didn't say very much while we were driving about - except for one thing. He always said that helping others does not count if you make it about yourself.  You help people because you want to help people, not to get your picture in the paper. Yep.  Not sure he would be pleased that I am telling you about it now ... even though he is only with us in memory.

We don't call people hobos anymore.  Perhaps they have been replaced with "homeless" - although the situations are not quite the same.  We no longer open our doors to strangers.  That would be foolish. We no longer pick up hitchhikers. That would be downright dangerous. I am actually a bit surprised if a stranger even holds a door open for me.  Times change. it's not always for the better. My concern is in finding a way to make this not so true. Little kindnesses spread. Each one matters. We all decide.

Maybe it all boils down to this... “At the end of the day, as you close your eyes, be content with what you’ve done, grateful for what you have and proud of who you are."  I have seen several variations of this sentiment and have no idea of the original source.  Wish I did. Words are sometimes a gift.  I would like to say Thank You.  'Tis the season.