A different kind of Christmas this year.
Along with laughter, I’ll probably shed a tear.
I so wish that you were here,
And hope you are somewhere near –
To enjoy the celebration with us.
How I miss you – Mrs. Christmas!
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Dear Ancient Mayan Calendar Makers,
I realize your job may have gotten a bit boring filled with a whole lot of repetition. It couldn’t have been easy to carve those little symbols into stone. I imagine hand cramps were a hazard of the job. Hopefully, you received a just compensation for all your effort.
When you made your calendar, you probably had no idea the chaos you’d cause. The worry. I mean, making a calendar that lasted thousands of years was going above and beyond the call of duty. Perhaps you figured it was good enough. After all, you covered your days, your children’s days, your grandchildren’s days, and even your great-grandchildren’s days – what more could we want?
I don’t blame you for choosing the first day of winter as the final day. It is one short, bleak, dark day. If I were to choose a day to end all days it would probably be the same.
My only beef with this whole thing is the fact the last, final, ultimate day will be on a Friday. Was this a conspiracy with your CEO of calendars? Make sure us peons finish the work week before being wiped off the face of the planet. To top it off, it happens to be my last day of work before I start a vacation for the rest of the year.
Not cool, Mayans, not cool.
Here’s what the smarty-pants at NASA have to say about all this hub-bub.
Living in a Christmas Movie
Living in a Christmas movie.
How would it be
if we were living
in a Christmas movie?
What Your Holiday Viewing Says About You
Okay, we are going to mix it up a bit here at ck’s days. We are going to take a very unscientific poll of your favorite Christmas movie. Choose your answer wisely because it will speak volumes of your personality. Uh, 😉 😉
Ready?
The First Gift of Christmas
This and other fine poems available at Amazon.com A boy watched his mother
Tie one red ribbon on the green tree
He could not think of any reason
“Why a ribbon?” he asked her softly.
She replied, “It’s my final gift of the season
The most important one from me.”
“It’s just a piece of ribbon,
Whose gift could it possibly be?”
And he hoped deep inside
His name wouldn’t be
On the lone piece of ribbon
Hanging from the Christmas tree.
His dear mother,
Smiled at her son
Happy for the lesson
Which time had come.
She cut an extra piece
And sat on the brown chair
She held her arms open wide
“I have something to share.”
He climbed onto her lap
She opened the well worn book
Its cover was black
She asked, “What was the first gift of Christmas?”
As she flipped through the pages
She knew where to look
And opened the book
To Chapter 2 in the account of St. Matthew
“In verse 10 we read
“The wise men brought
Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.
Most valuable gifts indeed.”
He listened intently to her.
“But those weren’t the first.”
Tiny Angels
For Sandy Hook
We listened in horror.
There was no making sense.
The pain one lost soul
causes with an act of violence. Continue reading
Forgive Me for Not Singing Silent Night
I’m not a Grinch. Or a Scrooge. Let me just preface this blog. I love singing Christmas carols and I listen to them in the appropriate time period (between Thanksgiving and Christmas day). There are a few I consider favorites. But there is one I refuse to listen to this holiday season.
I never appreciated Silent Night. Despite the fact it is the go-to carol for any Christmas gathering trying to focus on the true reason for the season. The celebrity of yuletide hymns. It gets over played a bit for my taste and I’m tired of it.
Plus, it’s my mom’s favorite Christmas carol. She loved Silent Night.
Last year I refused to listen to it. I am continuing my boycott this holiday. Do you know how hard it is to avoid Silent Night for an entire Christmas season? It’s like trying to avoid the cheese in a Mac and Cheese dinner. Darn near impossible.
For some reason, the powers-that-be that decide the hymns during Sacrament meeting decided to switch things up a bit and use Silent Night as the kick-off to the season. Last year and this year we sang that tender song as the very first song of the holiday. Last season, it was the Sunday before my mom’s funeral. It about did in a whole bench of Lees. And this year, when I planned on bearing my testimony in honor of my mother’s anniversary of slipping through the veil, they sang that song. I excused myself and hid out of earshot. It took everything I had to regain my composure and continue as planned with my testimony later in the service. Seriously? Everyone knows Silent Night is supposed to be the last hymn of the season.
A couple of Tuesdays ago, when we took the girls caroling, they sung it. Twice. The first time I stood resolutely in the back waiting patiently for them to finish. The second time, I wasn’t so fortunate. Through no fault of my own I stood in front of the group and had to join in. Those Young Women better appreciate the sacrifice I made for them! Of course, I didn’t tell anyone. I realize it’s kind of silly.
Someday, I will probably love Silent Night. Someday, it will produce sweet, cherished memories of my mom. Someday. But for this season, please excuse me while I continue to forego singing it.
Christmas Salsa
I’m an odd duck. This I know. (sigh) This I’ve always known. There are many facets and many levels of my peculiarity. One major factor I get a lot of grief for is my lack of a sweet tooth. Considering I am my mother’s child, this is an even bigger oddity. One my mother either didn’t believe or couldn’t understand. One of her ways to express love was to share goodies. I still have the last chocolate Easter Bunny she gave me sitting on my shelf. If you have read this blog for any amount of time you’ll get the drift. That bunny is a bit old.
You’re Not the Boss of Me
You’re not the boss of me –
you cannot tell me what to do.
I don’t want a lecture –
or a caveat of “If I were you…” Continue reading
Buddies
My cell phone buzzed at work the other day. It was a call from my oldest niece, Lyn. I hesitated to answer it because every single time I check my phone, my boss walks in. Cell phones are a no-no at work. But Lyn rarely calls me and I remembered the time when she called and it was an emergency. I decided to be brave (family trumps work after all) and answered.
