Fun Facts at the end of 2013.

I went jean shopping yesterday.  It took hours:-).  I tried on at least 15 pairs of jeans.  Finally I got excited about about a pair of jean trousers.  I came home, laid them out on the bed and showed my husband.  The first words out of his mouth were, "They look just like my Navy dungarees."  (He was in the Navy for 9 years.)  I thought, man, those Navy folks are quite fashionable:-).

My father went on a cruise over Christmas.  He is 60 years old.  This was his first time ever on a cruise.  I emailed him to welcome him back home.  His emailed response, verbatim, "Got home safe and sound and the cruise was the best time ever."  What an incredible thrill to see that life, 60 years in, one is so delighted in experience that one can say, "best time ever."  This is why I like growing up.  Much more to fun to experience!!!!

My father-in-law, for Christmas gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  I bought the DVD Because of Winn Dixie.  One of my favorite movies growing up was Pollyanna with Hayley Mills.  Because of Winn Dixie reminds me of that movie, except better soundtrack.  (Both movies were created from books.)  BWD is cast with quirky, misunderstood characters played such as Cicely Tyson, Dave Matthews, one furry dog, and AnnaSophia Robb.  I love this movie's tenderness and spunk and grace.  I could say more, but I'll leave it there for now.  I literally laugh out loud while watching it.  I love the writing.  Okay, now, I'm done.  There is this one scene where Cicely's character shows Robb a tree whose branches are tied with swinging glass bottles, etched into my memories sight always.  Everyone has a story.  Okay, done.

I am reading Joseph Cambell's The Power of Myth.  One of my favorite quotes, so far, because there are many, is "...some people have a very hard time loving God, because there's no imperfection there.  You can be in awe, but that would not be real love.  It's Christ on the cross that becomes lovable...[because Christ was human and experienced] suffering, suffering is imperfection."  Jesus makes God a little easier to come close to.  Such a lovely and powerful truth.  Oh, and Campbell also says this, "People say what we're seeking is a meaning for life.  I don't think that's what we're really seeking.  I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive."  I get that entirely.

Sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, and acknowledging and caring for the truth that we are not just natural beings, but spiritual ones.  Those five senses can connect us to our spirits.  It's all interwoven.  To 2014.

Qoute of the Yesterday

The 81 year old woman I work for as she was watching a female chef on a TV cooking show,

 "Bless her heart, she was standing in the same line I was in when they were handing out boobs."

And as any good Southerner knows, anything that begins with Bless Her Heart, is not a good thing:-).

In this day...

Thinking about Nelson Mandela and a conversation I had with a friend last night about facing reality without feeling incredibly disappointed.  Joy does not always happen to us, we choose joy.  We choose forgiveness.  We choose to make life better.  And like I have said to many people many times, including to myself, because of the above things, we have more power than we even dare realize.  We must use it.

So sweet!!!

Ess Gee told me about the super cutest Christmas decoration he had growing up.

His family did not have a real fireplace for stockings to be hung from, BUT his mama did have a life size, freestanding, cardboard fireplace with mantle printed with red brick that she busted out and hung their stockings from every Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My heart heard this and I was so burst with joy.  Now, I am on the lookout!!!!!
 Ess Gee, when he was little, had the most impish face with little smiley moon eyes, I could picture him so happy to see that mantle:-), because it meant stockings and stuffers!!!  Christmas can be pretty great:-)!

A tiny bit of Scrooge, a little bit early.

This is going to sound incredibly sacrilegious of me, but Thanksgiving Day food, I really could exchange for something else.  I do not get wrapped up in turkey and stuffing (dressing in the South), cranberry anything's, fresh made rolls (even adding "fresh made" doesn't make me think they are the cat's meow), pumpkin pie... nada...um, yeh, I know.  I feel majorly rude against our traditions as an eating American.
 But I wanna make up for that, because I said to my husband after I made the above announcement, that if I had a favorite holiday meal, it would be on the Fourth of July.  Ha Ha, super American on that one, huh!!
Give me a good burger, some potato salad, corn on the cob, watermelon and I'm in!!!
And my favorite dessert on any given holiday (?)...that would be my birthday:-).  It's not a national holiday, but a little independent one (and any one who knows me knows that I care about little independent things), and that would be a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
I'm sure some of this food-preference is my Mid-Westerner coming out in my taste buds...it is the stuff I grew up on, but also give me Lamb Vindaloo and Naan or Sushi with tons of wasabi and call it Thanksgiving and we are good to go!!!