A nice Christmas

Having the weekend before Christmas was really nice--more time to really get ready. I rushed and rushed, but I still managed to delude myself into thinking on Saturday night that I had time to clean out the garage. So I did. I bought a big broom last spring, because the roofers for the garage made a terrible mess of tar and dust. I never used it. Eventually, the dust settled in their corners and life went on around the mess. When Adam took down the Christmas decorations, a new pile of dust and debrie was kicked up and all over. I kept tracking it into my car and it was annoying. I saw that the broom had made its way as a toy in the back yard and while the handle was a little bent, it still worked. So I finished decorating the Christmas tree and put the boxes away and put more boxes up on shelves and cleaned up some trash and swept the garage. Wow, that broom was like magic--the garage looks so nice now. When I was so thrilled with the results in the garage, I tackled the back porch. I still have debrie on the side and in the corner, but the main part of the porch is nicely swept and clean. What a wonderful Christmas present to myself. Everytime I drive into the garage, I have a wonderful sense of peace and wellbeing that only comes from everything being in its place.

Christmas Eve, we went to Gloria's house for a gift exchange party. We were a nice little group and although the teenager, Adam exclaimed that it was excrutiating for him, I had a very nice time. I think everyone got something they liked--I got a coffee maker that Adam deemed worthy--he's the coffee drinker, not me. Gloria got the cookie jar that I won at Toastmasters and seemed to really like it.

We had a very quiet Christmas (if you don't count a screaming at the top of her lungs two year old, who threw a temper tantrum during dinner). I made a jenny o turkey--four hours from the freezer to the oven to the table. It was edible--kind of non-descript. We also had Honey baked ham which was super, really good. Adam looked at the table and promptly left. He's a vegetarian and I'm no cook. Ris and Lee and Taj seemed to enjoy the meal (if you can call eating and ignoring a temper throwing two year old, enjoying a dinner). I liked the garage so much that I cleaned the kitchen as I went the whole day on Christmas--that was nice too. I made a chocolate cake and that really was the best part of the meal on Christmas. There's really no way to mess up cake.

Adrienne gave me a photo frame that does a slide show of pictures from the computer and Erika gave me a zip drive thingie that had pictures on it. I don't know how many pictures it holds, but it looks very promising as the best present ever (right up there with a clean garage).

"If you feel an overwhelming urge to gamble

contact your doctor." That was a tag line on a drug commercial. An overwhelming urge to gamble is a medical condition? And yet it struck a cord with me. This week I started my diet again for the 100th time this year and it worked (well so far anyway). Normally there is a very loud voice in my head saying EAT POTATO CHIPS NOW. This week I nudged that urge the way you pick at a sore and it wasn't there. I was under stress to finish a project and I told myself, it would be ok to get a snack and yet, I really didn't care, so I didn't have one.

Granted I've been colossally busy and to lots of parties that didn't serve anything that I would eat, but still, that loud, obnoxious EAT, EAT, EAT has been really quiet this week. A chemical imbalance? Balance? I would take that drug.

3,000 Miles Away and I'm Not There

It's hard to be 3,000 miles away when your mom is saying the rosary to help forget the pain and your sisters are all bearing the brunt, but as I tell people here--my sisters are tough and they've got their feet under them. I expect mom to make a full and spectacular recovery (whether she wants to or not).

Here's what I do--I'll tell a story. Adam and I went to see "I'm Not There"--the Bob Dylan movie. They present him as six different people--six different images that we have of him or that he has of himself. The musician was a very charming and clever black boy--fast talking, amazing musician always being chased and bullied. The husband and father was an attractive rugged looking fellow who could never quite bring his full attention to his family. The celebrity looked like Bob Dylan--he was always high and being taken care of. He didn't quite know what everyone wanted from him and he challenged them for making assumptions that he owed them anything or that he was saying what they thought he should be saying. The humanitarian was a recluse who left his isolated home to look for his dog. He noticed that all his neighbors were being evicted and downtrodden, but when he tried to look more closely, things disappeared. He always seemed lost. When he finally spoke out against injustice, he became hunted and ran away. He lost his dog.

I've always thought of Bob Dylan as the "this is your brain on drugs" commercial--"This is a great musician, this is a great musician on drugs, any questions?" I never followed much of his music, but occasionally I've been surprised to learn that a song I really like is his. This movie was very well done and gave a broad, expansive view of a person--a gifted artist, uncomfortable with celebrity.

But aside from being a movie about Bob Dylan, I thought the way his life was depicted was really interesting. Adrienne said something last week about mom putting on her company manners. I do perceive myself differently in different situations. When Adrienne is around to provide directions, I pay no attention to where I am or where I am going in the car. I must seem like a complete idiot regarding directions. When I do not have Adrienne to navagate in the car, I am amazing at finding where I am going. I have a keen sense of direction and can usually "feel" my way to my desired location. Two completely different people. I am often accused of being a very quiet person. Just recently at PTA, someone came up to me after a meeting (that I ran as the President) and said, I had no idea you were so outgoing. I see myself as a very take charge person, but I often sit in the background if I have nothing original or productive to offer. It just seems polite. How many actors will play you in the movie?

The Newsletter Formula fails me in 2007

So Thanksgiving was early, giving me a false sense of having more time. It is already the 4th and I haven't done my Christmas cards. They are supposed to be mailed by the 10th, but I don't think I will make it this year.

I have finished my Christmas letter, but now that it's printed I realize that I am missing so much. I usually open the previous year's letter and fill in new information along those same lines, such that it has now turned into a formula: Home, Work, Clubs and Community Service, and Family. Sometimes I fill in travel, but this year my travel was really spread out--Vegas with the family, PTA convention in Sacramento, ABWA conference in North Carolina, business trip to South Carolina, Wedding in NY with family, road trip to San Francisco with Adam. I think that might be a record or something.

And then there was tennis. I have really had a fun filled tennis fix this year. With all the time for trips and weeks off for tennis, I'm surprised that I got any work done, but when I sit and look at my calender--I've had a really busy year of litigation too. The formula just cannot fit such a really full year. Births and deaths and weddings and funerals (one of my clients died in a freak car accident--so unexpected.) I'm either having an extraordinary year or else, I'm usually more obtuse. I have to finish my Christmas cards, so I don't have time to figure it out.

Merry Christmas to my blogging audience--if you don't get my Christmas newsletter, don't worry--it's nothing I haven't said in my blog--it's not even a good reader's digest version.