I should be getting ready to head to the gym but a few things that happened this morning got me to thinking about tradition and what that means at Christmastime.
Both my sister-in-law and a great friend of mine have introduced the "Elf on the Shelf" to their families. I think that this is an awesome tradition and such a fun thing for kids to be involved with. Frankly, the Elf freaks me out with his beady eyes and rosy cheeks and how he moves around the house on his own. Also, the fact that he'll "freak out" if you touch him (as put by a sassy little 5 year old I know) kind of freaks me out even more.
I've always been a big fan of tradition. It was the little things that you did year after year, only surrounding a certain event or timeframe, that made something special. For me, Christmas was always about the excitement of visitng people, seeing family, and lots of laughter. I looked forward to our annual Christmas Eve open house party that my parents hosted at our house. I got to see all of my cousins and friends and other family all in one place. My mom made these great Swedish meatballs (leave it to me to remember the food..) and Santa came to visit. I would get picked on by cousins, fauned over by aunts and uncles, and just have a jolly good time. I was afraid of Santa as a child so, at the end of the night I would drag my sleeping bag into my brother's room and sleep on his floor. This continued well into high school and maybe even into my college years. He and I would wake up at a ridiculously early hour and open our stocking presents and then go back to sleep until sunrise so we could go wake up mom and dad for the main event. Christmas night was driving down to the Tonks's for dinner with more crazy (but wonderful!) family.
Times have changed and these traditions are now just memories. Kids get married, babies are born, people move away, and traditions die, adapt, and more are born. My family, who lives in several different states, is working to build new traditions while just enjoying our time together.
Even in this time of tradition "upheavel", there are certain things about Christmas that make the season for me. I thought I'd list out some of the things that make Christmas for me:
-The smell of a real tree in the house
-Bruce Springsteen's version of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
-Baking cookies
-Driving around looking at Christmas lights
-Wearing a Santa hat out of the house and it being completely acceptable
-People's general spirit of love and giving
-Wrapping my dog's presents just so he can tear them open
-Gatherings with friends and family are the most fun this time of year
-There are movies that you only get to watch at this time of year
-Snow :)
The list goes on and I might add more later. For now, I better stop procrastinating and get to work on my list of things to do.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Reunited...
After being called out one too many times by my loving boyfriend, I have returned, with new resolve, to my blog. Yes I realize that I've only had one previous entry but that doesn't stop the fact that I am committing to regular updates on my life through thoughts, stories, questions, and general musings.
So, what have I been up to on my hiatus? Not much actually. Lots of football watching, book reading, intense facebooking, couch surfing, and procrastinating. Oh, and I bought a new car. But now I have a new purpose and my focus and drive have been restored. I have begun training for the 2010 White Lake Half Ironman on May 8th. This will include the next 20.5 weeks of lots of swimming, biking, running, stretching, and sleeping. I intend on updating my weekly and then monthly mileage covered throughout my training. All I can really hope for at this point is to make it through training healthy and uninjured (which has proven in the past to be quite challenging for me). Throughout the process I will be able to share any amusing stories or happenings that come from my training. As challenging as the next 4.5 months will be, I'm confident that there will be some seriously entertaining moments that I'll be happy to share (caterpillars, eggs, mac trucks, and sideways bike seats...you know who you are).
Up next: my favorite Christmas things.
TTFN!
So, what have I been up to on my hiatus? Not much actually. Lots of football watching, book reading, intense facebooking, couch surfing, and procrastinating. Oh, and I bought a new car. But now I have a new purpose and my focus and drive have been restored. I have begun training for the 2010 White Lake Half Ironman on May 8th. This will include the next 20.5 weeks of lots of swimming, biking, running, stretching, and sleeping. I intend on updating my weekly and then monthly mileage covered throughout my training. All I can really hope for at this point is to make it through training healthy and uninjured (which has proven in the past to be quite challenging for me). Throughout the process I will be able to share any amusing stories or happenings that come from my training. As challenging as the next 4.5 months will be, I'm confident that there will be some seriously entertaining moments that I'll be happy to share (caterpillars, eggs, mac trucks, and sideways bike seats...you know who you are).
Up next: my favorite Christmas things.
TTFN!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween of Champions
Greetings cyber (and not-so-cyber) friends!
I've thought long and not-so-hard about starting a blog and I guess I've finally gotten bored enough to actually follow through. It's not that I think I'm so interesting that people would have any interest in the day-to-day goings on of my life. In fact, I think quite the opposite of that. Really, I miss writing and I'm terrible at keeping any kind of journal so I thought that I could use a blog to share the interesting or even painfully mundane parts of my days while giving me an opportunity to be creative and start writing again. Maybe you'll get something out of it, maybe you won't. Hopefully in the meantime I can offer you a good laugh and a decent suggestion here and there!
So it's Halloween and I'm sitting alone on the couch with 4 dogs (mine, my boyfriend's, and his roommate's two) watching a horrendous performance by Lady Gaga on SNL and listening to the sounds of canine snores. I'm too much of a wimp to watch scary movies by myself and frankly, getting dressed up to walk the streets of downtown just didn't seem appealing to me tonight. Halloween has not ever been one of my favorite holidays. As a kid, my mom made all of my costumes. I certainly can't remember all of them but there are a few that are unforgettable. Like the clown with the shoes so big I couldn't get up and down people's stairs while trick-or-treating. I had to walk sideways for half the night. Or the time I was a pair of dice. I had a "die" that I wore and the other one was bolted onto the side. I was lopsided so we removed the second "die" and I went as one. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold my sack of goodies out in front of me because my arms were sticking out the sides of a large cardboard and spray-painted box. I spent that evening swinging my pillowcase at the people who were distributing candy with the hopes that they would just put it in for me...wait, that's what she said???
But really, my parents faithfully dressed us up every year in something creative and eye-catching. The problem was that I really never (and still don't) wanted to catch anyone's eye. Now I just don't love to dress up and celebrate. Don't get me wrong, anytime that I have participated in Halloween festivities I've had a blast but it's just not something I look forward to every year. I'm thinking that next year I might have to begin hosting a costume party and make that a tradition to look forward to.
Alright well off to enjoy my Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale and watch Ryan Reynolds on SNL. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween!
I've thought long and not-so-hard about starting a blog and I guess I've finally gotten bored enough to actually follow through. It's not that I think I'm so interesting that people would have any interest in the day-to-day goings on of my life. In fact, I think quite the opposite of that. Really, I miss writing and I'm terrible at keeping any kind of journal so I thought that I could use a blog to share the interesting or even painfully mundane parts of my days while giving me an opportunity to be creative and start writing again. Maybe you'll get something out of it, maybe you won't. Hopefully in the meantime I can offer you a good laugh and a decent suggestion here and there!
So it's Halloween and I'm sitting alone on the couch with 4 dogs (mine, my boyfriend's, and his roommate's two) watching a horrendous performance by Lady Gaga on SNL and listening to the sounds of canine snores. I'm too much of a wimp to watch scary movies by myself and frankly, getting dressed up to walk the streets of downtown just didn't seem appealing to me tonight. Halloween has not ever been one of my favorite holidays. As a kid, my mom made all of my costumes. I certainly can't remember all of them but there are a few that are unforgettable. Like the clown with the shoes so big I couldn't get up and down people's stairs while trick-or-treating. I had to walk sideways for half the night. Or the time I was a pair of dice. I had a "die" that I wore and the other one was bolted onto the side. I was lopsided so we removed the second "die" and I went as one. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold my sack of goodies out in front of me because my arms were sticking out the sides of a large cardboard and spray-painted box. I spent that evening swinging my pillowcase at the people who were distributing candy with the hopes that they would just put it in for me...wait, that's what she said???
But really, my parents faithfully dressed us up every year in something creative and eye-catching. The problem was that I really never (and still don't) wanted to catch anyone's eye. Now I just don't love to dress up and celebrate. Don't get me wrong, anytime that I have participated in Halloween festivities I've had a blast but it's just not something I look forward to every year. I'm thinking that next year I might have to begin hosting a costume party and make that a tradition to look forward to.
Alright well off to enjoy my Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale and watch Ryan Reynolds on SNL. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)