Wordless Wednesday 12/2/09 Birdwatching

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Nostalgia

Last night, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas was on.  I stumbled upon it flipping channels and called the kids and Mike.  And we kind of watched it and I got a little sad.  Knowing that we could watch it on dvd or in any number of repeated airings made it lose something.  And I wasn't sure exactly, what.

When I was little, in the dinosaur age, these shows aired once a year.  It was circa dark ages when there were no laser discs, no beta maxes, no vhs, and years prior to cable tv.    There was anticipation and tradition in the annual Christmas tv viewing.  We poured over the TV Guide, gleefully circling the dates and times of our favorites.  Those Holiday specials only came on once and this made them an EVENT. 
A getting into your pj's, making Jiffy Pop, getting to stay up later, butterflies in your stomach, special evening.


Many of my very favorite Christmas memories were from the Rankin and Bass's productions of The Little Drummer Boy, The Year Without a Santa Claus, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
Who can forget the delight of Heat Miser and Snow Miser's song and dance routines?  Or scary thrills of the Winter Warlock as the legend of Santa Claus came to life?  I remember sitting on the floor of my parents bedroom, back against the dresser with my knees up to hide behind when the Bumble came on the screen during Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  We looked forward to laughing at the poignant and wonderful, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and singing along to "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch" and loving "Frosty the Snowman."
Each one was treasured anew year after year.  They were special.

I try to make them special still.  The huge bag of Christmas movies and books only come out of the attic the day after Thanksgiving.  Our family has a tradition of watching Chevy Chase's, "Christmas Vacation" on Thanksgiving Day.   During Advent I even schedule certain movies to watch on certain days when we do homemade gifts or cookies or decorate the tree.  And I know they look forward to it.

But it just isn't the same.

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Not Original But Appropriate

Twas the month before Christmas* *When all through our land,* *Not a Christian was praying* *Nor taking a stand.* *See the PC Police had taken away,* *The reason for Christmas - no one could say.* *The children were told by their schools not to sing,* *About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.* *It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say* * December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.* *Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit* *Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!* *CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod* *Something was changing, something quite odd! * *Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa* *In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.* *As Targets were hanging their trees upside down* * At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.* *At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears* *You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.* *Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty* *Are words that were used to intimidate me.* *Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen* *On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !* *At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter* *To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.* *And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith* * Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace* *The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded* *The reason for the season, stopped before it started.* *So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'* *Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.* *Choose your words carefully, choose what you say* *Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS , not Happy Holiday !* Please, all Christians join together and wish everyone you meet during the holidays a MERRY CHRISTMAS Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

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It's a God Thing

Life as a homeschooling Mom can be a little solitary.  Sometimes, though you know millions of others are homeschooling and parenting, you feel utterly alone.  And we persevere, committed to this way of life for the glory of the One who has called us into this service.

I have been richly blessed to know many other homeschooling Moms and to count some of these wonderful women as my friends.  And their friendship means a great deal even though we rarely if ever see each other, or talk for that matter, we are all aware that we keep each other in prayer.  And I love them for it.

But I have this one friend with an almost twin-like ability to pick up the phone exactly when we need to talk about the exact same thing.  It is, quite literally, a God thing.  And He has caused it to happen time and time again. 

He knows all our joys, all our struggles, all our failures and inadequacies and He knows how incredibly alike we are.  He loves us so much that when we are feeling particularly challenged in parenting and homeschooling, the phone rings and we find exactly what we need on the other end.  A sister in Christ with whom we can share it all.  Every bright spot, every ugly moment, every struggle, every hurdle crossed.  With whom we can confess our failures and sins and share our hopes and dreams.  I can bare my soul and admit I have had to let go of things that we had been so committed to doing only to find out that she is in the same boat with me.  With her I can troubleshoot, think aloud, cry, laugh, plan and confirm.  Our hearts go out to each other in love and we realize again that God knew exactly who we needed.  Again.  And we are bailing together.  And we are not, so very not, alone.

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Goodbye Dunkin Donuts?

This morning I was up at 5am getting ready to go to a CBD warehouse sale.  I got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, checked my email and Facebook then woke up Rowan to come along.  As we have a ritual of stopping at the Dunkin Donuts at the Sagamore bridge, I didn't worry about a 2nd cup or travel mug and down the driveway we went in the rain to wait for our ride.
Off we go in the pouring rain, in the pitch dark to that icon of morning cheer, Dunkin Donuts.  So in we go and I order Rowan and I breakfast and a black coffee for me.  (Carbs are all important to stamina in the hunt for bargains)  We stand in line waiting for our sandwiches and all of a sudden, I smell it.  That ubiquitous miasma that emanates from young men these days, Axe.  It is purported to be a bodyspray/deodorant but it isn't.  It is a good idea gone horribly, horribly wrong.  The commercial shows women swooning at the feet of the men who cavalierly spray it on but what it neglects to tell you is that they swoon because it is toxic waste made aerosol.

I lean forward and whisper to Rowan, "the guy in front of us is wearing Axe, it is choking me!"  She agrees and we try not to breathe until he gets his sandwich and leaves.  Thankfully grabbing our we head for the car and blessed fresh air.   

Buckling up, all I can smell is the damn Axe!  It is in my nostrils and as I open my coffee and bring it to my mouth it gets worse!  My coffee smells like Axe!!!!  The cup and lid smell like Axe!!!  Not my coffee!!  It hadn't been the guy in front of us, it was that teenage cretin who was making the orders!

I go back in holding it out away from my face and I ask the girl at the counter if someone who has not bathed in colonge this morning could possibly pour me a new coffee.  Puzzled, she does so and off we go but I can't drink it.  All I can smell is Axe. 

Could this have ruined Dunkin Donuts coffee for me forever?  I am afraid to find out.

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