Happy New Year Hodgepodge-Vol 107

The first Hodgepodge of a brand new year...thanks for playing along!  Add your link to the bottom of my post before you run off to visit the neighbors.  Here are my answers~

1.  How did you ring in the new year?

Quietly, but we were awake when the ball dropped which should count for something.  

Daughter2 doesn't return to school until next weekend so we made fondue and watched movies and played umpteen games of Skip-bo.  Whoohoo!

2.  What is one thing you are looking forward to in 2013?

Daughter2 will be completing her Master's Degree in 2013, and that's pretty exciting. Mostly when I think about the year ahead,  I look forward to filling a blank slate.  

3.  Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, 'All of us every single year, we're a different person. I don't think we're the same person all our lives.' What say you?

I disagree.  I hope the person I am at the core doesn't change from year to year.  As we grow and mature and experience life of course we may tweak some of our beliefs about particular issues, but that's not the same thing as changing our core.  Most of us have a moral center that hopefully isn't twisting whichever way the wind blows.   

I do think there may be years in a person's life where they encounter situations, hardships, or challenges that fundamentally change them, but normally that's not something we encounter every single year.  

4.  The Pantone color of the year for 2013 is emerald green. Like or dislike?  Do you already own something this color?  Will you add something in this shade to your home or wardrobe in 2013?

I love this shade and have at least one top this color in my wardrobe now-

C'est moi.  There were real life friends in this picture, but I used the magic scissors and cropped.  I normally like to warn my real life peeps if they're going to be making an appearance on this side of the pond. 

I do think emerald green is a color most people can wear-it looks good on all skin tones. My home is done more in the red-gold-navy tones so I probably won't be adding emerald to my decor.  

5.  Speaking of emerald...what's your favorite gemstone?

I think it's safe to say I've never met a gemstone I didn't like.  
My favorite is my birthstone-a sapphire.

6.  Share a favorite book or movie from 2012.

I read a lot and could make a very long list here, but two I read recently and  enjoyed were-The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman and Sister by Rosamund Lupton.  

As far as movies go, it's also hard to choose just one. In 2012 I really liked Argo, Skyfall, The Life of Pi, Lincoln, and The Hunger Games.  

7.  What is something you want to tell yourself at the start of this brand new year?

I saw this on Pinterest not long ago, and it has really stayed with me.  Words to live by in 2013-

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Still in holiday mode here. 
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Hodgepodge Questions

Hello 2013!  Hello Hodgepodgers!  I'm wishing you peace, joy, and lots of words in this new year.  Everyone is invited to join the weekly party on this side of the pond. I post the questions every Tuesday, which you answer on your own blog. Hop back here on Wednesdays to add your link.

Here we go~

1.  How did you ring in the new year?

2.  What is one thing you are looking forward to in 2013?

3.  Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, "All of us every single year, we're a different person.  I don't think we're the same person all our lives."  What say you?

4. The Pantone color of the year for 2013 is emerald green. Like or dislike? Do you already own something this color?  Will you add something in this shade to your home or wardrobe in 2013?

5.  Speaking of emerald...what's your favorite gemstone?

6. Share a favorite book or movie from 2012.

7.  What is something you want to tell yourself at the start of this brand new year?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Auld Lang Syne

Can a blogger let a year end without saying a word?  I don't think so.

It's the last day of 2012.  I know some bloggers are doing a little recap of their year in pictures, but I'm going to use just words today.

I'm glad to see this year end. When I think back over these last twelve months I have to dig deep for the happy pieces. Life is rarely an all or nothing proposition, so of course there have been hours and days and weeks filled with happy moments.  I think back and I remember...a big trip, a graduation, birthdays, reunions...memories made and cherished. These memories and moments bring a smile to my heart, but it's a smile that's not quite whole.  Everything in our world this year has been painted over with a watercolor sadness we could not escape. It's been a year filled with grieving, of knitting our family together when something precious is missing.

There is no way to go but through.

Around or over are always easier.  

I've learned a lot this year.

I've hurt a lot this year.

I've loved a lot this year.

God is so good.  How often do we toss that little phrase out there without really thinking about the height and depth and breadth of what it means?  In this year we're bidding adieu I've thought about it. So many of the verses I learned as a child were made real to me in 2012.

He is near to the broken hearted.  

He is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in times of trouble.

His peace is not like the peace the world gives.

Nothing can separate us from His love.  

Daughter1 and I recently had a conversation about how it will feel when the calendar turns at the stroke of midnight. We know its not a magic cure-all for whatever hard things we faced the day before, but there is something about a new year that brings a renewed sense of hope to a weary heart.

Our hearts are weary.
But they are full of hope.

'Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning.  Great is Your faithfulness.'  Lamentations 3:22-23

Keeping Christmas

I'm still allowed to recap Christmas, right?  Is anyone else confused about what day of the week it is? Hubs has been off since the 17th and daughters have been coming and going, and I wake up and have to really think about what day it is.  Hmmm...maybe I've had one too many Christmas cookies?  

                            

We spent the Saturday before Christmas in the city.  There is nothing like New York City at Christmastime and everyone should experience the magic at least once in their lifetime.

It was a wee bit chilly, but you can't let a little thing like cold weather in December keep you away.

Please disregard my crazy hair. Being warm was more important, and we were determined to see "the tree"  

And some of the fabulous storefronts too.

Harry Winston does it up right, doesn't he? After we saw the lights and sights we headed to dinner at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. The girls and I tweeted him as we were seated, but he didn't make it in while we were there. The food was still wonderful and we love dining here.  

When it comes to grilling a steak, my hubs could give Bobby a run for his money. He braved the frigid temps to cook our Christmas Eve entree and the girls and I made a pretty salad, brussel sprouts with pancetta, and sauteed mushrooms to accompany the Bedrock sized Ribeyes. Hubs refers to these as yabbadabbado steaks.  

After supper, but before the Christmas cookies, we attended a beautiful church service. I never tire of voices joined in Silent Night in a candlelit sanctuary the night before Christmas. Falling snow greeted us as we made our way out of church. Christmas Eve bliss.

We came home and the girls and I opened our traditional pjs and then we all settled onto the couch to watch A Christmas Story.  

Christmas morning dawned sunny and white.

Santa came!

But first!! Must get that picture on the stairs~  

Everyone was happy with their gifts and my girls managed to really surprise me with one of theirs. They purchased the domain name for my blog. That means something, but Daughter1 has to explain it to me.  

And set it up for me.  

And then tell me what's different, but it's something.   

I'm going to be a dot.com. 

I think?  

I surprised hubs with a chainsaw. 

His life is now complete.  

FYI-you're never too old for Disney...

After stockings and breakfast and prezzies we piled into the car and headed to my mom's house in South Jersey. We had Christmas dinner at my brother's house and my sister in law made my favorite ham and pineapple stuffing. There were more presents and chaos and time to enjoy aunts and uncles and cousins my girls don't see nearly often enough.  

We spent the night in South Jersey because my big sis has a birthday the day after Christmas and a fuss must be made. My younger sister and her hubs hosted the birthday dinner at their home in Philadelphia where there was yet another fabulous meal. Christmas is a lot about the eating, right?  January will be about the sugar detox.

p.s-that calendar hasn't turned yet so we are still free to finish off the rest of our cookies.   

My nephew got some fun things for Christmas this year. Here's hub showing him how to work the very official Batwatch.  Hubs will say he was just being a helpful uncle, but we all know he was having a little too much fun flashing that Bat symbol all over everywhere.  

Hey nephew! Here's what happens when you leave your 20-something cousins unattended with your creatures.  ahem.  

Or your Furby is seated near an uncle.

My sister really should have consulted me before she told Santa to get that one. If you have kids the age of mine you'd successfully blocked the whole Furby/Tamagotchi/toys that talk and need 'babysitting' while your real kids are at school kind of thing. They're back and they're smarter and they still don't turn off.  Here's a tip-they need to sleep in a darkened closet deprived of any sensory stimulation.  You're welcome.

Daughter1 had to be at work bright and early Thursday morning so we had to take her to the Amtrak station in Philly after dinner.  Boo.

It was a lovely Christmas. We eke everything from it that we can...the love, the warmth, the sense of wonder. We hold tightly to all that Christmas means, and as it fades from memory the calendar turns and December is within reach once more.

God is good like that.

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."  Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas Cards

One of my favorite things this time of year is sending and receiving cards.  There are several Christmas card link-ups in the blogosphere so I thought I'd add mine today too. (Visit Kelly's Korner and Kimberly's Korner  to see more).

This year I'm displaying some of the photo cards we've received on my back staircase. These stairs come down into the hallway we enter from the garage so we pass it many times a day.  I'd seen the clothespin ribbon garland on Pinterest and gave it a try (click here for the link).  The poster on Pinterest hung the ribbon horizontally, but I found the large clothespins plus a card made the ribbon droop,  so I hung mine vertically. I have a card holder for the non-photo cards and any that didn't fit on my ribbon, but I love the way this looks.

Back to our card...

It's something of a challenge getting all four of us in the same place at the same time in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It means I really have to plan when it comes to our card. We were all together at Thanksgiving, but we've done the traditional Thanksgiving indoor shot before, and I really wanted an outdoor picture.

Which is why our photo this year is full of contradiction. We took the picture in August and it was a tad warm.  It was hubs idea to add the bows to our plant hanger and outdoor love seat, and my crafty Daughter1 made the cute Christmas bunting.

I like this picture.
Everyone looks happy.

Course if you received this card in real life you'd be able to read our names, but I don't use names on my blog, hence the squiggles.

If you're reading here, please know the wishes are sincere...may you experience real peace and joy this Christmas season and in the new year ahead.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

Isaiah 9:6

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

Merry Christmas!

The Twelve Days of Christmas Kindness

In the days and even the months leading up to the election it seemed the dialogue in our country took a turn for the mean.  The divide was (and still is) palpable and people were outspoken and cross. It made me weary.

I decided during the month of December to look for ways to be kind 'on purpose'.  I added a button to my blog for anyone who wanted to do the same and thus, The 12 Days of Christmas Kindness was born.  12 Acts of Kindness in the 25 days leading up to Christmas.

I said at the time that I'd post my thoughts when the challenge was nearing an end and today's the day.  I don't know if anyone has a post they'd like to share but I'll add a link to make it easy if you do.

I would like to think kindness comes naturally to us humans, but here's what I've observed in recent weeks~

People are busy, harried, distracted, tired, hurting, broke, and anxious about a multitude of things. All of that keeps us from being kind when, I think deep inside, we really do want to be. I can't tell you how many times during the month I thought of that verse in Romans where Paul says, "For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Rom. 7:15)

We know when two of us are approaching the door to the post office at almost the same time we should allow that other person to enter first.  Instead we avoid eye contact and quicken our pace because, by golly, we've got stuff to do, and this guy looks like he's not prepared and will ask a million questions and, whyyyy does that clerk move so slowly when the place is jam packed???  We have a little conversation with ourselves in situations such as these, and more often than not, self rears its ugly head...we think  my list, my stuff, my life.

There's a lot I want to take away from this month, but I'll keep it brief and share just three things-

1.  Kindness, like almost everything else we feel, is a choice. We can be kind and patient with the people we encounter throughout the day, or we can let them get under our skin. One thing that really helped me was to think about the other person's story. People have stories that we just can't know in a casual encounter in the supermarket line. There are also people in this world who are nasty for no good reason, but still, I guess that's their story, and probably if we dug deep there would indeed be a reason for why they are the way they are. Regardless,  I have a choice and I decided that my small act of kindness was not going to be dependent on whether or not I thought someone deserved it.  In fact, the people who rile me up, frustrate me, and try my patience are often the very ones in desperate need of a little kindness in their world.

2.  While opportunities spontaneously present themselves in the course of a day, a little planning doesn't hurt either.  At the beginning of the month I thought about some tangible things I could do, and I had a lot of fun doing them. I enjoy baking so I went to town making peppermint popcorn for the clerks in the post office and dry cleaners, home-baked goodies for hubs office and also for the girl who cuts my hair and for hubs barber too, and caramel corn bagged up with a tip for the guys who collect our trash and the lady who delivers our mail.

Besides the edible stuff, I've dropped money in every Salvation Army tin I've come across, wrote two overdue personal notes to folks I wanted to thank for something intangible, and we outrageously over tipped our server one Saturday morning along with a parking valet at a party we attended earlier this month.  We're going in to the city while the girls are home and will take a couple of nice coats we no longer wear to give to someone sitting on the cold New York sidewalk.

I looked for opportunities to be kinder as I went about my day and they were everywhere. For starters, I greeted the people I passed. I made it a point to ask clerks and servers how their day was going, and you know what?  People want to talk and they want someone to listen.  I held doors and packages, let cars out in traffic at difficult intersections, and let the anxious looking businessman, fidgeting in line behind me at the market step in front of me.

Sometimes kindness means letting the little things go. Our supermarket has about six self check out registers all in a row, three down one side and three down the other. They don't have a clearly designated queue but people more or less form one line and go to the first available register. As I stood waiting my turn (next in line) a woman marched right up and went ahead of me. She saw me. She acted like she assumed there were two queues, one for the left side and one for the right side, but she knew better.  So did I, but I let it go.  A small thing I know, but sometimes those small things accumulate during the day and ruin not only our mood, but also our sense of good will with which our day began.

3.  Lastly, I want to be more present when I go about my daily errands and life. One thing I especially noticed is that everyone is on their phone everywhere you go. Nobody is actually completely present in the place they are standing.  The sales clerk is asking for a credit card, but the  customer isn't paying attention so the whole check-out process takes 5x longer than it should. The guy in front of me entering the shop lets the door drop in my face because he's engrossed in conversation with someone miles away. We're not noticing that person who needs a hand or a smile or a dollar because we're all doing something other than the one task we need to accomplish in the place we're in.

I don't want to be that person in 2013.

I'm sharing some of what I did, not to be congratulated, but rather as a way to remember how doing something so very small made me feel.  I want to remember a smile given returned with a smile back.  I want to remember the sight of someone's tense shoulders relaxing at the offer of a helping hand in whatever form that needs to be.  I want to remember the little stories people shared with me, sparked by home made food and treats and the simple question, 'How are you doing today?"

This world is harsh. If there's anything we've been witness to this month it's that people want to be noticed. Acknowledged. Validated. Supported. Encouraged.  In this new year I want to not be so caught up in my own story that I miss yours.

So how about we change the name?
Let's make this The Twelve Months of Christmas Kindness.

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Every act creates a ripple with no logical end."  Scott Adams

Christmas-The Middle Years

I know I left you hanging back in 1996 in last week's Christmas post so I thought today I'd move on to Christmas in the middle years.  More or less.  I have lots of
bad pictures, but I'm trying to limit myself to just one or two per year.  Merry Christmas!

For the entirety of the 'middle years' we lived in Maryland, BUT...we did not spend a single Christmas in Maryland. We have always and forever trekked somewhere else at the holidays, which in all honesty is a teensy bit exhausting. It's also fun and the facts of life happen to be that our families have never been less than several hours away so that's that. Traveling with middles is a little trickier than traveling with toddlers. Middles require a detailed explanation as to how Santa will know where to find them. Sometimes gifts were too large to haul so we had to get creative and explain that Santa knew he'd need to bring that doll house-computer-bigger than a bread box item early.

I suppose there are parents who would call that lying.
We just called it keeping the child in childhood.

1997-The year of University Barbie. 

University Barbie as opposed to lawyer Barbie, nurse Barbie, or teacher Barbie.

.

I guess she needed to get her degree first-Ha! 

Besides the too much cuteness for words, two things struck me when I came across this picture.  For one-I am definitely a fan of the matching Christmas sleepwear. At what age are sisters too old for matching sleepwear?  Hmmm....

Here's a helpful hint for young parents-open all the packaging on toys before you wrap them. Remove the annoying twist ties and staples, insert any required batteries, and then box the toy back up. Makes for a much more pleasant Christmas morning.  

Back to 1997...the second thing I noticed when I saw this picture is my own sweet grandmother sitting in her chair beside the fireplace. Her 'assigned seat', if you will. Hey, nobody's exempt on Christmas morning, not even the seniors.  

Gigi's place was always beside the fire because she was always always always cold. We'd all have to de-layer and she'd still be shivering in her long johns and wool sweater worn under a warm bathrobe with a blanket across her lap. Grandmothers are always missed, but never more so than at Christmas.  

1998-

Hey-matching nighties!
These were from American Girl and they were darling.  They look a little bit sack-like in this photo, but trust me-they were cute.  Plus my girls were peanuts.

Still are.

1999-The Year of the Theatre

Daughter1 was livin' large in December of 1999.  She had a big role in the 5th grade Christmas play-Mrs. Claus. 

That same season she danced in The Ballet Theatre of Annapolis's Production of The Nutcracker.

So exciting to dance with real live honest to goodness professional ballerinas.  

Are male dancers also called ballerinas?  

No they are not.  I just Googled that, something I actually never did in 1999. Pretty sure Googled was not a verb in 1999.  Incidentally, male 'ballerinas' are called danseurs (French for dancer).

You're welcome.  

Do I have any pictures of the professional ballerinas and danseurs?

Non.  Also French.  It means no.

I saw that show at least six times so I should have pictures, but non.
In 1999 it was not uncommon to just soak up the present minute, sans photography.

2000-The Year of the Program

Even numbered years always found us in Tennessee, most years in a cabin in the Smokies. Once the grandchildren got a little older we started trekking down the mountain to church on Christmas Eve, but while there were littles and babies in the house we had our own home grown Christmas Eve service.  The girls would choose carols for all of us to sing together, followed by solos they assigned themselves. ahem.  

fyi- my girls love a microphone...it's their father's genes.

They'd each take a turn reading a portion of the Christmas story from scripture, and there would be a lot of directing from the peanut gallery, and some giggling too.  I think God looked forward to these programs as much as we did, and I'm quite certain their innocent tender hearts made Him smile. 

The Smoky Mountains in December.  

Ice Ice Baby

2001-The Year of the Game

Daughter2 got a Gameboy for Christmas.
I think she liked it.
The women in my family take their games seriously.

Need more proof?

The level of intensity in this game of Scattergories is a little bit scary.

2002-The Last Maryland Christmas Not in Maryland

Deja vu?

No, but Daughter2 is wearing the sweater Daughter1 was wearing in the picture two Christmases ago. This picture fills my heart to the brim and overflowing.  I look at this and know the future which is today.  

But in 2002 these three girls sat together for Christmas dinner in a cabin in Tennessee and smiled for the camera and played pool upstairs and sang Christmas carols round an old piano.  There was much laughter in the Smoky Mountains that year.

Hello my lovelies-

You're moving to England and you have no idea.  

Neither do we.    

Just keep smiling.

Every little thing.  Is gonna be alright.  

2003-The Christmas Where We Hopped the Pond

We moved to England on the last day of August in 2003.

In October we stood in front of nearby Windsor Castle for a Christmas card shot.  

Who'd a thunk it?

I remember going with another newly transplanted American friend to the B & Q to buy a Christmas tree for our English home. The B & Q is essentially the UK equivalent of Home Depot.  Sorta kinda.

I remember being grateful to the men who packed us up on the Maryland end of our move.  Men who were seriously done with us by the time they got to our full finished basement, but who still had enough patience left to tell me I'd be wanting some of my Christmas decorations on the other side of the pond.

They were so right.
I spy that little preschool Popsicle stick ornament front and center on our tree.
Where we go, it goes.

We made our first trip back to the states that December.  We managed to see both sides of the family because that's just what you do when you're on the same continent even though both sides of the family are many miles and states apart.  You live out of a suitcase and schlep from pillar to post because it's Christmas and you love them.

And because it brings a smile to your children's faces, and because you do not yet know how deeply England is going to embed itself into your heart.  Three months after the move you're all just a little wobbly. 

No worries.

Your definition of home is going to expand.

So is your world.