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| Tonight was a bitter sweet night. The house was quiet, except for the water in the fish tank and the occasional blow of the furnace. After a few weeks of the the Christmas tree sitting in its place in the window, with no ornaments, I decided that I finally take the time do decorate it. I had a realization...but let me back up a bit and start from the beginning.
Outside snow is falling, for about the 3rd time this week. Christmas movies have been on TV all day long. First it was The Polar Express, then The Santa Clause 2, and then they repeated The Polar Express. During the first run of The Polar Express, I worked on a Christmas letter to include in the first set of real Christmas cards I've sent out. Yes, over the years I have exchanged cards with many people, but these are the first set of "adult" cards, cards that are coming from both Kevin and I. Year after year, I have written a paragraph for my mother's Christmas letter. I guess that I have become so accustom to this every year, that I was just waiting for her to tell me that my paragraph was late. It doesn't truly feel like the Christmas season without that letter, so I realized that it was time to write my own. I complete the letter and then head out to pick up the cards that I had ordered. I return home, eat dinner, and then decide that the tree needs to be decorated.
I decorate the unfamilar tree, a tree that had sat in my granny's family room every year for as many years as I can remember. A tree that she insisted that I take home with me when I saw her the day after Thanksgiving. I'm decorating this unfamiliar tree with all the familiar ornaments that I have put on the tree for years, with the exception of a few new ones that we received as gifts, and I realize that Christmas has changed this year. I am no longer in the kid roll. No matter how old I got, while I was still living with my parents, I was still the kid, waiting for Christmas day so that I could find out what was waiting for me under that tree. This year, on Christmas morning, I won't wander downstairs, have a bowl of rice pudding for breakfast and wait what seems like endless hours before my sister drags herself out of bed. While the family may still gather in the living room with Christmas Carols playing in the background, it will be different.
This Christmas is about beginning new traditions, traditions that Kevin and I will begin together. We get to decide how we exchange gifts and what traditional foods we want to have on this day. We won't wake up to the sounds at my parents house, but to the sounds of the fish tank running down stairs or the neighbors leaving to make their Christmas visits. And eventually, some years from now, it will be our kids that wait with anticipation for Christmas day, to run down the stairs to see what Santa has brought them, to eat their favorite Christmas breakfast food and hear the the Christmas Carols playing in the background. They too, will have the chance to long for Christmas Pie after dinner.
While I'm excited for what future Christmas will bring us, part of me continues to cling to the past ones.....
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| So I had this dream this morning about high school finals....Something about panicing because i couldn't remember what finals I had when. Don't ask me where that one came from....Had a good birthday-went to have lunch with the sister...Now if only I could have had my traditional taco dinner...darn wisdom teeth...at least they're out. | | |
| Happy Snow Day!! One of the great perks of being a teacher is having a 3 day weekend because it snowed. | | |
| “I had the capacity to be a spiritual person, and to hold some fervent beliefs. Quite simply, I believed I had a responsibility to be a good person, and that meant fair, honest, hardworking, and honorable. If I did that, if I was good to my family, true to my friends, if I gave back to my community or to some cause, if I wasn’t a liar, a cheat, or a thief, then I believed that should be enough. At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hoped I would be judged on whether I had lived a true life.â€
~Lance Armstrong (It's Not About the Bike; My Journey Back to Life) | | |
| First 2 sessions of camp are over, mini-camp starts monday. The summer is almost over 
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