Мой блог

• Work, Work, Work.  I worked many hours in December, and did a lot of volunteering. I had some really neat and memorable experiences. I am enjoying every day, learning something new from the folks that I work with, and also about myself.
• My Sister’s Birthday.
• Mom and Dad’s Wedding Anniversary. Which was never celebrated by us kids, but always marked an important date for us.  Christmas Tree went up, and poinsettias delivered.  My Dad always made sure I had one. Such a silly little thing, but, a tradition that always meant a lot to me.
• Saw Glenn Beck’s, “Christmas Sweater”, and was amazed. Was able to attend with family that made the whole experience so much better.
• Festival of the Trees.  A truly humbling experience. If you can, and haven’t, I would suggest adding it to your Christmas experience next year.
• Lights at Temple Square. Simply WOW.
• Snow, snow and more snow. My heavens. For the snow.
• Lots of long, good soaks in the bathtub. I am so grateful to have a place to soak.
• Poinsettias. I didn’t think I would get one this year, but I did. Made me smile and cry.
• A trip to the cemetery, in a snowstorm and a million mile an hour winds, just to place poinsettias and garland on the gravestone. (A mere 4 hour drive, one way. Oh please explain to me, why this is so important to me)
• Visit with my cousin and her fun girls.
• My Mom’s birthday, came and went and with it many memories that flew across my mind. Man I sure do miss her.
• Beautiful Christmas, full of really neat surprises. I am one lucky girl.
• Snow, snow and more snow. Did I say snow?
• Ethan’s 5th Birthday. It came and went with little fan fare. Lots of tears. Every year I promise myself, it is going to be a big day for Ethan. Every year, I can’t muster much enthusiasm for this date. Man, I can’t believe that he is five. Five.
• Time off, between Christmas and New Years- It’s been nice, hard.

You are right, dreams really do come true!

Thank you all so much, for your generosity and efforts.

Truly.

I hope that everyone had a very very Merry Christmas, and that the New Year, is bright and happy.

My plate runneth over.

I think that Microsoft was really inventive when they came up with the name Windows, for their platform. Very clever, and I hate anything associated with Microsoft.  But, clever it was.

The windows that we stare out from, through out our lives are interesting things.

I remember seeing snow for the first time. Standing by the window, and watching it fall. I was mesmerized by the beautiful soft perfect flakes. I couldn’t hardly pull myself away from the frosty pane so that I could venture outside and enjoy the fluff.

I once had a bedroom that had three walls of windows. All around, grew lilac bushes and it was truly beautiful in the spring, with all blooms in their glorious splendor. The scent still takes me back to that room. I read many books in the window seat watching the seasons pass me by.  Even after the flowers were gone, it was so green and beautiful. I miss that room.

I spent a fair amount of time in my youth, watching cars and the people that drove them. I swear I grew up along the I15 corridor.  Traveling in style in my Dad’s Kenworth.  This is where I fell in love with the hot Nevada desert. Where I learned how mile markers and exit numbers work. This is where I saw the most amazing sunsets, sunrises and learned lessons of gratitude and faith.  My love for hamburgers and pepsi. I learned how to spot a flat tire at twenty paces and the familiar scent of diesel fuel that will forever remind me of my Father.

Another window that I remember with clarity my first house I lived in, after being married.  An enormous picture window facing east, that allowed you to stare for hours at the northern cusp of the Wasatch front. Mountains crawling out of the earth with rugged snow capped peaks that looked so close, it was if you could reach out and touch them through the glass.

One of my most favorite windows, was in the kitchen. This is where I watched my children play outside. Running around, playing back and forth. Victoria usually being a brutus, and Hans always in trouble.  One of the most precious memories that I have stored away in my mind, was the Christmas of 2001. September 11, had come and gone and I felt like we as a family were whole and healing. I felt such gratitude that we were together, and safe.  It was shortly after Thanksgiving and Paul and the kids were outside hanging Christmas lights. I was inside making minestrone soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I watched them through the window and the beautiful sunset behind them.  I finally gave up the ghost and went outside for a snowball fight.  It was one of those picture perfect days. I loved that window.

Overlooking the Salt Lake Valley from the top floor of Primary Children’s Hospital provided me with another view. Falling snow, covering every crack and crevice with bright Christmas lights aglow underneath the white blizzard.  Many nights, I sat rocking and rocking Ethan, watching the snow pile up first in inches, then in feet. Sometimes the wind blowing so hard, the crystals flying sideways making swirling patterns that are simply indescribable.

I spend a lot of time in this window.  Here at my computer. I chat with my sister and friends, read my favorite blogs, play scrabble (I am the scrabble queen ya know) and enjoy reading emails.  This is one of the most amazing pieces of technology that I could even conjure up. I love that I can instantly write a letter to my cousin who lives in Canada and know that pretty soon at the touch of a button she will be reading it. I love that I can share pictures, and delve into any subject, instantly being able to sort through articles and pages of any topic, I care to google.  This is a neat window.

As I sit here on this crisp Autumn night and reflect on the windows in my life, I find a wealth of gratitude creeping out the surface. I have been so fortunate and blessed.  I appreciate the vistas and views.  More so, than I can express.

I read over at Miss Amy’s place, about her Christmas Wish List and I loved it! So, I thought I would get adventurous and delve into my secret desires.  Mind you, this is a dream list, so ya know, I can list pretty much anything I want.

A therapy pool.  Yup, now that is a suave and savy thing to desire for Christmas!?  We really need one.  Ethan loves the water so much, and it is getting harder and harder to get him to a pool that is warm enough, but not to hot to swim, and stretch his muscles.  So Santa, be sure to bring this down your chimney.

I am completely enamoured with this style of dishes. I think they are so lovely. Perfect on my holiday table. I am not sure if you know this about me or not, but I am completely and utterly in love with china and dinnerware.  I love white, because you can always add color. Different centerpieces and table clothes, napkins and place mats. I really do enjoy having a beautiful table.

Not to sure my family appreciates it, but for me it is always a better meal when everything looks as beautiful as it tastes.  Why would I want to spend hours and hours on the meal and then not have it presented in an attractive fashion.

I love cooking.  I am not the best cook, but I really do enjoy it. I love everything about sitting down as a family, chatting and visiting at meal time.  It is where we share our days and discuss our comings and goings.  It’s where we talk politics and religion and where we laugh together.

This particular set is from Sir La Table, and way out of my price range, but I’ll add it to my cyber space Christmas list.

Another thing I am hoping for, is to fill my homes with live poinsettia’s.  They are so beautiful and remind me of my Mom. I love to put them under the tree, on top of the tree skirt.  This year, with Ethan I am not so sure how we will do it, but I am hoping at some point I can litter my house with these beautiful blossoms.

I think it is so neat that we have access to such amazing plants, through the winter, even though they are not indigenous to the area in which I live.   I have always been somewhat fascinated by that.

I think a lot of times, we don’t take into consideration how lucky we are to have access to things.

The train and trucking industry have certainly made things like this, very accessible.  We don’t even blink when we buy oranges all summer long or Watermelon in February.   But we should. Cause it is just darn neat!

These are just a few of the things I want.  What about you!?

It is beginning to look like Christmas. Isn’t that a familiar sounding phrase?  The truth of it, is sinking in and with that, comes a flood of memories that wraps its arms around me, and draws me in.

Everyone is burning candles that are pumpkin pie scented or fall harvest. The Autumn leaves are gone now, and with it the colder days of winter and the drab stark contrast of their splendor. I generally love this time of year. Fall is my favorite. “I would send you boquets of sharpened pencils” ( Tom Hanks- You’ve Got Mail) and it is true. The zest of getting organized, schedules coming together, the crisper days and brighter colors. Hot apple cider and pumkins covered with frost. I love it.

This “season” has been different for me. I’ve been saying goodbyes, and coming to terms with the changes my life is making, and I have been getting used to a different beat.  It came though, and I have been sorting through all those feelings and the alination that comes with the axis of your life taking a different form.

I like these cold winter mornings. I am anxious for snow to get here. I have plans. I want to make snowmen, bake pies and goodies,  have the drum beat slow down. Read more. Talk more. Listen more.

The shorter days, brighter sunsets and the smell of pine wood burning, are evidence that Old Man Winter, is making his decent upon us.

I’m excited to fetch a Christmas tree, and cover every part of the house with boughs. I want to use fresh holly intertwined in branches, along with some fresh ivy I have been saving.

Ethan loves the twinkle lights. The beautiful distinctive bright lights, draw his attention. I use a lot, wrap them around the many branches, covering the tree. It glows.  Poinsettias were my Mom’s favorite, and always did we give her one on December 5th, her wedding anniversary. I usually have pots of them around the base of my Christmas tree.

All the cooking and fun with the kids, all the wrapping and secrets and caroling. They are the gifts, in which I seek. It is so neat. This year, I want to burn more candles, listen to more music, visit longer, and laugh more.

We have a family that is embedded in traditions. We’ve always done the same things, celebrated the same way and I have clung to those treasures. They are the very thing we are made of. I love it.

I am grateful, enormously, inarticulately grateful for, these things.

May you all have the things that comfort you, surround your soul and warm your heart this holiday season.