This is the time of year that I ALWAYS find myself saying the very same thing...year after year ... "HOLY COW...is it REALLY almost Christmas" ... Funny thing is we ALL know it is coming...6 months earlier, heck...on December 26th we know it will be here again...yet that little detail seems to slip our minds until almost sitting in it's lap!!! I know I am not alone in this feeling....and no matter how hard you dig those heels in to slow the natural progression of time...still it arrives at your doorstep like a very loud, gaudy and over bearing great aunt come for a visit!!! Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays...after all, they were designed to delight all of our senses...right??? Glorious foods (that we somehow now have permission to eat) , colors and sounds,Flashing twinkling lights filling every window in your neighborhood ( ferreting out the suspected curmudgeons who refuse to partake in the glitz...)...and the children!! The glorious children...whose eyes grow twice their size with the thrill of it all.... that right there is worth the whole price of the Holiday Ticket! It is that one moment of 'wonderment' that if you look very closely you can actually see all the generations of Christmas Past...even your own! Wonderful memories full of fun and pure excitement...no matter the geographic location or the moment in time...a kid, is a kid is a kid...and for that I am grateful.....gives me hope that purity of heart and soul is lodged somewhere deep in our foundations and we will carry it with us into adulthood, drawing from it when most needed.
A funny thing also happens for me this time each year (at least for me personally) ....I plan, retool and re sculpt my direction in life...calling it my Holiday 'Gift to Myself' ...
Now I don't know if it is the lights, the music, the food, or just the thought itself of this ending year celebration ...but instead of sugarplums dancing in my head, or snowmen singing to me or a fat dude squeezing down my chimney...my thoughts wander to change!! (and not the loose stuff in your pocket kinda change) ..but rather the pathway or course kinda change. For me it is almost as if the lights, smells and sounds trigger a metamorphosis ... and I look at this as a very cool thing indeed. I plan, make notes, jot down things about myself that I like ..and don't like..(.DAMN, that list is growing) ... and then treat myself to the option of accepting or rejecting the change. After long talks with myself (I think I told you in past post that I do like to have conversation with myself, often times not listening to a word I am saying)...I digress!!...I decide what avenue to take and at what pace to travel. Over the years this has worked well for me...but this year it seems I am even more determined to 'change' ...not just me myself and I kinda change but an overall view of things kinda change...I feel the need to 'complete things' this coming year, leaving not a single thing dangling! To reach out my hand further than ever before with the offering of help and kindness ...artistically I would like to step into a realm of change, although i know realistically at my age and long time firmly planted feet may not allow this...so I plan to accept fully the circle I have drawn for myself....and be content with the graceful curves that always lead me back home.....I guess that is the true going 'full circle'...hee hee!
So bottom line, Christmas is many things to many people... to me, it is not always the gift you give others, but that special 'gift' you give yourself... and in turn...give others...Full Circle!!
Merry Bright Holidays to All
Hugs,
Jodi
I learned to make Pancakes!!! YES, it's true...I have never ever been able to make a decent pancake to save my soul, but I had a real hankering for 'Sour Milk Pancakes' like my grandma used to make....got several recipes from Internet friends (Thanks one and all) and VIOLA!!! One morning I set out to take charge of the elusive Pancake Monster that lurked in my inner being.... found it...and beat the crap out of it and Mastered the 'Pancake' ....I am busting buttons left and right and truly feel there needs to be a medal of some kind offered to the person who tried the hardest to make a pancake.....maybe I could make a hat of some kind...hmmmmmm! Anyway, they were delicious with butter and raspberry syrup .... I even had a few left over that I wrapped up in a baggie and keep in the fridge...I think mainly just to visit them a few times a day and say to myself "I made those" ...lol!! Yes I know...I really need to get a life.....
This was our Thanksgiving table...only 4 of us this year....Mom, Sis, Richard and myself. My Mom and Sis were in the middle of a 'Move from Hell' so they didn't feel up to cooking or eating for that matter...so I thought I would make a nice dinner (thought about slipping them a few pancakes so they could OooOoo and AhhHhHHhH at my new found ability! ) But alas we ate a small bird and some of the best taters and gravy I have ever made.....(not as good as the pancakes...hummmmmm! Pancakes with gravy, interesting thought) All in all it was a fun evening (sure hope they found those baggies of pancakes in their purses by now!!!)
This is a project Richard and I worked on one day...only about 2 years in the making . Richard and I are natural born scavengers , many a time Richard has coming home all beaming over the 'object' he has found along side the road or in a field somewhere..... 9 out of 10 times it is pretty darn cool...and this was one of those times. On his way to the post office one day he looked in a vacant lot to see a small pile of flagstone pieces , well he loaded up the Bronco and returned home with his find ..and said "There is plenty more where these came from" (almost sounded like "Thar's plenty 'O' gold left in them thar hills, let's saddle up the pack mules and head out") So I threw on some work clothes, grabbed garden gloves (and a small sack of pancakes...for you never know how hungry you will get on the trail) and we got approx. 3 more car loads.... after some time of thinking on what to do with these new shards of joy.... we finally decided to do a rock relief of sorts on our back wall. The stucco was crumbling a bit and we had removed a BIG Agave and that bare spot was staring me down ...so we 'Liquid Nailed' the shards to the wall...to somewhat resemble a desert mountain range...our plan is to follow it around the side and then do hit and miss ranges throughout the backyard wall..and of course do some night time lighting effects.... needless to say, bending and sitting on our knees all day left us hobbling around (rather like old miners) .... so I heated up some pancakes and slapped them on the old knees...felt better in no time!!
And last but never least....our baby Tess..... getting decorations out and in the box is always a Christmas toy or two from the previous year that Tess goes nuts over...like a long lost friend she is meeting up with after a years absence... she is so much fun to watch and she brings us miles of smiles each and every day (and she likes pancakes too!!)
