Not necessarily the ONLY 8 things, and certainly not in order, but here goes:
1. Eat lunch out with several friends I need to catch up with.
2. Play some late night games of Phase 10
3. Stay up all night and take long afternoon naps.
4. Have lunch with the kids at the thai buffet.
5. Make comfort foods
6. Maybe finish Christmas shopping?!!
7. Set good intentional goals for 2011
8. Enjoy my time with my family.
Tomorrow is my last day to work until 2011. Can you tell I’m excited?!!
8 Things I will miss about the Winter Olympics
1. Something to look forward to every night!
2. Figure skating- those minutes of being transfixed. It is such the perfect mix of emotions with the tension and the relief and the disappointment and the triumph. Love it.
3. Enjoying looking at snow from afar.
4. I love it when they show the parents of the athletes as they watch. They must just be so proud and so nervous.
5. Yeah, I’m a sucker for that little Olympic refrain with the drum beat at the beginning. So exciting!
6. I love the glimpses I get of some international camardaerie.
7. Laying on the bed with Willow and Kendra every night. I found me some good Olympics buddies.
8. Well, I must say it……..Apollo Ohno. Am I too old to say that?
So, my oldest daughter is going to New York tomorrow for her first time ever. She’s going by Amtrak with a group from her college to do some service projects and will be there for five days. I’m soooooooo excited for her! She’s going to be very busy, and these are-
8 Things I hope she experiences while there
1. She got a new coat for the trip, a really cute sort of swingie coat, and I hope she feels sharp wherever she goes in it. Of course, we were so worried about her being good and warm while there, and the weather there this week is shaping up to be considerably warmer than here at home!
2. She’s seeing Wicked and I hope she falls in love with stage productions, and that it will become a lifelong habit to see good plays whenever she has the chance.
3. She will be delivering meals to persons with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses. I hope that one person that she delivers a meal to looks her in the eye in such a way that she never forgets them.
4. She will be preparing meals in a soup kitchen. May she overcome her total disdain for all things culinary and pour some love into whatever she does there.
5. She has a free day- I hope she sees as many things as she can on that day.
6. I hope she discovers that there are kind and friendly people anywhere you may travel.
7. I hope she gets to know her classmates better and is even happier to be their friend than before they left.
8. I hope the days feel long to her and fast to her mom, as I look forward to her safe return.
This morning I sat right there in that comfy chair with two comfy friends on the couch and had the loveliest of meetings at Mrs. Potter’s Coffee. A down side to having a meeting with me in a public place is that I am too nosey a keen observer of all of the goings on around me. And so today, I share with you-
8 Things I Observed While In A Meeting About a Grant on the Friday Before Christmas
1. Several men were outside that window the entire time we were there painstakingly wrapping every tiny bit of a fairly small tree in front of the coffee shop in white lights. Now, those who know me already know that at this point in the holiday season, I think everything is sweet, and I found it sweet that they were being so meticulous in their work and that they were doing so about 4 weeks after most of the world put lights out. Good for them!
2. Oh, and talk about sweet. I saw a young man schlepping a big fruit tray down Main Street. He was headed, no doubt, to the office holiday luncheon and was bearing that thing up like the gift of the magi and I wanted to call his mother and tell her she had done well with that boy.
3. A group of grown men walked by who had obviously just been on a tour of the Hillerich and Bradsby bat factory in the next block and each of them had one of those miniature souvenir bats you get at the end of the tour. Again, very sweet how cute they were with those little bats.
4. A well dressed man brought a young woman in and sat down to my left where I could see them well and hear them well enough to know that he was offering her a new and special project at work. He launched into a very long pitch for it in spite of the fact that her immediate response at the get go was, “sounds great!”.
5. The efficient girls behind the counter taught us that the darker roasted coffees have less caffeine. That might be helpful to know for future reference. I mean, if I should ever learn to even like coffee.
6. Two people came in and sat behind me- I never saw them- but they were talking about sales and it sounded like one long string of cliché's! Make a note- in my study today I have found that people hanging Christmas lights on a cold windy day seem to have a lot more fun than people in sales.
7. Root beer made with cane sugar is too sweet for me, the queen of sweet.
8. My friend has put together a really great grant proposal.
Meeting Adjourned.
8 Things I hope we do over winter break…..
1. Hope the kids get to hang out with Nan some- and Mother Dear too.
2. All of us go to a movie together and maybe have some home movie nights. Suggestions? Three of us have seen The Blindside, but are willing to see it again as a group……
3. Play games at night like the gold old days at least twice during the break. No matter how many games we have we always gravitate back to Phase Ten and we never ever play all the way through to the end.
4. I hope the kids will humor me and let us read The Help together over the break. The older two complain often about never getting to read any fiction any more, and since all the girls ever read are books with vampires, this might a nice opportunity for them.
5. I hope my kids have some fun times with their cousins and with old friends.
6. I hope to feed them well with all of their favorites. And I hope to be relaxed and totally off duty as a micromanager.
7. Hope we can do a tacky light tour outing at some point. I’m sort of interested in doing that cavern light tour. Anyone been? Worth 20 bucks?
8. I hope we are all still speaking by the end of the break!
I have my own personal list too!
So, I’ve been perusing my extensive iTunes Christmas playlist in the hopes of coming up with a top 8 and it just couldn’t be narrowed down to that, especially since I like each song for different reasons. That being the case, I’m breaking it down a bit.
8 Christmas Songs that Really make me happy and possibly drive too fast
1. This is where the “ish” comes in. The number one choice is, well, two. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t allow Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving, and on that great day I wake the kids up with the music blaring and the first two songs are my favorites just because they have been at the top of the wake-up list for years. They are Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by NSync AND Christmas Time’s A Comin’ by Emmylou Harris.
2. I feel so shallow revealing the song that really means Christmas to me. The reason it makes me happy is so simple- the beat is fun and when the girls were little we heard it in the car on the way to a nighttime basketball game and we had such fun grooving to it in the car that it will forever have this happy happy association…..and so my friends- it is Hey Santa by Carnie and Wendy Wilson.
3. Feliz Navidad. Yes, we sing along with Jose’ every time, singing in syllables, not words, having no idea what we are singing.
4. My parents had the classic Bing Crosby Christmas album and I love every single song on it, but Mele Kalikimaka is the one I’m most likely to sing along with.
5. Christmas Don’t Be Late by Alvin and Chipmonks. It is what it is. Just can’t help it. One year in the office I worked in they let us bring in Christmas tapes and they played it while we worked. Let me say that while this one song is fun and brings back fun memories, there really was no good reason for the Chipmonks to have recorded an entire album nor for my coworker to have bought it and brought it in.
6. Just plain fun, good beat and easy to dance to- gotta love Run Rudolph Run by Sheryl Crow
7. While the Beach Boys were fine enough, I prefer Straight No Chaser’s version of Little Saint Nick.
8. This year I have a tie on my newest favs- Christmas Won’t be the Same by the Plain White T’s, and then although we don’t have tv, I’d have to live on another planet to not have heard about Glee, and I’m loving their version of Last Christmas.
And to show you that I love to balance my fun with the bittersweet, I give you my list of songs that make me cry pretty much every time.
1. I’ll Be Home for Christmas- by pretty much anyone EXCEPT Alvin and the Chipmonks.
2. Walking in the Air by George Winston which is from the Snowman soundtrack. That song is so beautiful, but it always reminds me of a sadness that my family experienced on Christmas a good 20 years ago.
3. I love this song in it’s own rite, but also love that C sang it in church and so it’s a double happy cry for me for me when I hear Joseph’s Lullaby by MercyMe.
4. The Magnificat by Down To Earth- This is a very very integral part of my church family Christmas, so I love not only the song and the singer, but the piece of home it grounds me to each year.
5. So mellow and sweet- James Taylor singing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
6. Because it stirs me deep inside, All We Like Sheep from Handel’s Messiah.
7. My very dear friend Faye introduced me to Amy Grant’s Tennessee Christmas. I liked it well enough and always thought of her when I heard it, but it nearly broke my heart the first year after she moved back to Tennessee and I was missing her so much, and still evokes a sad feeling of that loss all these years later.
8. Christmas Canon by Transiberian Orhestra because my sweet K who is so tender and earnest LOVES it, and that alone makes me weepy.
Okay……truth be told, I was a bit hurt tonight when I saw that on facebook there is a group called BAN THE CHRISTMAS SHOES SONG. Am I the only person left in the world who still gets a tad bit weepy over that one? Or how about the one called Christmas Carol about the orphan who gets adopted on her birthday which happens to be Christmas…..and her name is Christmas Carol. Truth be told, I bet you do too.
8 Things that have made this one of the best Thanksgivings ever
1. The excitement of having the college kids arriving home.
2. Going out to the movies with C and K. (The Blind Side, which we really enjoyed) It’s always nice to do things with just one or two, and it’s rare that it is C, K, and I.
3. C and my nephew making the road trip to Columbia to pick up S. I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see all the fun that the three of them had.
4. The banter around the table on Wednesday night. For a moment I just mentally pulled away and watched the scene from a distance and it made me want to cry it was so sweet. The kids were just so so happy to be together and of course DH and I were happy as could be.
5. Our traditional Thanksgiving meal with our friends and family in the neighborhood. I think this is about the 13th year that we have eaten there at lunch time on Thanksgiving. There is always an interesting collection of folks. I think our neighbors started out doing it to host a place for a number of folks who didn’t have anywhere else to go, but we just elbowed our way up to the table and we have never left. They are able to set up one long table for all of us, even when there have been 35 or more of us. The food just never stops passing, each dish better than the last. The crowning touch is (for me) when the host brings out hot from the oven his persimmon pudding and starts slathering on the homemade whipped cream.
6. Gathering with our family for the dinner meal. My mother’s stewed tomatoes and stuffing and until recent years dumplings. Pure heaven! Last year was our first year without my dad, and the way we chose to honor him and not be so focused on our sadness was to do a family service project, and we continued that this year by all bringing toys to take for the santa shop at the Portland Center that Dad loved so much. The kids had so much fun in the toy department picking out the toys that they bought with their own money to contribute, and we all enjoyed seeing what we each brought.
7. I’ve loved being at home, anchoring the kitchen while the kids are in and out with friends and each other. When they leave on Sunday they will have a stash of homemade goodies to take to tide them over until Christmas.
8. Anticipation of an even longer time together for Christmas in a very few weeks.
1. He gives them wings- it was Shawn who ran alongside them as they learned to ride bikes, who let them ride every scary ride they wanted, who taught them each to drive- and even though it makes him a little sad to see them go, he still keeps on.
2. Shawn works with kids. Most of them are not in a good spot in life. He has that perspective, and both recognizes and affirms how great our kids are, even on their worst days.
3. He works so so hard, and he does it because he wants them to have not only what they need, but some of what they want too.
4. He softens my rough edges. More times than I can count, he has followed behind the wide path of hormonal hysteria that I have cut and smoothed things over and helped the kids give me another chance!
5. He cares a lot more about the kids fitting in with other kids than I do and understands that they do indeed want some of the things that normal teens want- like phones and video players and such- and he honors that. I would have them living like the Amish were it not for his intervention, and we all know that!
6. He is very relaxed, and very present with them. When they are laughing and having fun, he’s not worried that they are making a mess or being too loud- he’s just right there in the moment with them.
7. He is so proud of them, and shows it in the way he looks at them, the way he talks to them, the way he brags about them.
8. He LOVES being with his family, and loves to do nice things for us all and he LOVES being a dad.
8 Things I Would Take to a Desert IslandWait........these are the things I took for my overnight stay at the Country Inn. .......Hmmm.....
Well, if paper and pen could be one item- I'd also take my own pillow. I'm picky.
8 Things I Hope for Kendra for her 18th year
8 Places I love to be
(Not in order, and certainly not the only places I love- just the ones I have on my heart tonight.)
My front porch- It's the center of my universe. When Shawn and I were looking for a neighborhood to plant our lives in, one of the things we were looking for was an urban neighborhood where people still sat on their porches in the evening. Sometimes folks gravitate to our porch, sometimes we all sit on our own porches and talk back and forth. One of my favorite photos is one that Cindy BK took one night after the community had eaten dinner. Donna and I are on the porch talking on one side, Chiayim and Jordan on the other. Sara is sitting on the steps, and Kendra and Shameka were chasing Lydia and Amos in the front yard. A snapshot of my happiness.
My mother's house- I love to be there. Although it is not the house I grew up in, it is a house where I am always my mother's child.
Lucille Grant Park- I dreamed of this scrappy little neighborhood park long before it came to be. That little patch of land once had a little house on it, which Shawn tore down- a job that took him months but that he took a lot of pride in finishing. The park itself is a great example of a colabrotive effort between the neighborhood and New Directions Housing and a group of Presbyterian youth groups. The first summer I went over and sat on the bench there every night, just so so happy that it had finally happened.
Dave and Cindy's front room- Once dubbed the "dance hall" room because it is big enough to contra dance in, it is also now big enough to house a lot of fun kid stuff and a huge welcoming table where the community group has shared so many wonderful meals and great stories. And the community garden just outside the window!
Camp Kavanaugh- My foundation at Kavanaugh is years of summer camp meetings there in the big open air tabernacle. For the past ten years, it has been the home of our church fall retreat- an event the kids and I look forward to all year long. I have always loved it because even when the kids were little, they could hop out and run with their friends and as long as they showed up for meals and bedtime, you knew they were safe and having adventures. My favorite thing to do at fall retreat is to get there first, then lay on my bed in my room with a window open and listen to all of the other folks arrive. I love hearing their cars crunch down the driveway and hear their voices as they unpack and settle in, and my heart welcomes each one.
My sister's house- Any of her houses. Because where her house is, is where she is.
My Aunt Elaine's house- Nothing but the best of memories, no matter where her house has been. Always a pantry full of all the ingredients for her to whip up something wonderful. Full hot breakfast in the morning while listening to Barnie Arnold give the farm report. Mamaw whispering the words as she read her Bible. Playing with Tom Dooley. Staying up all night watching The Crusade for Children. Christmas Day. Oh, the best Christmas Days. No place better than Aunt Elaine's!
The Bodega- I have always wanted a neighborhood "place" and Bodega has just become that for me. So warm and cozy on a winter's Saturday. An arm chair so comfortable that I call it The Lap of God. In the summer, the Farmers Market outside and cold Havanna Mojito inside. Wonderful easy folks who work there and who make you feel glad to be there. Lots of productive meetings there, and lots of good times with friends too.
( How neat to look back at these and see that half of them are right here in my sweet neighborhod!)
8 Songs I listen to with the volume up when I'm home alone..
Love Shack- The B52's
Order My Steps- GMWA Women of Worship
Hey Ya!- OutKast
Thou, Oh Lord- Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Don't you Hear Jerusalem Moan- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
White Freight Liner- Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, and Allison Kraus
Ringa Ringa- AR Rahman
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)- Beyonce'
I have been a huge fan of Rachelle for years, soaking in her wisdom and her great ideas. I am enjoying a nice chunk of online time tonight (this morning) and got caught up on her blog, and while there saw this great idea. And since I often have a hard time pulling something together on Friday, I'm going to shoot for my 8 Things to post on Fridays. And so, here goes:8 Signs of God's Presence this week
1. Tiny, tiny, tiny little shoots from my Stella lillies breaking through the ground just today, so tiny that I had to look really hard to spot them.
2. Susan making the very labor intensive Mayan Cafe' lima bean recipe for the community on Monday night.
3. Shameka's passion- this week all focused on the Invisible Children.
4. This song, so beautiful that I want to raise my hands in the air - L'Incoronazione Di Poppea: Pur Ti Miro by Christina Pluhar, Nuria Rial & Philippe Jaroussky Monteverdi
5. Chiayim's dimple so deep that I fall into it every time he smiles, even when I don't want to!
6. A Spring day so warm that I was able to sit on the front porch and re-connect with all of my "porch friends".
7. In a whispered prayer said with Kendra as she heads out the door on a day when her heart was anxious.
8. In this quiet moment while I can hear kids and partner and dogs all snoring, the click of things rolling in the dryer, and I am reflecting on God's generosity.
