Grace Cathedral Hill (The Decemberists)

A New Year Blessing

I hope for you in this new year...

That the single, most significant dimension of life is your relationship with the Source of Goodness who never ceases to sing love songs to your soul

That you find meaning, purpose, and vitality in what you do daily

That you treasure your loved ones and let them know how dear they are to you

That you make choices and decisions that reflect your truest self

That you look in the mirror at least once a day and smile in happy amazement

That you remember relationships are what count above all else - more than work or money, or all the material things we spend so much time tending

That you live in an uncluttered manner, enjoying the freedom to be content

That you keep your sense of humor when things don’t go the way you want

That you find adventure in each new day and marvel at the wonders of creation which constantly present themselves to you

That you never give up on yourself when others turn away or do not understand

That you are attentive to the health of your body, mind and spirit

That you take risks and accept the growth-full challenges that come to you

That you draw on your inner strength and resiliency when you are in need

That you carry peace within yourself, allowing it to slip into the hearts of others so our planet becomes a place where violence, division, and war are no more

© Joyce Rupp January 2004

SONG: Grace Cathedral Hill by The Decemberists

BOOK: Toasts: Over 1,500 Of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces by Paul Dickson

POEM: New Year on Dartmoor by Sylvia Plath

This is newness : every little tawdry

Obstacle glass-wrapped and peculiar,

Glinting and clinking in a saint's falsetto. Only you

Don't know what to make of the sudden slippiness,

The blind, white, awful, inaccessible slant.

There's no getting up it by the words you know.

No getting up by elephant or wheel or shoe.

We have only come to look. You are too new

To want the world in a glass hat.

QUOTE: "One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: to rise above the little things." ~ John Burroughs

New Year's Day (U2)

I admit to being a woo woo woo wee kinda person - there is not much I disbelieve, as there are so many things our brain does not/cannot process about the universe. I'm fine in accepting the fact some phenomena is just unexplainable - the mystery, in my opinion, makes it all the more powerful and intriguing. I don't have to have *proof* - I trust my intuition, even more so in the last decade...

A few nights ago I was packing away the Christmas CDs until next year, and ran across a mix that J (my co-worker who passed away mid-June) had made and given to another co-worker the prior Christmas, who then dubbed a copy for me - I hadn't had a chance to play it over the holidays, and was curious, given J's fun and eccentric taste in music and since there was no tracklist, as to exactly what he had included on his compilation.

When I began listening on my kitchen boombox, I broke into a broad grin - in the three months we worked together, most of our conversation revolved around our shared passion for music... and I recognized so many of his favorites represented: Cyndi Lauper, The Go Go's, Barbra. As I skipped from song to song, hearing about 30 seconds of each, I began to notice a very distinct change in the air in the room - it was the smell I had experienced when we visited J in the hospital room, just a few hours before his death. To tell you the truth, it was an extremely unpleasant odor, but it was distinctive, such that I will always associate it with J - it was how he could identify himself to me in my kitchen and I knew he was there... and I was comforted...

SONG: New Year's Day by U2

BOOK: If the Spirit Moves You: Life and Love After Death by Justine Picardie

POEM: New Year's Day Nap by Coleman Barks

Fiesta Bowl on low.

My son lying here on the couch

on the "Dad" pillow he made for me

in the Seventh Grade. Now a sophomore

at Georgia Southern, driving back later today,

he sleeps with his white top hat over his face.

I'm a dancin' fool.

Twenty years ago, half the form

he sleeps within came out of nowhere

with a million micro-lemmings who all died but one

piercer of membrane, specially picked to start a brainmaking,

egg-drop soup, that stirred two sun and moon centers

for a new-painted sky in the tiniest

ballroom imaginable.

Now he's rousing, six feet long,

turning on his side. Now he's gone.

QUOTE: "No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference. It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam." ~ Charles Lamb

Happy New Year (Todd Snider)

From Gimundo...

No matter where you live, your clock should have ticked on over to 2008 by now. And whether you welcomed in the New Year with a whimper or a bang, or simply slept right through it, we hope you've woken up refreshed and ready to face a fantastic new year (though if you celebrated in the traditional fashion, you may need a few Advil first).

All over the world, the start of a new year is considered a time to take stock of your life – to think about what you can leave behind, and what dreams are still unfulfilled. Here in the United States, many of us write up lists of resolutions that we never end up keeping, and, at the stroke of midnight, hope we have someone to welcome us into the new year with a kiss. But many other countries have their own fascinating customs to face the changing year, including everything from wearing yellow underwear to burning junk-filled dolls. If you're regretting how you spent last night, here are a few unique international customs you may want to try next year –as long as you've got the frequent flier miles for it.

In South American countries including Ecuador and Colombia, make sure to stock up on matches – it's time to burn all your bad memories away. To celebrate the New Year, families buy life-sized male dolls, which can be stuffed with whatever (non-toxic) junk you're ready to ditch, and dressed in a family member's old clothing. Then, let the bonfire begin: The burning of the so-called "Mr. Old Year" is a way to symbolically erase the pain of the past year, and to welcome the next year with a clean slate.

Fire is also a major theme in a Scottish celebration called Hogmanay, which sometimes includes an ancient custom known as "burning the clavie," in which barrels of tar are set alight. In the town of Burghead, the burning barrels are carried through the village, up to the ruins of a Roman altar. When the barrels break into pieces, the villagers scramble to bring pieces of burning wood back to their houses, using the flames to light the fires in their chimneys. The resulting pieces of charcoal are put to good use as well – townspeople put them in their chimneys as good luck charms, intended to ward off evil spirits.

Another ritual associated with the Hogmanay festival in Scotland is "first footing," in which neighbors go from door to door with gifts, in an effort to be the first visitor to a house in the new year. According to legend, the first visitor sets the tone for the year to come – so, as far as the ladies are concerned, a visit from a tall, dark, and handsome man is a great blessing. (Not that they wouldn't enjoy it the rest of the year, too.)

In Venezuela and Peru, if you're hoping to meet the love of your life, there's one fashion necessity: Wear yellow underwear on New Year's Eve. The colorful underthings are also thought to attract good luck and positive energy. If you venture into Mexico, however, bring a change of clothes – red is the color of choice there.

And finally, if you happen to be heading up to Scandinavia for the start of the New Year, you're in for a bash of a celebration – literally. In Denmark, it's customary to hoard old, unwanted plates all year long. On New Year's Eve, haul them out and head over to your friends' houses, where you can smash the plates into their front doors. Yes, it sounds a bit destructive, but strange as it seems, the more broken plates you find on your doorstep in the morning, the more friends you have, according to local custom. Sounds like a perfect way to let out that pent-up holiday aggression – but just be careful not to break any windows on your New Year's rampage, or you may not have any friends left in the morning.

So, whether you spent your New Year's Eve lighting bonfires or breaking dishes, or went with the tried-and-true combo of a bottle of bubbly and a Dick Clark countdown, we hope you got a great start to 2008. And if it wasn't so spectacular, just stock up on the yellow undies and the ugly chinaware – there's always next year.

Original story by Kathryn Hawkins

SONG: Happy New Year by Todd Snider

BOOK: 365 Simple Reminders: Ways to Keep Life Simple by Elaine St. James

POEM: Testament by Hayden Carruth

So often it has been displayed to us, the hourglass

with its grains of sand drifting down,

not as an object in our world

but as a sign, a symbol, our lives

drifting down grain by grain,

sifting away — I'm sure everyone must

see this emblem somewhere in the mind.

Yet not only our lives drift down. The stuff

of ego with which we began, the mass

in the upper chamber, filters away

as love accumulates below. Now

I am almost entirely love. I have been

to the banker, the broker, those strange

people, to talk about unit trusts,

annuities, CDs, IRAs, trying

to leave you whatever I can after

I die. I've made my will, written

you a long letter of instructions.

I think about this continually.

What will you do? How

will you live? You can't go back

to cocktail waitressing in the casino.

And your poetry? It will bring you

at best a pittance in our civilization,

a widow's mite, as mine has

for forty-five years. Which is why

I leave you so little. Brokers?

Unit trusts? I'm no financier doing

the world's great business. And the sands

in the upper glass grow few. Can I leave

you the vale of ten thousand trilliums

where we buried our good cat Pokey

across the lane to the quarry?

Maybe the tulips I planted under

the lilac tree? Or our red-bellied

woodpeckers who have given us so

much pleasure, and the rabbits

and the deer? And kisses? And

love-makings? All our embracings?

I know millions of these will be still

unspent when the last grain of sand

falls with its whisper, its inconsequence,

on the mountain of my love below.

QUOTE: "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Brand New Year (My Revolution) - (SheDaisy)

Here's *yesterday's* DailyOm - here's me, releasing my need for anal-retentive perfection... :-)

January 1, 2008

Starting New

A Moment Of Choice

There are times in our lives that lend themselves to starting something new. The beginning of a new year, finishing school, leaving a job, or changing homes—these all are times that turn our minds to fresh starts. Their advantage is that they bring with them the energy of that event, creating a tide of change around them that we can ride to our next shoreline. But we can choose to start anew anytime. In any moment we can decide that a bad day or a relationship that’s gotten off on the wrong foot can be started again. It is a mental shift that allows us to clean the slate and approach anything with fresh eyes, and we can make that choice at any time.

Starting new is most powerful when we focus our attention to what we are choosing to create. Giving all of our attention to the unwanted aspects of our lives allows what we resist to persist. We need to remember to leave enough room in the process of new beginnings to be kind to ourselves, because it takes time to become accustomed to anything new, no matter how much we like it. There is no need to get down on ourselves if we don't reach our new goals instantly. Instead, we acknowledge the forward motion and choose to reset and start again, knowing that with each choice we learn, grow, and move forward.

Making the choice to start anew has its own energy—it's a promise made to you. The forward momentum creates a sort of vacuum behind it, pulling toward you all you need to help you continue moving in your chosen direction. Once the journey has begun, it may take unexpected turns, but it never really ends. Like cycles in nature, there are periods of obvious growth and periods of dormancy that signal a time of waiting for the right moment to burst forth. Each time we choose to start anew we dedicate ourselves to becoming the best we are able to be.

Happy New Year!

SONG: Brand New Year (My Revolution) by SheDaisy

BOOK: In One Year and Out the Other by Cara Lockwood

POEM: A New Year's Plea by Edgar Guest

Lord, let me stand in the thick of the fight,

Let me bear what I must without whining;

Grant me the wisdom to do what is right,

Though a thousand false beacons are shining.

Let me be true as the steel of a blade,

Make me bigger than skillful or clever;

Teach me to cling to my best, unafraid,

And harken to false gospels, never.

Let me be brave when the burden is great,

Faithful when wounded by sorrow;

Teach me, when troubled, with patience to wait

The better and brighter to-morrow.

Spare me from hatred and envy and shame,

Open my eyes to life's beauty;

Let not the glitter of fortune or fame

Blind me to what is my duty.

Let me be true to myself to the end,

Let me stand to my task without whining;

Let me be right as a man, as a friend,

Though a thousand false beacons are shining.

QUOTE: "I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me." ~ Anaïs Nin

Welcome in Another Year (Zoe Mulford)

Happy New Year!

In her December 28, 2007 blog, Resolution Revolution: A Better Way to Start Your Year, Christine Kane writes:

The reason most resolutions don’t work is that they address only one level of your life. The DO level. It’s the DO-HAVE-BE model. “I will DO this thing.” (i.e., Lose weight) “So I can HAVE this other thing” (Self-Esteem) and I can BE this thing. (Confident.)

The average New Year’s Resolution doesn’t address the core of the issue - the “BE” level.

The best order for creating positive changes in your life is the BE-DO-HAVE model. This means you start from the BE level. When you begin changing on the BE level of your life, then the DO level and the HAVE level follow more easily.

When you start only on the DO level, then all the blocks on the BE level will often become the obstacles you can’t overcome.

Several years ago, my friend Kathy and I decided that, instead of making resolutions, we would pick a word that would guide us throughout the year. It would be our touchstone. It would remind us of living our lives at the BE level.

The word I've chosen is Release - it was actually Christine's primary example and it almost felt like cheating to pick it... but every time I'd attempt to consider something else, Release kept coming back into the forefront of my brain and wouldn't allow the possibility of any other concept.

For decades I've used the phrase "relate, relax, release", accompanied by motions (hands on hips, hands on shoulders, hands flung into the air over my head) which, I am embarrassed to say, I borrowed from an episode of A Different World, the sitcom with Lisa Bonet which spun off from The Cosby Show - upon just now Googling the term, I find I've had it in the wrong order all these years (oh f*cking well... :-)

So... Release feels perfect, for its many meanings, incarnations and subtleties - for the next 366 days (it's a leap year!), I intend to:

RELEASE untruthful relationships

RELEASE undue stress caused by overcommitment

RELEASE unrealistic expectations, of others *and* myself

RELEASE unwanted clutter

RELEASE unhealthy habits

RELEASE unproductive pettiness

And I am sure there are so many more aspects of this multi-faceted word that can be both a noun and a verb I've yet to discover - in a nutshell, if I don't love it (whatever "it" fits the situation), I've vowed to let it go...

Relate, relax, RELEASE - I feel better already... :-)

SONG: Welcome in Another Year by Zoe Mulford (lyrics unavailable but Zoe's website here)

BOOK: 365 Days to Let Go: Daily Insights to Change Your Life by Guy Finley

POEM: New Year's Resolution by Philip Appleman

Well, I did it again, bringing in

that infant Purity across the land,

welcoming Innocence with gin

in New York, waiting up

to help Chicago,

Denver, L.A., Fairbanks, Hon-

olulu--and now

the high school bands are alienating Dallas,

and girls in gold and tangerine

have lost all touch with Pasadena,

and young men with muscles and missing teeth

are dreaming of personal fouls,

and it's all beginning again, just like

those other Januaries in

instant reply.

But I've had enough

of turning to look back, the old

post-morteming of defeat:

people I loved but didn't touch,

friends I haven't seen for years,

strangers who smiled but didn't speak--failures,

failures. No,

I refuse to leave it at that, because

somewhere, off camera,

January is coming like Venus

up from the murk of December, re-

virginized, as innocent

of loss as any dawn. Resolved: this year

I'm going to break my losing streak,

I'm going to stay alert, reach out,

speak when not spoken to,

read the minds of people in the streets.

I'm going to practice every day,

stay in training, and be moderate

in all things.

All things but love.

QUOTE(S): "The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective." ~ G.K. Chesterton

"We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential." ~ Ellen Goodman

Illuminate (Sloan Wainwright)

Each year, millions of eyes from all over the world are focused on the sparkling Waterford Crystal Times Square New Year's Eve Ball. At 11:59 p.m., the Ball begins its descent as millions of voices unite to count down the final seconds of the year, and celebrate the beginning of a new year full of hopes, challenges, changes and dreams.

2008 year marks the 100th birthday of the New Year’s Eve Ball, a universal symbol of celebration and renewal.

The actual notion of a ball "dropping" to signal the passage of time dates back long before New Year's Eve was ever celebrated in Times Square. The first "time-ball" was installed atop England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. This ball would drop at one o'clock every afternoon, allowing the captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers (a vital navigational instrument).

Around 150 public time-balls are believed to have been installed around the world after the success at Greenwich, though few survive and still work. The tradition is carried on today in places like the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, where a time-ball descends from a flagpole at noon each day - and of course, once a year in Times Square, where it marks the stroke of midnight not for a few ships' captains, but for over one billion people watching worldwide.

More here...

Impossible to believe 2008 is right around the corner... a few scant hours away from a turn of the calendar page... or a replacement of the calendar altogether - in my kitchen, I'm segueing from Gnomes to Hearts... :-)

I'm working today - could be until my regular 5:30... or we could be released early (fingers crossed). When I leave here, I'll swing by Fresh Market and pick up a few filet mignons for my husband and me, which I'll serve later tonight with some baked potatoes, steamed vegetables and a decadent dessert. The champagne is bought, the jacuzzi is hot and the sky is clear (the better to watch neighborhood fireworks, my dear!) - need I say more?

Nothing like a deep and meaningful New Year's Eve kiss with one's significant other to put one's life in perspective - may the remainder of 2007 illuminate what deserves to be forgotten... and spotlight what is destined to be remembered... <3

SONG: Illuminate by Sloan Wainwright

BOOK: In the Light of the Moon: Thirteen Lunar Tales from Around the World Illuminating Life's Mysteries by Carolyn McVickar Edwards

POEM: The Passing of the Year by Robert W. Service

My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,
My den is all a cosy glow;
And snug before the fire I sit,
And wait to feel the old year go.
I dedicate to solemn thought
Amid my too-unthinking days,
This sober moment, sadly fraught
With much of blame, with little praise.

Old Year! upon the Stage of Time
You stand to bow your last adieu;
A moment, and the prompter's chime
Will ring the curtain down on you.
Your mien is sad, your step is slow;
You falter as a Sage in pain;
Yet turn, Old Year, before you go,
And face your audience again.

That sphinx-like face, remote, austere,
Let us all read, whate'er the cost:
O Maiden! why that bitter tear?
Is it for dear one you have lost?
Is it for fond illusion gone?
For trusted lover proved untrue?
O sweet girl-face, so sad, so wan
What hath the Old Year meant to you?

And you, O neighbour on my right
So sleek, so prosperously clad!
What see you in that aged wight
That makes your smile so gay and glad?
What opportunity unmissed?
What golden gain, what pride of place?
What splendid hope? O Optimist!
What read you in that withered face?

And You, deep shrinking in the gloom,
What find you in that filmy gaze?
What menace of a tragic doom?
What dark, condemning yesterdays?
What urge to crime, what evil done?
What cold, confronting shape of fear?
O haggard, haunted, hidden One
What see you in the dying year?

And so from face to face I flit,
The countless eyes that stare and stare;
Some are with approbation lit,
And some are shadowed with despair.
Some show a smile and some a frown;
Some joy and hope, some pain and woe:
Enough! Oh, ring the curtain down!
Old weary year! it's time to go.

My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that's true,
For we've been comrades, you and I --
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!

QUOTE: "New Year's Eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights." ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

Same Old Lang Syne (Dan Fogelberg)

Dan left us on December 16 at 6:00 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side. His strength, dignity, and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him.
More here...

I fell in love with Dan Fogelberg my freshman year of college (1972), when the album Home Free was released - first of all, I thought he was absolutely adorable... then I was captivated by the music. I was the first secretary of our newly-formed college radio station and was friends with many of the deejays - being a night owl even back then, I loved to visit Michael Styles (wonder whatever happened to him?) during his midnight to 3 a.m. shift... and would just pull albums off the shelves to hand to him, stating which track I wanted him to play... and he'd acquiesce. The River was the song that initially sparked my interest - I quickly grew to adore (and still do) Stars, Wysteria, To the Morning and... all of them really... :-)

Souvenirs came two years after that and, in 1975, Captured Angel... poignant because my then-boyfriend, soon-to-be husband had moved and we were carrying on a long-distance relationship - he and I listened to that album separately, together, for months, particularly Old Tennessee, which was the state in which he was residing... and it also mentioned Georgia, where I lived ("dear, I miss your fire so sweet").

I bought Netherlands but never really gave it the listen I'm sure it deserved - same with Phoenix, mostly because the song Longer was *so* overplayed. Was crazy about Twin Sons of Different Mothers and No Resemblance Whatsoever, both of which were collaborations with Tim Weisberg. The Innocent Age was the last album of his I bought, as much for Joni's contributions as anything - I see by his website there were many more to follow (my loss, I'm sure). I will, however, invest in the Christmas CD and make a point to play it each holiday, in memory of a very special singer-songwriter who was so much a part of my growing-up process - to quote one of his songs, "anyway I love you, more and more and more and more and more"...

Rest in Peace, Dan...

In 2007, we bade adieu to many special entertainers and artists -- some long-lived who exited peacefully at a ripe old age (Joey Bishop), and some taken shockingly in their prime (Anna Nicole Smith). Let us celebrate their talent and the many ways they touched us, as we remember them - more here...

SONG: Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg

BOOK: New Year's Eve by Lisa Grunwald

POEM: The Old Year by John Clare

The Old Year's gone away
To nothingness and night:
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night:
He left no footstep, mark or place
In either shade or sun:
The last year he'd a neighbour's face,
In this he's known by none.

All nothing everywhere:
Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they're here
And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire,
In every cot and hall--
A guest to every heart's desire,
And now he's nought at all.

Old papers thrown away,
Old garments cast aside,
The talk of yesterday,
Are things identified;
But time once torn away
No voices can recall:
The eve of New Year's Day
Left the Old Year lost to all.

QUOTE: "For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice and to make an end is to make a beginning." ~ T.S. Eliot

At the Turning of the Year (Herdman, Hills, Mangsen)

From Circle Round by Starhawk...

Yule is the ancient name for the Winter Solstice, the longest night and shortest day of the year. In northern climates, this is the darkest and coldest time of year. The sun seems to be weak, even dying and we fear the winter will last forever.

But just as soon as the Solstice passes, the days begin to grow longer again. The Solstice is a turning point in the wheel of the year when the sun symbolically dies and is reborn from the womb of the Goddess.

In our tradition, darkness is not something bad or something to fear. Of course we wouldn’t want the world to be dark all of the time----that’s why we’re so happy when the sun begins to return after the long nights winter. Light and dark must always be in balance. But we know that without the dark, nothing could live or grow. Without night, we would have no day, no chance to rest and sleep. We would have no dreams----and dreams are out gateway to the Otherworld. Babies develop in the darkness of their mothers’ wombs. Seeds must be put into the dark earth in order to send out roots and push up new shoots.

The countdown begins - may your 2008 sparkle with laughter, love and light!

SONG: At the Turning of the Year by Anne Hills

BOOK: The Night of Wishes by Michael Ende, Regina Kehn (Illustrator), Heike Schwarzbauer/Rick Takvorian (Translators)

POEM: The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!

All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!

QUOTE: "Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols." ~ Thomas Mann

Make It Home (Juliana Hatfield)

We're home... pulling into the driveway about 10:30 last night - it was a grand gathering, despite the hit-and-run aspect. I've spent the day doing laundry, finding homes for the many wonderful gifts we received and making lists so I can send out thank you notes tomorrow - tiredness combined with my need to put my house back in order combined with enjoying peace and quiet after the whirlwind trip finds me reluctant to type out a play-by-play... but rather highlights of our holiday trip. Sure was nice to sleep in my own bed last night, wonderful to have today off and know that weekend R&R looms as well - there's no place like home indeed... <3

~ savoring fluffy-in-the-middle, crispy-around-the-edges pancakes at Cracker Barrel on the way to South Carolina...

~ fostering the Christmas spirit with an abundance of holiday mixes, my own and friends', in the car...

~ watching home movies at my husband's sister's house, motivating me days later to ask for my mom's 8-mm film so I can transfer it to DVDs too...

~ appreciating reflections of holiday lights on the pond outside Dot's home, and toasting to her husband (my father-in-law, recently passed) on what would have been his 83rd birthday...

~ enjoying Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese food at my sister's...

~ reliving Christmas mornings with my own children through Julia's excitement at her own Santa presents...

~ picking up my aunt from the nursing home so she could spend the day with us...

~ receiving so many amazingly intuitive presents: a handmade purple tie-dye fleece blanket from my niece, a new Santa for my collection from my sister, a stunning pair of purple and silver earrings from my brother, an earring rack from my mom, the Once soundtrack from my daughter, Tom Brokaw's Boom! from my sons, pepper spray from my husband (he supports my independence but still worries about me... :-)

~ viewing Love Actually (with two Joni moments) with the clan much later in the evening...

~ motivating to my mom's the next day for a comforting fireplace, an informative and loving chat with her (and my siblings) about her health and a challenging Scrabble game (which I won!)...

~ piling back into the car Thursday morning for the 12-hour drive home, grateful for the time together, my children's terrific behavior and my husband's prioritizing of family, despite the chaotic circumstances...

~ Trip mantra: "it is what it is" - whatever it was, we adapted, we learned, we grew... <3

SONG: Make It Home by Juliana Hatfield

BOOK: Home for the Holidays: Stories and Art Created for the Benefit of Habitat for Humanity by Gene Stelten (Editor)

POEM: Leavings by Robin Robertson

Still sleepwalking through her life,

I wrap her up

and we go through the snow that fell all night

and all through this Christmas morning:

her trainers barely denting the whitened lawn, her

two strides for every stride of mine.

Leaving her home

to the warmth of the house

I step back out, and see where my footprints turn

and walk through hers,

the other way—following the trail

of rabbit and deer into the unreachable silences of snow.

I can bring nothing of this back intact.

My face is smoke, my body water,

my tracks are made of snow.

The next morning is a dripping thaw, and winter

is gone from the grass—except for a line

of white marks going nowhere:

the stamped ellipses of impacted snow;

everything gone, leaving just this, this ghost-tread,

these wafer-thin footsteps of glass.

QUOTE: "For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home." ~ W.J. Ronald Tucker

Footsteps of the Faithful (Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer)

Our family of five is leaving very late this evening for our South Carolina/Georgia jaunt... two days of driving, 5 days of visiting both my and my husband's family (various siblings, their spouses, our nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents) - it will be hectic, it will be exhausting, it will be loving...

Some traditions have been retired and others newly-begun - change isn't better or worse... it's just different. We've gracefully put our nuclear family needs on the proverbial back burner to pay tribute to "the big picture". Since we're the long-distance relatives, it only makes sense for us to venture northward, even if only once a year - conversations flow and comfortable silences abound, and we hug enough to last until the following year.

My sister Mari and I drink wine and listen to my latest holiday mix Christmas Eve while we're making the strada (which has to sit overnight) - it is always my husband's job to grate the cheese. My older children play with cousin Julia (M's daughter) - my brother Brad and my brother-in-law Bill talk sports, all the while my mom glows with love and appreciation that we are all under the same roof.

Julia will wake us up entirely too early to see if Santa has arrived (although, at 11, she's clued in) - presents will overflow from under the tree, and Mr. Claus will have gifted everyone as well. Sometimes he slips something into a stocking that the receipient is not expecting (like the gorgeous bracelet from my husband last year) - we ooh and ahh over each unwrapping, taking the time to cherish (just as the time was taken to choose the perfect gift).

The rituals with my husband's family are different, yet equally comforting - it will be especially difficult this year, considering his father's passing only a month or so ago...

Many things have not gotten done this year, and I'm reconciled to the fact - I'm working harder at taking better care of myself... which means I'm trying to get more sleep... which means I really miss those hours between midnight and 3 a.m. when I do my best work! Cards are late... but the love that remains in my heart for the endurance of friendship and family never wanes...

When I got home from work this evening, I passed out gifts to our four immediate neighboring houses - a group of boys came caroling, and the dog and I watched, listened and smiled... :-)

We're out of here in the next 10 minutes - much love to all and I'll be in touch when we get back in town... <3

SONG: Footsteps of the Faithful by Dave Carter

BOOK: Southern Christmas Literary Classics of the Holidays by Judy Long, Thomas Payton (Editors)

POEM: Written on Christmas Eve, 1513 by Fra. Giovanni

I salute you. I am your friend,
and my love for you goes deep.
There is nothing I can give you which you have not.
But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it,
you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts
find rest in it today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden
in this present little instant.
Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy.
There is radiance and glory in darkness,
could we but see. And to see, we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver.
But we, judging its gifts by their covering,
cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering, and you
will find beneath it a living splendor,
woven of love by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch
the angel's hand that brings it to you.

Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty,
believe me, that angel's hand is there.
The gift is there and the wonder of
an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too,
be not content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose,
so full of beauty beneath its covering,
that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
Courage then to claim it; that is all!
But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are
pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.

And so, at this time, I greet you,
not quite as the world sends greetings,
but with profound esteem and with the prayer
that for you, now and forever,
the day breaks and shadows flee away.

QUOTE: "For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home." ~ W.J. Ronald Tucker

The Christians and the Pagans (Dar Williams)

The solstice when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer, is the winter solstice. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the Winter solstice occurs sometime between December 20 and 23 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, within either the shortest day or the longest night of the year. Though the Winter Solstice lasts an instant, the term is also used to refer to the full day and night (24hrs) within which the event occurs. A more accurate usage might be the "day of the winter solstice" or the "night of/before the winter solstice".

Winter Solstice is a controversial subject, since it is sometimes said to astronomically mark the beginning or middle of a hemisphere's Winter and so there is much argument about when it starts. Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but Winter Solstice is clearly defined.

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (Sun) and sistere (stand still), Winter Solstice meaning Sun stand still in winter.

More here...

Saturday, Dec. 22, 1:08 a.m. EST, marks the solstice this year - however, since we'll be on the road then, I wanted to honor the occasion (and Dar's phenomenal ability to blend the two belief systems) today...

SONG: The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams

BOOK: The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas by John Matthews

POEM: Toward the Winter Solstice by Timothy Steele

Although the roof is just a story high,
It dizzies me a little to look down.
I lariat-twirl the cord of Christmas lights
And cast it to the weeping birch’s crown;
A dowel into which I’ve screwed a hook
Enables me to reach, lift, drape, and twine
The cord among the boughs so that the bulbs
Will accent the tree’s elegant design.

Friends, passing home from work or shopping, pause
And call up commendations or critiques.
I make adjustments. Though a potpourri
Of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Sikhs,
We all are conscious of the time of year;
We all enjoy its colorful displays
And keep some festival that mitigates
The dwindling warmth and compass of the days.

Some say that L.A. doesn’t suit the Yule,
But UPS vans now like magi make
Their present-laden rounds, while fallen leaves
Are gaily resurrected in their wake;
The desert lifts a full moon from the east
And issues a dry Santa Ana breeze,
And valets at chic restaurants will soon
Be tending flocks of cars and SUVs.

And as the neighborhoods sink into dusk
The fan palms scattered all across town stand
More calmly prominent, and this place seems
A vast oasis in the Holy Land.
This house might be a caravansary,
The tree a kind of cordial fountainhead
Of welcome, looped and decked with necklaces
And ceintures of green, yellow, blue, and red.

Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem
Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;
It’s comforting to look up from this roof
And feel that, while all changes, nothing’s lost,
To recollect that in antiquity
The winter solstice fell in Capricorn
And that, in the Orion Nebula,
From swirling gas, new stars are being born.

QUOTE: "I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." ~ Charles Dickens

The Rebel Jesus (Jackson Browne)

Today is my son Robby's birthday - he is 23. Rob was born knowing how to draw - when other 4-year-olds were sketching people as "daddy long legs" figures (a circle with arms and legs attached), Rob's characters were so sophisticated such that they had motion lines under their hats (to show they were running!).

We've always said he'd be a lawyer, because he's argumentative... not in a negative, but in a push-the-boundaries, way - he questions everything, which I've always loved, never taking anything for granted. Even as a child, Rob was talkative, wearing his feelings on his sleeve and sharing his deepest thoughts at the least invitation - he continues to be sensitive, kind and smart... and I'm very blessed to have him as my son, my middle child, my heart. Happy Birthday, Rob!

Otherwise, craziness abounds in our household as we attempt to get out of town for almost a week - I've wanted to post more personal comments but, with limited time, I've had to prioritize... so just blogging daily has been an accomplishment. Maybe Friday - we shall see... :-)

SONG: The Rebel Jesus by Jackson Browne

BOOK: Jesus in Blue Jeans: A Practical Guide to Everyday Spirituality by Laurie Beth Jones

POEM: Ring Out, Wild Bells by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

QUOTE: "For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind." ~ Loring A. Schuler

Mary and Joe (Darryl Purpose)

SONG: Mary and Joe by Darryl Purpose

BOOK: The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg







POEM: Joseph by Geoffrey Philp

He could feel the cold coming on:

flurries of snow melted on his beard.
First his toes, fingers, climbing up his head,
numbness branched across his shoulders,
sagging under the burden.

How many years would he be given with his son
to see the lilies of Capernaum bud, flower, wither,
die and be reborn under the unrelenting sun,
the steady flame by which his life had burned?

He snapped dry twigs under his feet,
turned to his young bride, asleep on the floor--
after all the struggles, so beautiful by the hearth.

Calmly, he stoked the coals, and the embers
greeted his hands, his prayer with a promise
that this warmth, like peace, would live as long as his desire.

QUOTE: "The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world." ~ Author Unknown

The Christmas Song (Dave Matthews)

SONG: The Christmas Song by Dave Matthews

BOOK: Meet Him at the Manger: Discovering the Heart of Christmas by D. Stuart Briscoe, Jill Briscoe

POEM: The Maid-Servant at the Inn by Dorothy Parker

"It's queer," she said; "I see the light

As plain as I beheld it then,

All silver-like and calm and bright ---

We've not had stars like that again!

"And she was such a gentle thing

To birth a baby in the cold.

The barn was dark and frightening ---

This new one's better than the old.

"I mind my eyes were full of tears,

For I was young, and quick distressed

But she was less than me in years

That held a son against her breast.

"I never saw a sweeter child ---

The little one, the darling one! ---

I mind I told her, when he smiled

You'd know he was his mother's son.

"It's queer that I should see them so ---

The time they came to Bethlehem

Was more than thirty years ago;

I've prayed that all is well with them."

QUOTE: "Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making." ~ Leigh Hunt

American Noel (Dave Carter)

SONG: American Noel by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer

BOOK: December by Eve Bunting (Author), David Diaz (Illustrator)

POEM: Christmas Poem by G.K. Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth

Out of an inn to roam;

In the place where she was homeless

All men are at home.

The crazy stable close at hand,

With shaking timber and shifting sand,

Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand

Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,

And strangers under the sun,

And they lay their heads in a foreign land

Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,

And chance and honour and high surprise,

But our homes are under miraculous skies

Where the yule tale was begun.

A child in a foul stable,

Where the beasts feed and foam;

Only where He was homeless

Are you and I at home;

We have hands that fashion and heads that know,

But our hearts we lost---how long ago!

In a place no chart nor ship can show

Under the sky's dome.

This world is wild as an old wife's tale,

And strange the plain things are,

The earth is enough and the air is enough

For our wonder and our war;

But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings

And our peace is put in impossible things

Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings

Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening

Home shall all men come,

To an older place than Eden

And a taller town than Rome.

To the end of the way of the wandering star,

To the things that cannot be and that are,

To the place where God was homeless

And all men are at home.

QUOTE: "There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries." ~ W.J. Cameron

Before You Go (Richard Shindell)

This is the first Saturday I've had "off" (as in no major commitments/
obligations/events) in weeks and weeks and weeks - I'll spend it catching up on laundry and paperwork, as well as writing my holiday cards, ordering all my presents via Amazon.com (to be sent to my mom's house, where I'll wrap, using Publix green bags, upon our arrival Christmas Eve) and making a Holiday Mix CD, one of my very favorite parts of the season.

I've spoken before of my tape-now-CD-making ability... and each year, early- to mid-December finds me compiling songs I enjoyed listening to from holiday CDs the previous season - I then sit down with those piled around me, and "channel" the flow of the mix. One of my best, from 2005, begins with Joni's River and ends with Dar's The Christians and the Pagans, with lots of wonderfully creative songs in between - I do tend to choose the original, eclectic tunes over the standard traditional ones, as I appreciate a new retelling of the Reason for the Season... which ultimately is Love...

Below are links to some terrific internet radio stations, featuring much of the music that ends up on my mixes - enjoy!

Folk Alley Holiday Stream

Pandora Holiday Station

I particularly love the text of a holiday card I've sent in past years:

This holiday season, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion, and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Offer encouragement. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you are wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind; be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still once again.

SONG: Before You Go by Richard Shindell

BOOK: Love Came Down: Anglican Readings for Advent and Christmas by Christopher Webber (Editor)

POEM: A Hymn on the Nativity of My Savior by Ben Jonson

I sing the birth was born tonight,
The Author both of life and light;
The angels so did sound it,
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid,
Yet searched, and true they found it.

The Son of God, the eternal King,
That did us all salvation bring,
And freed the soul from danger;
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.

The Father's wisdom willed it so,
The Son's obedience knew no "No,"
Both wills were in one stature;
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made Flesh indeed,
And took on Him our nature.

What comfort by Him do we win?
Who made Himself the Prince of sin,
To make us heirs of glory?
To see this Babe, all innocence,
A Martyr born in our defense,
Can man forget this story?

QUOTE: "Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas." ~ Dale Evans