We Need A Little Christmas...

Haul out the holly

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again

Fill up the stocking

I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

For we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

Yes, we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

It hasn't snowed a single flurry

But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

So climb down the chimney

Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen

Slice up the fruitcake

It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough

For I've grown a little leaner(?), grown a little colder

Grown a little sadder, grown a little older

And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder

I need a little Christmas now

Haul out the holly

Well, once I taught you all to live each living day

Fill up the stocking

But Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now

But we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

And we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

It hasn't snowed a single flurry

But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

So climb down the chimney

It's been a long time since I felt good, neighborly

Slice up the fruitcake

It's time we hung some tinsel on that mayberry bough

For we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

And we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

We need a little Christmas now

We need a little Christmas now

We need a little Christmas now

Until next time.....

Sunday Happenings

Image taken at Mission San Luis Rey in California 

After attending church services this morning where we welcomed the second Sunday of the Advent season in waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ, stopping in at Trader's Joe's (after all it is right across the street), picking up some pretty Christmas greens,along with other goodies that don the shelves of TJ's during the holidays, and now waiting for my son-in-law, bless his heart, to help me haul the Christmas decor up from the bowels of the basement I am ready for the season to begin.  It was always tradition when my sweetie was home that the decorating would start immediately after Thanksgiving was over and then we would sit back and enjoy it for the entire month of December. Not so now, I was so late last year it was practically time to take it down before I even got it up. (that almost sounds like an off-color joke, but it truly wasn't meant to be....giggle). I don't know about you, but as the years march on and they truly do accelerate with each passing year, the struggle to decorate for the season seems to become more difficult.  I always volunteer to have our Book Club Christmas Party at my house because it is just the incentive I need to trim the tree and place all those pretties in their special spots for the holiday season.  

Well, Sam my son-in-law has come and gone and now the living room, family room, entrance hall and kitchen are brimming with boxes to be opened and Christmas treasures await.  And now the decorating begins.

PS On Lifetime Cable TV tonight is an adaptation of "The Red Tent", a book that I know many of you read.  It is a 2 night mini-series depicting the lives of women in the Old Testament.  Good reviews from People Magazine (and you know People is always right....giggle) I am definitely watching it as so little is written about the women of the Bible, should be interesting.

"Dear whoever is reading this, you're beautiful and someone out there is crazy about you. So smile. Life is too short to be unhappy." 

 

-- Author Unknown 

Until next time.....

Sunshine - Bright Sunshine

Since I am doing my best to re-connect and blog more and since it is a down-right gloomy day outside and has been ever since I came home with barely a peek of the sun, I am sharing a few of the many, many photos I took while in California.  We have no sun here, yet in California there is almost too much sun.  I say that with tongue in cheek (you know, kinda kidding) because how could one possibly say there is too much sun, especially in November/December.  I am stating this as a "photographer", the sun was so low in the sky being as it was very late November, casting an extremely bright light on your subject, but really bad shadows, creating a total light/dark contrast. Taking photos in this kinda light is not the best, but heh, I am not complaining about the abundance of sunshine, just the effect it has on photography.

The colors in southern California are intense, the blues are so blue, the reds, whites, oranges, and yellows are so full of rich deep color.

Even the bills on the sea gulls are bright red....

And the pink on the pigeons, dazzling...

So when the sun isn't shining here, which sometimes goes on for long stretches, denying us that wonderful light, I can easily get a blast of the sun just by re-visiting my photos.

As we wandered thru Laguna Beach, one of my favorite places to wander, we went into a shop that was just FULL of STUFF.  And I spotted this and I swear it was the only thing I bought other than a scrubby for showering, but now how could I resist this....??

Thanks for welcoming me back!!

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."  ~Lou Holtz

Until next time.....

Re-Connecting

Oh my gosh...I don't even know where to start.  After promising myself that I was going to post 30 days of gratitude, I failed almost immediately.  I seem to be having a lot of trouble with commitment lately.  Can I blame that on age or just me?  Probably just me.  I have become quite lazy which is not a good thing.  This blog and my connections with many of you gave me such daily joy, my photography was a passion. Hardly a day went by without grabbing my camera and taking a few pics, but it too has sat and not been used like it should be.  I am missing these connections and need and want to get back in the mode of re-connecting with you.

I will admit that prior to Thanksgiving I was busy, busy with creating calendars and greeting cards with my photography and I was able to raise almost $700 with the profits going to Alzheimer's Research.  That kept me really hustling, you know me, always last minute.  And then immediately after the Open House (where I sold my photography) I traveled to California to be with my son and daughter-in-law for Thanksgiving.  I don't know about you, but flying exhausts me.   What with the hassle with your luggage check-in, venture thru security, (you know that place where they practically do a strip search and x-rays, personally I don't think anyone should see my "rolls" except me in the privacy of my own bathroom with the door shut), walk the gazillion miles to your gate while hauling a back-pack with all my camera gear in-tow, standing in line to board while still hauling the back-pack and carry-on, struggle thru the skinny aisles to find my seat, helplessly trying to lift my carry-on into the over-head, (thank God for men who step up and help) and finally drop into my seat for the duration of the flight.  Instead of improving the flight experience for customers it has become an incredible ordeal with no snacks and to top it off you have to pay for your checked bags. (except for Southwest)   And then in landing everything is in reverse except now I deal with waiting for a limo to pick me up after retrieving all my belongings. Whew, I am exhausted just writing this.  I think I would prefer to spend 10 hours driving in the car than to go thru the hassles of flying. Ofcourse flying out of Chicago O'Hare and arriving at LAX has something to do with it too, 2 of the biggest and busiest airports in the US.  OK, stop the moaning and groaning.

I had a lovely time in California with my son and dil...it was sunny and warm almost everyday, however I did miss the rest of my family who were all here including that sweet Matilda who I don't see as often as I would like.  When I said "here" that is exactly what I meant, they spent Thanksgiving here at my house for 3 days.  I have the biggest house and I am located about half-way between my daughter and her family and my grandson with his family.  So with 8 people and 4 dogs the only thing missing was me. (altho my hairdresser told me today that maybe with all that I was better off not being there....snort).

I have a couple of books to recommend...one I read while in California and the other I began on the way home...Station Eleven and Big Little Lies.  Totally different from each other but truly enjoyed them, thumbs up for both.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I look forward to spending the holidays with you.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."  - Robert Frost

Until next time.....