Random Thoughts

I'm on a roll. Last package mailed. Cookies frosted. Half eaten. Presents wrapped. Under the tree. I've got to share this picture of what my sister Linda made me for Christmas. I opened the box thinking there would be wrapped gifts inside. This is what I found: This is no ordinary bear. Yes it is soft and cuddly. But what makes it so absolutely wonderful is that it is made out of one of my father's shirts. And he even has a pocket with Kleenex coming out of it, just like my dad. What you can't see on the back is the number "39" that came off my Dad's wrestling robe from the Naval Academy. 39 being the year he lettered and graduated. Sometimes someone does something so totally cool you've just got to shout it from the roof tops. It's late and dark so I'm not going to climb up on the roof. So I'm sharing my bear with my favorite people. Thank you Linda for the bear. But mostly for your big ol' busting at the seams heart you so generousl...

"To many people holidays are not voyages of discovery, but a ritual of reassurance." Philip Andrew Adams In the past week I've been knocked low by pre-Black Friday sales, stores decked out in all their Christmas regalia bypassing Thanksgiving, and a radio station already plays Christmas carols round the clock. On a quick run to the grocery store last night, I even heard the tinkling of the Salvation Army bell. Is it just me or does the earlier - merchandising of Christmas make people feel less merry, instead of more? By the time the actual 12 Days of Christmas get here, I dare say the birds will have quit calling, the geese stopped laying and the Lords may hop but will be way too tired to leap. I make one exception to the hurry up or you're gonna lose out hype. It's the Joann Fabric ads for Christmas flannel that start in July. It makes sense to me that people who make Christmas gifts have to start early. Buying feels-good-on-your-cheek flannel in holiday prints...

“Marriage is not a noun; it’s a verb. It isn’t something you get. It’s something you do. It’s the way you love your parnter every day.” Barbara DeAngelis Today, in just about 7 hours, one of my very favorite people, my sister Linda, is going to marry her one time boyfriend/domestic partner, Ron. Although I don't remember Ron from their high school dating days, I do remember sitting on the stairs peering through the banisters when Linda would leave the house all dressed up for a date. No doubt I was singing something like Linda and Ron, sitting in a tree .... as bratty little sisters (I know it's hard to believe, yet true!) are wont to do. Theirs is one of those go your separate way/have a life/find each other through the Internet/rekindle lost love/live happily ever after stories you read about. Ron popped back into Linda's life shortly after my mother passed away and my father had hip surgery for the third time. My father was difficult to be around on a good day. At ...