Virtual Advent Tour - Welcome Back

Welcome back for a second stop on the Virtual Advent Tour.  Last weekend, I told you about a friend who is facing a change in her Christmas traditions because she'll be celebrating Christmas from a hospital room.  At the risk of being thought a "downer", this week I want to share about some changes in my own Christmas routine.

For many years, my extended family has gathered at my mother's house for our Christmas meal and gifts.  When we returned home, Dave and I, and our children started our own holiday traditions.  

My mother celebrated her 80th birthday a few weeks ago.  Hosting a gathering of twenty-five or more - even if others bring part of the food - has been increasingly difficult.  This year she is considering letting my sister host.  It looks like a small change.  After all, my sister just lives a few blocks away, the menu will be the same and Mom will contribute part of it.  But its a sign that time is marching on.

Our children are now grown and have homes of their own and, of course, they want their turn to host our immediate family for Christmas.  I enjoy visiting their homes and, to be honest, the house where Dave and I now live was never "home" to either of them.  They were in college when we moved here.  But it's another reminder of the passage of years.  More change.

But on Christmas Eve, the four of us (now five with the addition of Mitch's bride a few weeks ago) will all be in one place.  We will exchange gifts and laugh and eat and play games - just like always.  On Christmas morning we'll have cinnamon rolls in our pj's and watch A Christmas Story on repeat.  We'll dress a little nicer than usual and sit around the table and share a meal.

Tomorrow afternoon, two 7-year-old girls will be at my house to decorate Christmas cookies.  Decorating sugar cookies is a tradition dating back to my mother's childhood and passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter and now to granddaughters.   My two assistants on Sunday are not my granddaughters, but since I don't have any grandkids close enough to help, they are standing in.  The giggles, sticky fingers and sprinkle-covered floor will still be the same.  

Time moves on, people age, traditions adapt, and sometimes - for better or worse - things change for good.  But still we celebrate because Christmas is not about the gifts or the decorations or even the traditions.  As Linus explained to Charlie Brown in their annual Christmas special, "I can tell you what Christmas is all about."

 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”      -Luke 2:8-14

So wherever you are, and whether you have dozens of traditions or none at all, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
                           

Virtual Advent Tour

A perfectly decorated tree, Bing Crosby crooning White Christmas in the background, egg nog and hot chocolate, the family gathered together to exchange beautifully wrapped presents with no visions of credit card bills dancing in their heads. This is what I call my "Norman Rockwell" fantasy. I have it every year when I start making Christmas plans. This will be the year that it actually happens. This will be the year with no scheduling conflicts or atrocious grocery bills. THIS will be the year that my fantasy comes true and we have the "perfect Christmas". When it doesn't happen, I'm momentarily crushed and vow to try harder next year.

But this year is different. This year, instead of worrying about finding the perfect gift or how many pies to make, I'm helping plan a benefit for a friend who is spending her Christmas season in the hospital. Kari is a 32-year-old foster-mother of two boys. In May, she and her husband sold their business. Kari had plans to spend the summer at home with her boys, then start job-hunting after school started. Instead, within a few weeks, she was diagnosed with kidney failure due to diabetes, and contemplating a transplant. Her fun summer changed to a string of doctor appointments and hospital stays. An infection lead to more complications, more hospital stays, extreme pain, confinement to a wheelchair and, finally, 42 hours in a coma. While I was searching for deals on Black Friday, she was having  a nerve biopsy. While I decorated the tree, she struggled through physical therapy.

Tonight, several hundred people will gather to throw a party and raise money - not for Christmas gifts or lavish meals - but for hospital bills, medications, and home health care. Friends and family will sacrifice a portion of their Christmas budget to give Kari a chance for more Christmases. My Norman Rockwell picture has faded this year, and in it's place is a vision of Tiny Tim - "God Bless us, every one."

Thankfully Reading Weekend

This year, Hubs and I find ourselves alone for Thanksgiving.  That's not a complaint - merely how things fell.  Our son and his fiance have to work; our daughter went to help a friend move from New Mexico to Kansas; I offered to cook for a friend who has been in the hospital, but doctors decided she should stay a few more days, so she and her husband will be sharing a hospital cafe meal.  

So I will be putting my feet up and reading, along with Jenn at www.jennsbookshelves.com and others who are thankful for some time with books. Thankfully Reading Weekend is a four day reading event that Jenn has been hosting for quite a few years now. 

There are no rules to the weekend, we’re simply hoping to devote a good amount of time to reading, and perhaps meeting some of our reading challenges and goals for the year. We thought it’d be fun if we cheered each other on a bit. If you think you can join in, grab the button  and add your sign up post to the link-up below. If you don’t have a blog, you can sign up the comments or sign up using a link to your Twitter account or Facebook page.  We’ll also be checking in on Twitter using hashtag #thankfullyreading. Join in for the weekend or for only a single day. No rules, no pressure!

There will be challenges throughout the four days - including one right here.  If you have some time - any amount of time - to spend reading in the next four days, join in the fun and conversation.

I'm going to get a little jump start and read till I fall asleep - which will be a maximum of three pages.

Going Tiny?

When this tiny cabin made the rounds on Facebook and Pinterest a couple years ago, I saw it as the perfect hide away - a place to retreat from the world temporarily.   It was the first I had heard of the oncoming trend toward full-time tiny house living.  

Now that there are so many options for affordable, available small homes, I'm fascinated with the idea of downsizing.  I'm probably not ready for life with Hubs and two dogs in a house this small (or white), but I could learn to love the tiny house life...couldn't I?  The biggest attraction is simplicity.  

Less space requires less stuff.  Less stuff takes less time to clean and maintain.  Less time on housework means more time to do the things I enjoy.  But where?  Does my tiny home have room for a sewing machine or an artist's easel?  And what about my books?

One solution is to make use of outdoor living space.   Reading or hosting a dinner party on a patio or rooftop deck sound so inviting, but only in temperate weather - which happens approximately 30 days/year in Kansas and Nebraska.  Could I move to a state that doesn't have four distinct seasons?  

Speaking of less stuff, I have gone through my current home, which isn't exactly huge, and culled out everything I considered excess, but there's still a lot of stuff that isn't used daily.  I struggle to let go of the "good" dishes or the "good" table linens.   What do tiny-home owners do with Christmas decorations?  

Maybe my perspective on "stuff" is what really needs to be purged.  Maybe that al fresco dinner party would be just as enjoyable if served on the same dishes I use every day - or paper plates.  If I could remove the sentiment from objects - see them as tools to accomplish the necessities of life rather than having intrinsic value - the downsizing process would be easier.  

Living in a tiny home would be financially rewarding.  The cut in mortgage/rent, utilities, upkeep and insurance would make funds available for travel, charity and upgrading our remaining possessions.  If I only have space for dinnerware for 8, make them good quality and beautiful.  

Then there's the issue of guests . . . 

We probably won't start tiny-house hunting today, and "tiny" is relative - but it's an idea I can't completely escape.

A Puzzling Challenge

Welcome to "Just One More Thing..." 

and my mini-challenge for Deweys 24-Hour Readathon.  

THE CHALLENGE IS NOW CLOSED.  THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING.

THE WINNER IS J.F. JENKINS.  
MS. JENKINS, PLEASE CONTACT ME (hcl_tami@yahoo.com) TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE.

Our son is getting married in just five weeks, so my mind is focused on all things wedding.  I'm even seeing wedding plans in book titles. The book covers below are  all missing one or more words.  Each missing word is something associated with weddings.  Can you replace the missing words?  (Hint: One missing word is in the author's name rather than the book title.)

List the thirteen missing words in the comments, or leave a link to where I can find your list.   You can also tweet the list or link to me (@mrschupa).  Please use the hashtag #RATpuzzle. 

A winner will be chosen by random drawing from all correct entries, and will receive a $15 gift card to Barnes and Noble or The Book Depository.  The challenge will remain open until the beginning of hour 8 (2:00 p.m. central time) and the winner will be posted by the start of hour 9.  Check back here at 3:00 p.m. central time to see if you're the lucky bride, or if you're a bridesmaid once again.

Click to enlarge

Readathon Day!

It's Readathon Day again!  Dewey's 24-hour Readathon is a semi-annual day of reading, games, prizes and more reading.  Here's what I have lined up for the day:

"The Tavern on Maple Street" by Sharon Owens - This is a book club selection and I'm about 2/3 through it.

"The Secret Garden" by Francis Hodgson Burnett - Another book club selection.  I can't believe I have never read this classic.

"Audacious" by Beth Moore.  I love everything Beth Moore writes, so I'm excited to get into this for my non-fiction selection.

"Love Has It's Reasons" by Earl Palmer.  This was a gift and recommendation from my cousin and dear friend, Arlene, the last time she purged her bookshelf.  

I have an Ellery Queen magazine for when I need a short-story break.  I haven't bought - or even seen - an EQ since high school.  And that's been a year or two (or 35) so I'm excited for that.

And the most anticipated book of the readathon:  "The Undoing of Saint Silvanus" - Beth Moore's first novel.

Hope you have a great lineup.  Stop back here at Hour 5 - 11:00 a.m.  in my area (Central Time) - for A Puzzling Challenge.  

Happy Reading!

That's Progress!

When I was a child, one of my favorite things was to visit the "Variety Store" while my mom was at the grocery store down the street.  Mom handed out three nickels to three little girls and we slowly perused the candy choices in the glass cabinet.  Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, Milky Way, maybe a chewy Bit-O-Honey, or M&M's.  Or how about licorice sticks, Tootsie Rolls and Bazooka Bubblegum - two for a penny.  The choices seemed infinite.

A few days ago, I browsed a convenience store candy aisle for a little treat with my gas fill-up.  The choices weren't infinite, they were overwhelming!  Snickers, Snickers Bites, Snickers Almond, Snickers Peanut Butter Squares, Snicker's Ice Cream Bars, Snickers Eggs, Snickers 2 Go, Snickers Fun Size, Snickers Miniatures, Snickers King Size.  And that was just one brand.

The same comparison can be made with television channels.  In the 60's and 70's we had four channels (if the weather was clear) - ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.  When we got married in the early 80's, we got cable and expanded our lineup to about twenty channels.  Today we have hundreds of channels.  The time required to sift through them all uses up all of our viewing time, so we usually just watch the same four or five channels.

Eating out used to mean visiting a locally-owned restaurant.  Today, every city has block after block of franchised eating choices - from burgers to steak to pizza to sushi.  Children no longer go home from school to play with the other kids in their neighborhood.  They choose from sports, martial arts, music,  gymnastics, dance and dozens of other activities.  The expansion of options also applies to gas stations, car manufacturers, and even beer.

I didn't need shelf after shelf of sweets at the convenience store.  To me, it was "noise".   The volume and pace of life has increased a hundred-fold in the last fifty years.  And so has the accompanying  exhaustion.  Stress relief has become a mammoth business. 

Ironically, one of the newest trends in stress management is to simplify - downsize, live smaller, have fewer choices.  Maybe progress isn't all it's cracked up to be.