Nov 30, 2008
The tree is up! Yippee! I’m feeling pretty festive now that the hardest work is over. Dontcha’ just hate putting up the tree? I know it’s supposed to be fun, but it feels too much like work for me to enjoy the process. First you have to clean — then you drag everything in the house and clean again. Then you realize you’re missing a bunch of stuff that you had last year, so you go back out and dig, find the treasures and bring them in, and then you get to clean again. *wipes brow*
Also — I just read Mike Hall’s ‘What’s Cookin’ at the Pines‘ BLOG and guess what?!? He put a photo of our family from Thanksgiving Day on there. Now how cool is that? Not only did we eat the best meal ever, but we also made the famous BLOG too!
Nov 29, 2008
I always think that I’ll do better ‘this year’ when it comes to my system of storing Christmas decorations. But I’m so ready to get my home back to normal that right after the holiday (yes, sometimes even Christmas night), I’m packing away the Christmas memories. Last year was no exception. As I look at ornaments haphazardly thrown into one big box I again proclaim, “I’m going to do better this year!”
Sorting through the ornaments collected throughout the years always brings a smile — all the ‘little Ben’ handmade items still go on the tree. Every year someone gives me a dated Hallmark one, and those too hold special memories. But this morning when I picked up a Santa head from the box, an ornament that I always thought looked so cool (he has the old Father Christmas theme thing going on), I wondered why the Hell I always liked him so much…
Tell me – does this Santa not look pathetically sad about something?? I wonder if he read the recent BLOG post on McKain Viewpoint…
Nov 29, 2008
Santa Clause made an early stop in Indy to visit my son…
吠え声 吠え声 is this Mexican dog’s name — Japanese for ‘bark bark’ and it’s pronounced Wan Wan (or something like that).
Nov 28, 2008
Today is Black Friday — dubbed as such to mark the shopping day that normally puts retail businesses in the black with increased consumer spending for the Christmas holiday. CNN states that holiday sales can account for as much as 50% of merchant’s annual profits and sales — and how many people have you already heard say, “Christmas is going to be lean at our house this year”? I’ve said it myself…
I’m not venturing out today — and with the spending lockdown that has already put several retailers into bankruptcy — I’m guessing there are many more just like me. Even though gas prices are down today ($1.69 in Indy), we’ve spent the last couple years watching them rise, while our home’s equity has declined. People like me aren’t going to rush and and buy a bunch of crap to put under the tree this year.
Sooooo, my thoughts now carry me to work on a day that I have off –but I’ve just gotta put them here anyway. Sorry…
In Scott McKain’s book that hits the shelves in February, The Collapse of Distinction, he makes it very clear what businesses must do to survive in challenging times. My brother has always thought of things that were lost on me. I’m artsy — he’s philosophical. Still, it isn’t hard for me to understand the concepts once he explains them. And I can see how it all fits in when I think about how I’m changing my own spending habits.
As I reflect on putting up the ole’ Christmas tree today and what gifts I’ll put under it, I am ultimately looking for unique items — and quality instead of quantity. If that’s what I’m doing — and I’m a pretty average consumer — I’ll bet that some of you reading this are doing the same thing. Although I’m not going to help some businesses stay out of bankruptcy court by spending my money with them, I really don’t believe that my family’s holiday season is going to suffer. And I’m ultimately going to be helping out businesses that normally wouldn’t get my cash in the process.
Funny…we’ve been saying for years how great it would be to go back in time — you know — remember the reason for the season and all that. But when we actually do that, we’re messing with the world economy…
Nov 27, 2008
We had Thanksgiving dinner today at the Pines, and the food was incredible. It’s difficult to have a family holiday and not have it at ‘home’, but certain circumstances make it impossible sometimes. Such is the case in our family structure — my Grandmother’s age and limited mobility eliminates many options. But you know, even if the options were limitless, I don’t see how we could’ve enjoyed a better meal than what we had today anyway.
We have so very many things to be thankful for…
