“The trick is to give with love from the start…”

(F.Y.I.  Most of my post titles WILL be taken from Johnny Mathis tunes, as he is, to me, an important figurehead in the Christmas music spectrum.)

The project is fully underway!  Day #2 (featuring the creation of this blog and my debut as an official blogger) found me mostly hunched over my computer, attempting to familiarize myself with the WordPress.com “Dashboard,” which serves as a “control panel” of sorts.  It allows you to modify and add to your blog.  I was tickled pink when I learned I could use a Christmas theme as my background.  (Yes…I am the kind of person that is easily entertained…even mundane activities such as watching paint dry elicit laughter from myself).

Entering school yesterday with this idea in my mind kept me pretty busy throughout the morning and early afternoon.  I honestly spent a good 4 hours simply working on the creation of this blog, and another 2 writing the first post.  Fatigue naturally set in, of course, with all the typing, squinting at the computer screen, and the extended amount of time sitting on my bum.  Then, I had to attend a student teaching seminar, run home and walk my dog, and then head back to school for an evening jazz concert.

The funny thing about attempting to “do good” for others???  You start to run out of time! You get so focused in on your daily activities/needs/wants/worries/schedule/cute man crossing the street that giving time to others just “had to be put off until tomorrow.”

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“’Tis the season to be merry…”

It’s officially November, officially cold, and officially time to shift our focus from weekends at the lake to weekends quarantined indoors due to 6 feet of snowfall.

For me, this time of year has always brought a bit of excitement with it.  The Halloween costumes have all been put away…there’s no longer a month-long build-up to a holiday worshiped by kindergarteners and college freshmen.  I love autumn, and I hate to see the fall months pass by so quickly, but I can’t help feel a twinge of excitement knowing what’s to come ahead:  the “holiday season,” a period of two months highlighted by Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve/Day, and New Year’s Eve/Day (not to mention Black Friday).  How can anyone not be overjoyed to know that turkey, stuffing, Rudolph, candy canes, and noise makers are just right around the corner?

When I was little, the holidays were my entire reason for living during those dreary winter months.  Gram would start to bake endless amounts of Italian cookies.  Mom would play Christmas carols to wake me up for school each morning.  Dad would send me hurtling at blinding speeds down Jamestown’s biggest snow-covered hill, with only an inner tube and an overstuffed snow suit to keep me from harm.  Papa would “allow” me to shovel his front walk after I begged mercilessly, and after we would watch Home Alone in the warmth of his living room…which also served as my imaginary ice rink when I believed I would become a world class figure skater at the age of 8.  It’s hard to do triple lutzes when there’s a coffee table and a fireplace in your way.