Why I Don't Drink Much Caffeine - IHS #7

Dear Diary,

I am having a love/hate relationship with my blog right now.

I love writing.
I hate that it is taking up so much of my mental time. 
I am neglecting my chores and my Christmas preparations, and am cheating my family of a Christmas spirit I desperately want to feel.

On December 9, I challenged myself to post a joy of my heart each day until Christmas.

I am reneging that challenge. 

It is no longer a joyful task.

Saturday's post did not get published.
I did write a post for Saturday, but the key idea was actually in a one-minute video I tried to upload.  And tried,
and tried,
and tried again. 
I wasted a lot of time. 
No Can Do. 

And I was more than a little irritated by it.

So, I need to have a reality check, stop obsessing and start living (and cleaning)!  I need to start organizing, wrapping, and panicking about my (lack of) Christmas card ideas.  I want to put joy back into my day, not just in one little gem I manage to pull out for these posts.

I need to chill.

So, while I will post more before Christmas, I am taking the pressure off of myself (which was soley put on by ME) to post every day.


So here is my IHS for today.  It comes full circle to my advent calendar I alluded to on the 9th.  It was homemade by church ladies, and it is adorable.  Felt people with googly eyes.  Hearkens me back to my childhood Sunday School days, with green felt boards and Bible story characters stiffly demonstrating the story at hand.

On this the 16th day of December, the procession of people and animals gathering to welcome the baby Jesus is getting quite large. 




Here is what I noticed this morning. 
Upon closer inspection, their googly eyes actually make them appear to have had a little waaaaaay too much coffee.



Yup. Wide awake.
I guess they don't want to miss Christ's coming.

Neither do I.  So I'll catchya later.

LJ

Feasting on Leroy

Dear Diary,
Hello! Here I am with my second IHS.  Hope I can keep this up!

The heart swelling Christmas joy I want to share today is courtesy of Leroy Anderson.

He is a talented American composer whose works include
The Typewriter,
                             Syncopated Clock,
                                                              and A Trumpeter's Lullaby.

But at this time of year I can't get enough of his......(drum roll)......... Sleigh Ride.
(Composed during a July 1948 heatwave in Connecticut btw!)

It is a feast for my ears. The percussion section has the spotlight in this tune. My timing is never quite right as I try to mimic the crack of the whip.  Syncopation is not my gift.

But listening to the romp of the trombone and the frolicking strings makes my heart delight in the buffet of sounds this song has to offer. All the pieces put together make one satisfying meal!

In case you want to take a couple of minutes to indulge, or just want a reminder of the song, take a listen to this recording from 2008.

Have a jolly day!
LJ

IHS Joys of Christmas

Dear Diary,

December 9th?  Really? 
Didn't I just put up the nativity scene advent calendar? 
Now
   1 rooster,
   1 donkey,
   1 camel,
   1 cow,
   1 angel,
   1 shepherd, and
   3 sheep later,
it is nine days into the month.  Time flies....

With 16 days left until the Big Day, I wanted to challenge myself with a little exercise. 
No, I don't mean literally exercise -- heh heh, that's a good one on your part!

I mean I want to find and name a joy each day.
Not the obvious joys like eating Christmas cookies, or attending parties, or eating Christmas cookies, or singing carols with your kids, or eating Chri..... oh, you get my meaning.

I want to bring to light something that gives me the opposite of an inward mental groan (IMG). 
I call it an IHS:  Inward Heart Swell. 

When my heart swells, it is with one of two things:  pride (not always good, except when it comes to my kids) and joy.  Soooo, swallowing my pride (and cookies) for the time being, I will post a joyous IHS every day until Christmas.  That is what I mean by a challenging exercise.

Here goes.
Today's IHS joy is this:

An ornament I've had since bk (before kids) and is so random!  What does a cute widdle bear sitting in a baby swing really have to do with Christmas?  Nothing!  And yet it is an ornament that is simply irresistible to me.  Look at that face!  It's just begging for a push!  Since my girls were little enough to help with the tree, they, too have been drawn to its random cuteness and have spent playtimes pushing him in his Christmas tree swing. 
I guess it's a "he." 
Maybe it's the red bowtie.

Would love to hear about your little IHSs of Christmas.  Just leave a comment!

Until tomorrow!
LJ

Missing the Prize

Dear Diary,

Flashback to childhood in the '70s, where joys came from simple and next-to-free activities:

Coloring books
and
roller skates
and
macrame belts
and
listening to grooved, black, vinyl discs on a turntable while studying the album cover and reading every word on the jacket.

And ranking near the absolute joy of
                                Saturday morning cartoons
                                                     came

the prize in the cereal box. 

I was suddenly reminded of these trinkets this morning while eating my cereal.  The box I used had a picture of those rubber wrist bracelets -- the kind Armstrong made popular.  Except these said BREAKFAST ROCKS or something.

I thought, wow, it's been a long time since I've had to dig for a prize out of a cereal box.  On closer inspection I discovered these bracelets weren't in the box, they were a mail-in promotion:  collect a couple of labels with codes, go to the website and register, and then you are eligible to receive this latex-free bangle (probably after you send in your $4.99 for shipping and handling).

When did cereal prize retrieval get so complicated?
Why did it get so complicated?

I had only one sibling, and yet I gained some valuable life skills negotiating or sneaking my way to that one prize in the box!  And there was no post office nor allowance money involved.

The same goes for Cracker Jacks.  At least it still has a prize, even if it is just a joke about a banana or an elephant.  Or my favorite: a tattoo of a flower or some random object.

So, just as I mourn my kids' lack of Saturday morning Warner Bros. knowledge (and Schoolhouse Rock Jingles), I also silently bereave their lack of useless prizes from a box of Sugar Pops.

Perhaps I shouldn't get so upset. 
They are bagel eaters anyway.

Nostalgically yours,
LJ

Bring It On!

Dear Diary,

This time of Holy Week has got me thinking.  Christians have two celebrations that are biggies: 

Christmas

and

Easter.

In my own little warped way, similar to a Would You Rather game, I asked myself if I had to choose between the two, which celebration could I not live without? (If you have trouble with double negatives like I do, I am asking, essentially, which do I like the best?)

Of course I am glad I can celebrate BOTH!  But for me and many others, Easter is the grand
poohbah of Christian celebrations.  The creme de la creme.  The piece de resistance.  The observance to end all other observances.

I don't think I am going out on a limb to say that the world probably would choose the other.  I'm thinking the jolly, round man wins the popularity contest over the hairy rodent, cute as he is.

("Tommy, the Easter Bunny is watching you!" doesn't have the same ring to it.  And "Egg on a Shelf" would just roll off and make a mess.)

True, Christmas is a wonderfully happy time.  It is full of awe factor and awww factor (as in "awww, what a cute baby!").

But Easter doesn't just make me happy.  In fact, in the days preceding it I can -- and should -- feel sad.  But that is what makes the joy so much sweeter! 

My joy at Easter is deeper than Christmas joy.  It is spiritual. It is physical.  I can feel it fluttering inside my chest, quickening my heart rate, bringing tears to my eyes, simultaneously lifting my spirit and the corners of my mouth.

I can feel the perfect LOVE of God, demonstrated on the cross by a Savior who is Resurrected! 
My mourning turns to dancing on Easter!

So while I enjoyed Christmas, bring on Easter!
Bring on the JOY!

He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

Joyfully,
LJ