Christmas Eve 2013

Have you been naughty or nice this year?

Santa knows which one, and as the song says, he's making a list and checking it twice!

On this Christmas Eve that seemed to arrive so quickly this year, I hope Santa is good to you and brings you exactly what you wished for.  Santa is one busy dude you know so don't forget to put out the milk and cookies for him!  Sometimes we leave him a nice cold beer because we know that with all of his dashing around that he has worked up quite a thirst!

Photo Courtesy of Beall + Thomas Photography

Also on this Christmas Eve, I would like to say to my fabulous readers that I hold you in a very special place in my heart and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!!  You are my Christmas gift this year for you have blessed me with your continued support and I thank you for always taking the time to stop and read Cry, Laugh, Heal.

 

I hope I have been able to help you as much as you have helped me!

Merry Christmas!

Summertime Music In December

Baby, it's cold outside isn't it?

 

Weather predictions of flurries, dropping temperatures and possible black ice bring with it winter's outer armor of boots, scarves, gloves and woolen hats.  Meanwhile, kids around the nation are praying for snowstorms to arrive for Santa Claus and Christmas and extra days off from school.

 

And in the midst of all this Winterness, a friend tweeted this rockin' new video (see below) titled "Keep This In" by Phillip Noss that transports me to one of my favorite places: THE BEACH!!!!

 

Santa Delivers To The Beach Doesn't He?

 I love the warm, breezy feel to this song and I think it's the perfect antidote to the current all play all day Christmas carols that seem to be piped in to every stereo system that I come into contact with.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not being a Scrooge this year at all.  It's just that sometimes I get burnt out about the commercial aspects of Christmas very quickly, especially since it seems to start earlier and earlier each year.

 

Please notice that no one in this video has a coat on or anything resembling winter gear.  From the first seconds of Phillip Noss' good ole rock and roll song, I am immediately transported to a Coney Island boardwalk wonderland of arcade games and even bumper cars and I can practically smell the caramel popcorn and taste the greasy fries that are part of the beach's mandatory menu.  Just so you know, pizza is also on this mandatory beach menu!

 

It's Summertime in December by watching the below link to Phillip Noss' new song and video, Keep This In, the first single off his upcoming album, Lover On The Run:
 

Sentimental Christmas Stockings

Stockings Belonging to Daddy, Mommy & R

 

 

" . . . And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care;

 In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. . ."

From "Twas The Night Before Christmas"
By Clement Clarke Moore

 

 

These  are our sentimental Christmas stockings, hung on our fireplace every year, in hopes that Santa Claus will think we have been good and fill them with lots of treats.

 

I know they are a bit on the tacky side but they represent a lot of good feelings and great memories.

 

They don't match each other or the living room where they hang and certainly don't look like those hip and elegant stockings you see in the Pottery Barn catalogue or stockings you may see in the display windows of Sak's or Macy's but they are our Christmas stockings and we love them.

 

My son picked them out all by himself when he was five years old.  The Santa Claus stocking was for his father, the gingerbread one is for me, his mom, and the Christmas tree is for him.  I remember watching him in the store looking at all the different choices of Christmas stockings and at first I think he was a little overwhelmed.

 

He walked around and around and kept looking and picking up all the different stockings and then decided on these three.  He had such a big smile on his face when he handed them to me and was so excited that we were actually going to buy the ones he chose.

 

Every year he looks forward to hanging them up on the fireplace, even the Christmas after his father died.

 

I wasn't going to put decorations up that year because, well because, it was enough for me to get out of bed and form a complete sentence never mind dealing with Christmas decorations.  But my son insisted we get a tree and put up the rest of decorations. 

 

All that I did was buy the tree and bring the boxes down from the attic.  My son and a wonderful friend of his did the rest.  I was in and out of the room while they were working and placing the decorations anywhere they wanted.  I really didn't care what it looked like.

 

I do remember coming into the room when my son opened up the box containing the Christmas stockings and I sortof held my breath to see if he would hang two stockings or three.  At that time, my son had a lot of anger about his father which was perfectly normal.  He was angry that his father had died, that his father had left him, that his father hadn't made better health decisions and he was angry that it was Christmas and his father wasn't there. 

 

I felt a lot of these things too but there's a big difference between an adult dealing with those thoughts and feelings and a thirteen-year-old boy.

 

I watched as he held the stockings and walked towards the fireplace.  I truly expected to see him hang only two, but then he surprised me and put up all three.  He didn't say anything and neither did I.

 

It's been quite a journey since that very first Christmas after his father's death.  I admire how my son has handled this difficult situation and the adult that he has become.  He is amazing!

 

My son still loves Christmas and EVERYTHING associated with it.

 

And every year, he still always hangs three stockings.

 

Kind Gestures

 

 

Life's Little Presents

 

Sometimes it's the little things in life that can make a difference.

Someone holds the door for you as you enter a building.

A stranger (nicely and innocently) smiles at you for no reason.

A friend calls you.

Someone treats you to lunch.

A happy card arrives in the mail.

You find a dress, purse or shoes on sale at an incredible price. ( I always love this!)

Someone actually listens to you.

These small wonderful surprises give you a lift and put something extra into your step.  Most of these are surprises that you can give to someone else too.  After all, life is a two way street. 

It goes without saying that I truly love the big unexpected surprises that come with the proverbial red bow around them but these days, at this point in my life, the wait is longer for those Santa Claus/Big Daddy life presents and instead I take pleasure in the small things that happen to me and I what I can do for others.

Try it and see.  I think you will be oh-so surprised!