In My Stylish Yet Affordable Boots

Ghosts of Christmas Past

In the days and weeks leading up to Christmas, I began to reflect on the Christmases of my childhood. Christmas, in my family, was magical, joyful, a special time for friends and family to spend together. I remember bundling up in the backseat of the car with my brother as we drove to or from a relative's home, and the Christmas morning round-robin with the neighbors where the adults had drinks and hors d' oeuvres and us kids showed off our brand new toys. I remember singing in the children's choir at our church, and later, the peace of Midnight Mass. I remember my mom and her sisters singing Polish carols, tree-cutting expeditions, hanging ornaments, preparing for my parents' annual Christmas bash, lighting the Advent wreath, making cookies, shopping for family gifts in the church basement, and even one service day spent wrapping Christmas presents at the local pregnant teens home. But most of all, I remember Santa.

My mom wholeheartedly believed in the magic of Santa Claus, and together, my parents created a world for us in which Santa continues to be real. Even long after Bro & I stopped setting out cookies, milk, carrots, and a shot glass of sugar (for Rudolph!), the magic and surprise and joy of sharing that perfect gift endured.

But the memories that have me smiling the most of late are what I wanted to share in this post. One is an encounter with Santa, and the other was a Christmas morning surprise.

When I was quite small, my dad's company had an annual Christmas party that included the employees' families, and the kids had the opportunity to visit with Santa. As we approached with Dad, Santa called out our names! He knew our dog's name, and about our camping vacations. He knew what we were wishing for before we told him, and the ways in which we'd been naughty of late. Bro & I were stunned. We were talking to the real Santa! From the North Pole! Only recently, we learned who was really in that Santa suit - an old friend* of the family, and we'd never, ever guessed.

Another year, when we were both questioning a lot, we set out the Santa & reindeer treats, and with them, a note to Santa: "Are you real?" When we got up in the morning, Santa had answered our note to tell us that of course he was real. To this day, I swear it was neither of my parents' handwriting - they did a fantastic job of disguising it. He also "accidentally" left a bit of white fluff from his coat stuck to the branches of our Christmas tree, and little bitty sooty footprints** on the hearth. The fireplace doors were left wide open and the tree was lit as well. We were in awe. Clearly, Santa *had* been in our house. It was another couple of years before we even started to question again.

All of these memories are the things I hold close to my heart in this season. So here's wishing you amazing memories of the magic, joy, peace, and love of the season.

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* As I was composing this post over the last few days, I learned that this old family friend passed away on Friday. That makes three men lost this year, who were all important to these Christmas memories in some way. Bruce, Melvin, and Al, you are missed.

** No matter how many times I ask, my dad STILL won't tell me how he made those footprints!

 

I'm turning into my mother

Several years back, during food prep for some holiday or another, I found no fewer than six containers of sour cream in my parents' refrigerator. Some were partially used, some were unopened, and every single one was expired. My mom was not a hoarder, by any stretch, so it was just weird and hilarious and, of course, we teased her mercilessly about it.

Tonight, I made a quick grocery run to pick up the fixings for tacos and margaritas, in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Naturally, I bought sour cream. And when I put it in the fridge, I found an entire unopened container already there.

Bet you're looking down and thinking, "Who's laughing now?", right, Mom? Happy Mother's Day.

A little ditty

"This is about the little peace that's in you, that makes other people happy to see you comin'. Dogs lick ya, babies like ya, that kind of peace. And I'm pretty sure at this point, if more people would pay attention to the little peace, the big peace would just take care of itself." - Arlo Guthrie's intro to "My Peace"

I spent this afternoon at a performance of the Milwaukee Symphony Pops, where they were joined by folk singer Arlo Guthrie. It was an enjoyable show, but this simple song - which I hadn't heard before, not being a big fan of folk music - really touched me. According to Arlo's introduction, the lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie not long before his death, and later set to music by Arlo. I suspect I'll find myself humming this from time to time.

 

Why I love social media communities

Where else, in the course of a day, can you have conversations about race relations & segregation, sewing machines, the Rapture, food, home improvement and repairs, children's toys, duct tape clothing repairs, customer service wins and woes, clothes, Chapstick, and a dozen other topics, from the serious to the mundane, with humor, intelligence, and respect?

You all know who you are, and I love our conversations.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night

But apparently, our valiant USPS mail carriers can be vanquished by the sorting machines. In my pile of mail today was this:

Luckily, this wasn't a bill or other important document (which we've had happen before), though it was not easy to read the Christmas greetings from my aunt & uncle. But I really enjoyed the half-blameshifting on the back:

Specifically: "...if you will continue to properly prepare and address each letter or parcel that you enter into the mailstream" and "We appreciate your cooperation..."

It just kind of smacks of, "I'm sorry if you feel bad...", doesn't it?

Stylish who?

I had plans today, to have brunch and see the Milwaukee Symphony Pops concert ("A Fabulous 50s Celebration", with guests Sha-Na-Na, and conducted by Marvin Hamlisch).  The show was quite enjoyable, from Mr. Hamlisch's arrival onstage, wearing a Green Bay Packers scarf, through to the final number, "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite".

I carefully planned what I wanted to wear today, so I could take my new Christmas gift from the The Husband - a lovely string of pearls - out for a spin. I had a lovely brunch. I enjoyed the first act of the concert. And then I discovered that my sweater was on backwards.

So much for attention to detail.

Happy 2011!

In 2011, I resolve to make no resolutions that will just cause me to beat myself up when I don't stick to them.

That said, what I hope for in 2011 is to be more mindful of my health, my words, my attitude, and my actions.  To read a little more than I did last year. Complain a little less. Learn a new thing or two. And most of all, live life joyfully and lovingly and purposefully.

Can't really ask for more than that.

A life, summarized

For a variety of reasons, I've been thinking about the milestones of my life a lot lately. And today, especially, I'd like to remember a few.

Today marks:

• the 8th anniversary of leaving my 20s behind,
• the 17th anniversary of legally buying & drinking alcohol,
• the 20th anniversary of buying my first lottery ticket,
• the 22nd anniversary of becoming a licensed driver,
• the 25th anniversary of becoming a teenager,
• the 28th anniversary of achieving double-digit ages,
• and the 38th anniversary of this diary entry: "September 28, 1972: 4:52 PM - Born to [Mom and Dad], a daughter [Stylishboots] - 6 lbs, 19 1/2""

Wonder what my past self would think of me today?

The stuff that rolls around in my head

What I write about in this blog is generally inspired by things I see, conversations I have, or sometimes a weird convergence of the same topic coming up in different parts of my life in a short period of time.  This is one of those weird convergence things.

Online relationships. Nearly everyone has an opinion on the nature of online relationships - whether meaningful relationships can be formed, if spending that much time online is healthy, if a person is just opening themselves up to fraud or other dangers.

M y life is full of positive online relationships. I met The Husband online, and most of our early relationship was conducted via email.  While planning our wedding, and later in the throes of newlywedness, I met a group of people at a similar life stage.  It's more than 11 years, and several internet venues (from Usenet to a variety of popular social media sites), later and I have a handful of very good friends to show for it.  I also have a large network of very nice acquaintances.

Additionally, Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with people I haven't seen or communicated with since high school or college. I've renewed and enlarged my network of acquaintances, but I've also gotten some harsh reminders of relationships that turned out to be something quite different from what I thought they were at the time.

And here's the rub.  People tend to share so much of themselves online that it's really easy to view these relationships as more than they are.  To forget that, just as in real life, there are people with whom you form closer relationships because you just click and then there are people who are perfectly nice but will never be that close to you.  Not everyone is going to be your friend. This is as true online as it was in elementary school.

So when you have this smaller group of close friends, and a larger group of nice acquaintances, what is your obligation to them across the vast expanse of social media?  Is it imperative to include everyone in every network? Or is it reasonable to make choices to limit your network in different ways, depending on the forum?

Offline, it is reasonable to throw an intimate dinner party for a few close friends versus throwing an open house and inviting every person you know.  Should different rules apply online?  Share your thoughts with me in the comments.

Who needs the fountain of youth?

On the way to work this morning, my carpool buddy and I heard a radio commercial touting some product aimed at making women look younger.  I've seen the television version of this ad before, which includes some man exclaiming, "it made my wife look 10 years younger!"  Upon seeing it, I asked The Husband if he wants me to look younger than my age (which, for the record, is 36).  He told me I already do look younger than my age.  Isn't that sweet?  Oddly enough, he's not the only person to have told me this in recent years.  A couple of friends have said so, unprompted, as well. 

I related that conversation with The Husband to my carpool buddy, who said, "oh, yeah, you do look younger than your age."

I always knew there had to be some purpose for oily skin and good makeup.