Do you still hear the Bell?

Everyone really does want to believe, even if they scoff at it all through the season. In that split second when they see those presents under the tree, they want things to be like a holiday movie…full of hope and wonder and possibly a little bit of Christmas Magic.

When you are young it’s easy to believe in the Christmas magic and a jolly old guy that would some how get into the house and leave those special presents under the tree. Mom and Dad claim he is able to get in when no one else can and leave bikes, electric cars, and of course those hard to find action figures, and video games. Common sense tells you no way but hope and dreams for your most treasured requested present let’s you suspend logic just long enough to see if you wake up to your Christmas wish.

All of the Christmas magic flies out the window when you hit those tumultuous teenage years. You won’t believe because it’s just not cool or you are too smart and logically can prove no one can get into your house without getting caught. With the screen covering the chimney not even birds can get in the house that way. Besides there’s no way one man can do all he supposedly can do in one night. It might be cool to see the Norad report (when dad forces you to look at it of course) but that’s just plain dumb in this day and age of homeland security. They would shoot that red sleigh out of the sky before he could identify himself. And airport security would have him tied up for weeks with all his excess luggage.

But when you roll out of bed before Mom & Dad (after staying up long after they went to sleep) you hope for just an eye twinkling moment that maybe there really is a Santa. When you go downstairs and there it is, the present you had hope for since it hit the store shelves (or at least the ‘sold out’ sign did). Some how someone was able to bring you the video game you couldn’t even find yourself no matter how many times you went to the stores.

How is it possible? Where is the logic? What does it matter, once again there are presents under the tree that weren’t there hours earlier and no way did mom and dad get past your guard to deliver them…of course they had to have done it but how?

Only someone with and inside scoop or the jolly old fella himself could pull off such a feat as getting the game you wanted and delivering it without your knowing it. So as you are playing with your new game, you know deep down that there really is a Santa or at least a bit of Christmas magic. You are just thankful you were pretty good this year and that he is a bit forgiving for those few times you may have not been on your best behavior.

Here’s wishing everyone a bit of Christmas magic and let us hope all our wishes and dreams come true this holiday season.

Being a Domestic Goddess is like pulling a band-aid off…

Some days you rip that sucker off hair and all. You feel invincible because you were able to grab that band-aid without fear of end results and yank it off. And that’s admirable of you for doing such a thing even though you knew you were going to loose a hunk of body hair and it would not only be painful before and yes after the deed was done but you now have a bald spot to go along with the scare from the original injury.

Other days you wet the band-aid and work a tiny little bit then stop and question whether it’s the right time to take off. Maybe the band-aid should stay on for another day, hour or yes even a minute at this point sounds reasonable. You get out a little lotion to try working around the band-aid to lessen the total hair-skin ripping affect. You run water over it in hope that the waterproof guarantee was just advertising and it really will wash itself loose. And finally after agonizing over this task and working at it for several minutes, hours or even all day it finally works itself off. You still have a bald spot to go along with the original injury but it’s FINALLY done.

Well that’s the way I face being a Domestic Goddess. Some days armed with my “To Do List” I tackle every task with a vengeance. I plow right through all the gory details of clean without a care that it’s disgusting and full of germs. I’m forging a path with my Clorox clean-up, duster, vacuum cleaner and mop. I’m making my home free of the evils of dust-bunnies and germs to gross to even think about. When I’m done there is no dust to settle or germs to infect. My list is clear and I feel invincible in my ability to tackle any thing on my “To Do List” in an expedient and efficient manner. I’m simply a Goddess.

Then there are the real life days when I look at my list and wonder how in the hell I’m going to finish it much less survive all the evil attacking dust bunnies and germs ready to invade my body and cause me unmentionable pain and illness. Yes, that’s why they call them germs. They are sitting there on the toilet and floor waiting for me. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen them rubbing their grubby little hands together when you walk in the bathroom…”Oh boy, let me at that sexy goddess so I can make her body quiver and flame with all my infectious charm and she will think twice before she invades my castle with her smelly bleach.”

And don’t even get me started on the warm fuzzies waiting for me under the bed or in the corner. I don’t even know how they got the name dust bunnies cause those rabid creatures are just waiting to attack your ankles when you walk in the room with the vacuum cleaner. Then they hop right back under the bed or behind the end table to hide from your vacuum cleaner’s sucking power.

Yes, some days you spend an inordinate amount of time pondering the best way to attack these tasks without actually touching the surfaces or at least tackling them with the least amount of contact. You’ve tried all those gadgets and widgets touting great success in busting all the floating particles and pathogens with the least amount of effort and-or contact with said particles and pathogens.

You look at Martha and wonder how she scrubs her bathroom without wanting to don a haz-mat suit complete with oxygen tank. Then you remember she didn’t have a teenage son and was working in corporate America when her daughter was a teenager so you can excuse her “whistle while you work” attitude.

So after much pondering the problem and the outcome of coming in contact with those monstrous bugs and bunnies you trudge through your tasks as best you can. You take as many time-outs to wash your hands, grab a cup of coffee and meditate on how you are every going to make it though the ridiculous list you started with. You question the wisdom of becoming a Domestic Goddess in the first place. You never really cared to keep up with your own room and clothes before you had a husband and a child to handle too. Can you give up your addiction to buying books to pay for someone else to clean this mess…HA…like that would happen?

Finally the end of the day has arrived and your house isn’t as clean as you know it should be but when the husband and teenager walk in you are at least gifted with the fact they didn’t point out your failings. The teenager doesn’t even notice a change and the husband thinks you’re a Goddess and he is blessed to have you…*G*. Or at least he’s glad he didn’t have to tackle the job himself.

No matter which category you fall into, give yourself a clean tub to relax in cause at the end of your treacherous day you need to pamper yourself. And remember, besides the ol’…grass is always greener crap…no one else is going to do it and they will think you are fabulous because you did…if they don’t there’s always the threat of them doing it themselves…*G*.

So go forth and make your self a legend in your own mind because a positive self imagine is one of the most important things you can give yourself…and besides it’s cheap and easy to boot.

My Holiday “To Do List” For This Week

Not only do I have the regular list of “To Do’s” (i.e. the regular chores of a Domestic Goddess and other such mundane things) but now that we are on the Holiday Count Down, I have a long list of things to do such as…

1. Shove batteries up several snowmen’s butt…hubby’s description for loading the batteries in my collection of musical snowmen (you know the one’s Hallmark has been putting out for the past 5 years). I also have to load up our Jingle Bell Rock(ing) Santa who “dances” and watches over all the holiday fun from his vantages point on the mantle.

2. I have to run to the fabric store for material to make a tree skirt for our little tree we picked up yesterday at Lowe’s…a dwarf Alberta pine not quite a foot tall…*G* I’ll have to blog the story of our first tree…kinda like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree but with lots of laughter. This of course won’t take the place of our 6’ real Fraser fir tree we picked up at the tree lot yesterday.

3. I have to hit Target for another string of multi-colored lights. We are really going all out this year because we found a pole-thingie to hang the lights on the gutter without using a ladder. My Alpha-Hero has a thing about heights (he won’t admit to it of course) so we have finally found a way to do our own Griswoldian version of external illumination extravaganza.

4. Pulling together all my addresses for my Christmas card list. I have my lists from years past but have never combine them together so every year I have to print them all out and then cross reference them to make sure I don’t double card someone…*G*.

5. Make out my baking lists. One for what I’m going to bake, one for my shopping list, and one for my shipping list (for those unlucky enough to get stuck with a care package from me…*G*). No Dad, you’ll just have to pass out the chocolate cherry cookies to neighbors and friends cause I’m still sending them to you even though they aren’t your favorite…they aren’t mine either but hubby loves them…*G*

6. Finish the wrapping the last few gifts for shipping. Most of these are done but I still have to get a couple of packing boxes and such to get these packages sent off to family and friends. I don’t mind standing in line at the post office but I hope to get this one done this week so the lines won’t be too long…*G*. Of course being an avid reader I just spend my time reading while shuffling along in line…*G*.

That’s about all I have right now but I have faith -- for every item I cross off my list I will add one or two more items…*G*. That’s OK though because I’m in a much better frame of mind (and body) this year than last year and that’s a wonderful feeling. I’m also very thankful I have a list of family and friends I have to do things for whether it’s send a package or card. I’m thankful all my family and friends are in good health and good spirits…you are aren’t you?

Keep checking back cause I’ll be posting pictures in the coming weeks of what makes our holiday season brighter.

Just for the record…21 days until the jolly fella comes to visit…*G*

2006 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends

Jaci tagged me for this bit of Christmas Cheer…since I don’t know how to get the Santa picture over here just picture the jolly fella in your mind…*G*


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Hot chocolate but I do have a fond memory of my Gramma making egg nog every year for our family Christmas party. The last year her brother was alive he brought all the fixings and told her he had been thinking about it for while and wanted to make sure she didn’t run out (like that would happen)…it was the last Christmas he was with us.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

He mostly wraps unless they are really too big to wrap (the year my son got his electric 4X4…he sat in it to open all his other presents…*G*)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

Colored and lots of them

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

Not since my silk mistletoe became too frazzled to put up (haven’t had the heart to replace it)

5. When do you put your decorations up?

The weekend after Thanksgiving…the tree goes up the following weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?

I associate Christmas time with cookies because Gramma and I baked them every year…I still do and it always brings back wonderful memories of our cookie fests.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:

The year my great uncle brought all the fixings for egg nog…he was so happy that year and spent a long time talking to my grandmother about how special she always made it for their siblings and their families who gathered at her house every year and it wasn’t just the nog talking…*G*.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I still hear the bell...*G*

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

No (well Santa and Mrs. Clause have been know to open a “special” present for their eyes only)…but everything else is open on Christmas day.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

For 22 years hubby and I collected ornaments for our tree, the year before we were married. We have everything from Our First Christmas to 3 Santa Bells, thanks to a special friend who picked them up for us after I told her how much we loved ‘Polar Express’…(Thanks Sherry). It’s so much fun open up each box and taking out the individual ornaments…the memories come back as if it were yesterday.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?

Love it…but have yet to have a white Christmas…*G*

12. Can you ice skate?

I did a few times when I was a kid…but wouldn’t want to try now.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

Roller Skates…I got a special doll every year but I remember when I got my first pair of skates.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

Being with my family and everyone being happy.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?

Pecan Pie

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Decorating the tree with all our memories.

17. What tops your tree?

An angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?

Giving - I try to find that special something for everyone on my list because I want them to know I thought about them while I was shopping for their gift. I want them to feel special and loved.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?

It use to be “Jingle Bell Rock” but then when Polar Express came out I fell in love with “Believe” by Josh Groban

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?

Yum

I don't know anyone else that reads my blog other than Jaci and Sherry...so Sherry your tagged. Anyone else popping in here to check out my blog, give it a try and let me know so I can get to know you too...*G*.