My Winter Wonderland

White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white christmas,
just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten and children listen
to hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white christmas,
with every christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright,
and may all your christmases be white

And may all your christmases be white...

...like mine was this year! It was such a treat to be home for five days over Christmas, and even more of a treat to see snow on the ground when I woke up Christmas morning! Such a good trip to Charlottesville and D.C. - more posts to come.

Unseen Wonders

I have made it a tradition to read the following article to my residents ever since the first Christmas I worked in long term care. I always hope it reminds them that at any age we may have the faith of a child, a hope in things unseen, and enjoyment of "faith, poetry, love, and romance". I hope it reminds you too. Merry Christmas!


Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor--- I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon

Response:

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to have men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive of imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest mean, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

AFOMFT: SomeEcards

My family knows how much I love these hilarious, semi-offensive, off the wall e-cards. For those that haven't received one from me (yet), the website is http://www.someecards.com. Warning: some can be a bit crude and politically incorrect, but most are just plain funny. Here are a few that are fit for the season...

AFOMFT: Christmas Decorations....

The good

My favorite sight of all - our Christmas tree at home in Charlottesville.

It's safe to say that most people perceive "nursing homes" to be dark, dreary, and depressing places... and I am here to show you that's not always the case. The picture above is of my facility's living room. We have truly decked the halls of our building, and the residents are enjoying the season.

And for all my Charlottesville friends, this is a sight that we look forward to every year. Ivy Store lights up the town with their beautiful rooftop display of Christmas lights right around Thanksgiving, and no matter how many years you've been around for it, the first time you pass by it you'll be sure to gasp and exclaim, "The lights are up!!!"

The homemade

Christmas is always a fun time for the activities calendar as there are so many additional programs and ideas that can be implemented. Arts and Crafts is something that residents of all different functioning levels can participate in, and it's always a treat to see the finished product of their hard work. The above wreath was worked on for three hours yesterday by a few ladies. It was quite humorous to watch as one lady picked out the ribbon, the second lady pinned the ribbon to the wreath, and the third lady approved of it's placement. They were very proud of their work, especially when I hung it on the dining room door for all to see.

The interesting

AFOMFT: Quoting Movies

J: Firas, name the movie! "I thought I was your snack pack!"
(silence)
J: "You can shave my aaaarmpits!"
F: Charlie Wilson's War?
J: Firas, that's a serious movie! This is a funny one!
J: "If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis."
(silence)
J: C'mon. "You can shave my aaaarmpits!" (in a real deep voice)
F: Lion King?

I can't stop laughing as I write this. My body is actually shaking. It was Billy Madison. He knew it right after I said it. Ah, it's going to be a good day.

AFOMFT: Christmas

Being away from home, I have realized how much I value the Christmas traditions and memories I have with my family that are centered around this special season. I love Christmas. I am the kid who believed in Santa Clause until I was 10 years old. I probably would have continued to believe in him until my kids went present-less on Christmas Day because I was expecting Santa to come down through the chimney and make the gifts appear. I'm thankful that my Mom thought I was old enough to know that there was no Santa and made the mistake of saying, "Now that you know it's me and your Dad buying your Christmas gifts, I want your help picking out some clothes..." WHAT!? If Mom and Dad are buying Christmas gifts.... where does that leave Santa?! I'm pretty sure I cried. As a fifth-grader. And it's not like I was completely sheltered growing up... I had friends, cousins, and neighbors telling me that Santa Clause didn't exist. I just didn't believe them. Poor Mom... she thought Dad was going to kill her for taking away the magic of Santa Clause. However, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for spilling the beans. Middle school is an awkward phase of life anyways... I can only bet that being a middle schooler who believed in Santa would have been a hundred times worse.

But even without Santa, Christmas is still my favorite time of the year. This will be my first Christmas with just my parents (Nicole will be spending the day with her in-laws in New York and Deirdre will be in Ireland), and I have already talked Nicole into letting me call her at 6:30 am on Christmas morning while I open my stocking. Since we were itty bitty, we have been spending the night in the same room on Christmas Eve and falling asleep to Christmas movies together, anxiously looking forward to one of us waking up at the crack of dawn (if not earlier) and stumbling her way into the hallway, hoping to trip over three stockings left by "Santa". I could continue on about our tradition in how we go about opening up the matching gifts in our stockings, but I feel like I'm sharing secrets of our sisterhood - ha, ha.

A few other Christmas traditions that I can always count on include....

Lilly wearing some sort of ridiculous Christmas gear... and loving it.

Mom and Nicole insisting that we try on ALL of our new clothes and wearing new outfits Christmas Day, the day after, and so on....

Snow on the ground (well, I can't count on a White Christmas... but I can hope for it)

A beautiful Christmas Tree, complete with our favorite ornaments...


Christmas Day Open House at the Johnsons... complete with Lauer grind trains, an amazing buffet of food, pony kegs, Mr. Johnson's famous soup, and lots of laughs...

And so many more... I can't wait to be home!

AFOMFT: Pumpkin Spice Lattes

I started writing a post titled, "AFOMFT: Awkward Dates" and soon realized that it would take me more than 20 minutes on a Thursday morning to cover that topic. So for now I will post on another favorite treat, a warm one this time: Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks. I will be honest by saying that Starbucks is not my typically my favorite cup o' joe, but when it comes to seasonal drinks, they know what they're doing. Or brewing, rather. And what makes it even more festive is the holiday cup it's served in... ah, how the details make such a difference. I could live without the absurdly cheesy, overbearingly enthusiastic voice welcoming me to Starbucks at 7:45 in the morning when I'd rather be curled up in bed watching Elf. "Helllooooooooo and welcome to Starbucks! I hope you are having a FANTASTIC morning, and may I offer you a turkey bacon sandwich fresh out of the oven?!?!" Take it down a notch, barista. But I can't complain... it sure beats cranky customer service. Anyways, go treat yourself to a warm seasonal drink... you deserve it.

AFOMFT: A Few of My Favorite Things

The start of the Christmas season has led me to brainstorm a list of my favorite things. I think that I'll write a few posts leading up to Christmas highlighting a few of these things. The first one is something I should be writing about it in the summertime, but for me it's a year-round treat. Frozen yogurt. I realize that the winter should be a season fillled with hot chocolate, warm desserts, and apple cider. I do love all of those things, but not as much as I love frozen yogurt. Arches was our main hangout in high school.... we spent countless nights there talking, laughing, eating yogurt, sharing, planning pranks, sitting on the hood of the car and singing Better Than Ezra, and so on... life was good. Although I can't relive those days, I can definitely still enjoy some froyo. For those living in a cave, or Farmville, Froyo = Frozen + Yogurt = Frozen Yogurt. Froyo franchises have jumped on the old-school ice cream bandwagon where you self-serve the yogurt, add whatever toppings you're in the mood for, weigh your yogurt, and pay by the ounce. Genius. I am not much of a daredevil when it comes to toppings... I'm perfectly content with heath bar and a few chunks of reeses cups... and then there's Firas. See picture below and guess which yogurt is his. And while froyo might not be a standard winter treat, it's seasonal flavors make up for it's lack of warmth.... pumpkin pie flavored frozen yogurt? Yes. Please.

No, you're not seeing things. The yogurt on the left is topped with sour gummy worms, mint oreos, butterfinger, and raspberries. You can't even see the chunks of cookie dough he has underneath the oreos. Love it.

Reason #683 I Love My Family

I received a package in the mail today that included:

Jessica Simpson's Christmas album: Before you judge Deirdre for sending it and me for listening to it every time I'm in my car, check it out. She might have the reputation of a total flake, but she can belt some Christmas tunes. It's powerful, I promise. Ask Tara. And the Kappa Delta's that lived above us junior year of college... surely after hearing Jessica and Ashlee's rendition of "Drummer Boy" blared through our speakers on a nightly basis, they were hooked as well.

Glittery Christmas Pin and Jingle Bell Bracelet: I'm guessing these came from the very bottom of Mom's jewelry box and what perfect timing... I will be gearing up for my Tacky Sweater Pub Crawl next weekend and these will be excellent additions.

Pictures of their Turkey Hands: I figured this would be hard to explain, so I took pictures. Of each turkey hand. It was my first Thanksgiving away from home, and they knew it would be tough on me... most families might call, send a card, etc... and don't get me wrong, they did all that the day before, the day of, and the day after Thanksgiving... but they went the extra mile. I would assume they had shared a couple glasses of wine at this point, or perhaps they were bored and tired of the "What If, Then" game... but either way, just picturing them sitting at the kitchen table laughing their heads off while tracing their hands made me happy.

Mom's Turkey

Dad's Turkey

Will's Turkey (look out Firas, you're being chased...)

Tony's Turkey

Nicole's Turkey

Deirdre's Turkey

Thank you for these special pictures, and for making me laugh hard enough to startle the creepy cat sitting near the mailboxes. I love you guys.

P.S. This is my 100th post. Woo-hoo!

A Trip Down Manure Lane

Jimmy has come out of his gargoyle-wannabe days and is back to his joking self. Hal-le-lu-jah. I had the privilege of meeting his brother on Thanksgiving, and Jimmy and I were catching up about their visit this afternoon. I asked how much trouble they got into as young boys, and he went on to tell me that he really wasn't that bad of a kid, and had only been smacked by his father once... on the fanny, to be exact. I confessed that I was a bit surprised (not that he been smacked by his father, but that he had only been smacked once), and asked what he did to deserve it this one time. Jimmy began to chuckle. As the story goes.... "I got drunk. Ooooweeee, I got drunk. I had to cross through our cow lot on my way back home and I ended up falling in the cow manure, several times. I finally made it back to the house, and stumbled into my bedroom.... where my mother had just finished papering the walls. Ooooweeee. So there I was, falling all over the bedroom and touching the walls with my manure-covered body and hands. And baby, that's why I got smacked across the fanny."