Kristen's Christmas Poem link

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Christmas Week

For our Christmas Eve program we sang songs, read a story and Kristen's Christmas poem and played a game. My sister Linda and her husband John led us in Jingle Bells with John on the guitar. Lexa and Kayla (my nieces) played a duet on the piano. Dave read Kristen's poem and I read the story behind "I Head the Bells on Christmas Day" about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. My mother led us in a game where you pass presents (right, left, left) depending on the words in the story. We passed the scriptures around so everyone got to read part of Luke 2.

Christmas Day we spent the afternoon at Linda's house with a great Christmas dinner consisting of ham, green beans, eggplant parmigiana, rolls, green salad, and several kinds of pies. Then we opened family gifts. Dave gave me snowshoes (of course he had to get himself a pair also as it would be no fun to go snowshoeing by myself). Dave and I received stadium seats, down blankets and an umbrella so we can watch Bryson's football games in comfort this fall. We gave Linda and John a porch swing and Jeff and Jaelyn got a blender from my parents. Linda and John gave my parents an electric knife. Liz made Linda a DVD of family videos. It was hilarious. From Donna (Dave's sister) we received a Walton's video, Walmart gift card and a CD about Glenn Beck that I can't wait to listen to. Thanks Donna!

Friday we all went to the Hillcrest Countryclub for a breakfast put on by my mother and my aunt. We each wrote down something other people might not know about us and guessed who it was. Even my Grandma didn't know that my Uncle Floyd had ridden a camel. It was fun.
Dave and I had to make a run to McCall on Saturday to fix the dish washers, shovel snow and updated the TV. Of course we HAD to try out the snowshoes in all the fluffy white stuff. The roads were treacherous going up and coming down. We were in 4 wheel drive the whole time.
All in all it was as fun as it could be without Ben, Chantal, Kristen, Matt, Megan and Kevin. We did get to talk to them all. I only cried a little when Dave read the poem about them not being there - mothers can be so sentimental!

If You Are What You Eat...

I'm cheap, fast and easy! Bryson and I put up our Christmas tree yesterday in less than ten minutes. Rosemary gave us the tree (an extra she had) and we pulled it out of the box in three pieces. Bryson put the three pieces together and I plugged it in! Wow, I don't know if I can go bacl to the forest, tramp through the snow, look for the best one, cut it down, haul it home, cut it to fit (someone once cut off the wrong end and we had a topless tree - no names mentioned!), keep it watered, untangle the lights, put the lights on, etc. We are spoiled! Maybe next year I will do what my grandma did: throw plastic over it and keep it up and decorated in the basement until next year...

PS Kristen I will post the tag, but I am having a hard time remembering what I did last week let alone ten years ago. After the Big Party this Saturday, I will have some time to get it together--I promise.

On My Wish List

I am not really interested in all the new gadgets that are available. Dave likes his MP3 and his Garmin GPS map thingy. His watch can do everything but beam him up to the mothership. But I did see the Amazon Kindle the other day at my friend's house and I am trying not to covet it. You can download a book for about $2.00 (not a brand new one) in under 50 seconds. It is small and has a long lasting battery for traveling. It is easy to mark your page, make notes and look up new words. It is pretty spendy ($350+), but think how much money you could save on books. It would only take about 5 years to pay for itself (maybe by then the price will have come down). It is definitely not a NEED, just a WANT. Check it out at

http://www.pg-news.org/20071223/amazon-kindle/

Intelligent Optimism

I came across a new phrase yesterday: Intelligent Optimism. It resonates hope and power as opposed to fear and discouragement. Here are a few words that best describe it:

Look At The Bright Side
Why optimism is your best strategyJurriaan Kamp
July/August 2005 issue

Everyday reality seems to leave little room for optimism. Television and front page news report mainly on failure and misery: Terrorism, violence, intolerance and climate change. People everywhere are under a continual onslaught of negativity. No wonder more and more people are depressed. Under these circumstances, how can you stay positive and optimistic? In an exhaustive cover story, the French magazine Psychologies(January 2005) explains that optimism is a quality that anyone can learn. True optimism isn’t about denying reality against our better judgement. And optimism is not the same thing as idealism, which also reflects a tendency to push up against harsh realities. The idealist is chasing after a big ideal and runs the risk of big disappointment.
Psychologies calls for 'intelligent optimism.' Intelligent optimists don’t deny problems, but adjust to them, while still seeking an opportunity for progress. Intelligent optimists don’t allow themselves to get carried away by circumstances they can’t change, but focus on things that are within their grasp and that they can enjoy. The magazine quotes the diary of Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew who wrote a journal describing her life in a Nazi death camp: 'Today we walked along little German roads past lilacs and roses.'
You learn to become optimistic by concentrating on things that give you a sense of satisfaction, and you remain an optimist by feeding those things to make them grow. Intelligent optimists also know that for every problem there is (at least the beginning of) a solution and that the search for that solution can be inspirational in itself. They are also not afraid of negative thoughts, which they realize offer some protection and help them stay realistic.

Psychologies confirms that very little research has been done into factors that influence optimism because 'science is not interested in happy people.' Nonetheless, the psychologists and psychotherapists quoted in the magazine believe that the aptitude for optimism is not genetically determined. In other words: anyone can learn to be optimistic. All it requires is courage and practice, along with a good grasp of reality. Positive examples around can also help: people associating with others who are optimistic become optimistic themselves. And just as children of depressed parents are more prone to depression, psychologists believe the reverse is also true. Optimism breeds optimism.

Favorite Fall Fruit

I have been introduced to Honeycrisp apples and have found a new favorite. I am partial to Braeburns or Gala's, but the Honeycrisps have an extra zing. They are too expensive for daily lunches but great for a healthy treat.

What a Mess

In honor of the Winter Project project Dave and I are spending our time in a very messy family room. Dave has brought in his box of nuts, bolts an washers from the garage and has big plans to sort and organize them. He says the tarp stays til spring. I say out by Saturday. Once you let them bring a tarp in, the next thing you know there is a motorcycle engine in pieces as part of the decor. "It's cold in the garage!"

I am currently obsessed with family history and love some of the stories I am finding. On my mom's side we have a Mordecai that came over from Germany and signed the Non-Importation Agreement in 1765 and refused to import goods from Great Britain until the repeal of the Stamp act. Interesting! On my Dad's side, one of his father's ancestors was in the rescue company that helped save the pioneers in the Martin Company (where one of Dad's mother's ancestors was in bad shape). On the other hand there was also slave-trading, "general disregard of women" and other unsavory practices. Here are some of the names I looking for: Clemence, Ayers, Kimbrell, Wickham, Luna, Kemp, Lawrence, Collette, York and of course Smith and Jones.