Traditions

1. Midnight Mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Tuscaloosa, and Christmas breakfast after at Waffle House.
Jacob calculated that this makes year seven of what is one of my favorite events of the holiday season. There are four of us that, even though we rarely-to-never see each other during the year, can count on seeing each other at mass and sharing a meal after.

2. Harry Potter Christmas wishes to/from my Thither.
So long as I live, I want this to happen every Christmas morning. I love you, Amy Lea. One year, I'll surprise you with a sweater. And maybe even a Rupert Grint inside it.

3. Snowman Lindor Truffles
Mom and I have a tendency to stock up on these seasonal chocolate delectables because they are without question the best truffles Lindt has to offer. Creamy milk chocolate with an even creamier white filling. I am weird and like them refrigerated (which is apparently the worst thing you can do to chocolate).

4. Falling asleep to whatever is on TV.
Today's programming includes "Oceans Blue."

5. Microwave Peanut Brittle
I make it every year, and I haven't made nearly enough this year. I may make some more later tonight, but if not tonight, definitely tomorrow.


They're not great or grand, but they're mine. I miss many of the traditions of my childhood, but life changes, one grows up, and some things just aren't possible. For now, anyway. I hope to reincarnate many of those traditions when I have children of my own.

*le sigh*

Pictures of Christmas morning to come later.

OK

Also, O.K., okay.

---

Origin:
initials of a facetious folk phonetic spelling, e.g., oll or orl korrect representing all correct, first attested in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1839, then used in 1840 by Democrat partisans of Martin Van Buren during his election campaign, who allegedly named their organization, the O.K. Club, in allusion to the initials of Old Kinderhook, Van Buren's nickname, derived from his birthplace Kinderhook, New York

—Usage note
Few Americanisms have been more successful than ok, which survived the political campaign of 1840 that fostered it, quickly lost its political significance, and went on to develop use as a verb, adverb, noun, and interjection. The expression was well known in England by the 1880s. Today ok has achieved worldwide recognition and use. It occurs in all but the most formal speech and writing.

Hmm. Who knew?

–adjective

1.

all right; proceeding normally; satisfactory or under control: Things are OK at the moment.

2.

correct, permissible, or acceptable; meeting standards: Is this suit OK to wear to a formal party?

3.

doing well or in good health; managing adequately: She's been OK since the operation.

4.

adequate but unexceptional or unremarkable; tolerable: The job they did was OK, nothing more.

I didn't realize my bra was twisted till we were recovering the store

If I'd slit my wrists at work tonight, I would have bled music snobbery.

Tonight's In Store Play consisted of:
Órla Fallon's Celtic Christmas
Il Divo
Jackie Evancho
The Canadian Tenors
Susan Boyle
and too many cheese-tastic renditions of "Hallelujah," "Panis Angelicus," "The Prayer," "O Holy Night," and the Prayer of St. Francis.

Guess it's a good thing I have a rather strong will to live. Had I not, the snobbery mess on the floor would have been atrocious and difficult to clean up.

[waves as she passes]
Hello--Oh. Goodbye, Deep End. I've just gone off you.


Thankfully, there's a Brooklyn here to cushion my fall.

Eh he!

Sometimes I have to ask myself stupid questions

"Kate, if trying to keep everybody else happy doesn't make you happy, why are you doing it?"

I think I need therapy.

I know I need Jesus.

♥

Robert Frost

"A civilized society is one which tolerates eccentricity to the point of doubtful sanity."

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_frost.html#ixzz17q2xgk1E

They just don't make 'em like that anymore. ;-)

Quarter-life Crisis

Today a couple of customers, a guy and a girl, were discussing the girl's premature mid-life crisis and trying to decide the appropriate term for it.

Doesn't matter to me what she calls it. All I know is that I can relate.

I'm pretty sure it's just because I'm tired. And maybe dissatisfied with the current state of my life.

Car's a mess. Bedroom's a mess. I'm a mess. I've been sleeping on the couch for a couple of months now and can't seem to get a spare moment to take care of it.

I reach this point at least once every year: something's gotta give.

*le sigh*

I hope to one day believe that when I agree to do things for people that they are not doing me a favor, but that I, in fact, am doing them a favor.
[Because most of the time, it's actually true.]
It's why I can't stay in Tuscaloosa much longer. I'm established here as a "jack of all trades," and if anybody needs something done, and done fairly well, they can count on me. Trouble is, it's not all what I want to do, and I'm too much of a helper to say "No" most of the time. I can't help helping. I also am too preoccupied with finances. But I may have to give something up after the holidays, depending on my mental state.
I don't want to feel like the way I've felt today ever again.


Sometimes I have to cater to the fairytale heroine that dwells within me and pretend I can't handle a schedule this cramped because a spirit this big needs room to stretch and grow-- not to mention breathe.

Before I go to jobs 2 and 3 out of 6...

"Can the confidence that comes with age make you feel sexier? We're going to give you some tips on how to feel sexy no matter what your age."

On The Early Show??

Call me Old Fashioned, but doesn't that seem... odd... to anybody else? I get that it's Saturday, but shouldn't you still be discussing holiday recipes and how to save this season and ways to spend quality-if-not-necessarily-quantity time with your kids at this time of year in an age where busyness runs rampant?

Silly rant, I know, but I still feel it warranted a run-on sentence.

The monster downstairs

Aside from dancing to King's Singers CDs and eating popsicles after lunch, a good portion of my days this week has been spent hiding upstairs with Momo from the monster who likes to visit the downstairs of her grandma's house. When we're playing pretend regarding the monster, the only real rule of the game is that we can't go downstairs, but of course we have to take precautions against this bad guy monster. Like an address label on my right sleeve (she's found them and stuck them anywhere she can find) or a Dixie cup over my finger(s). She doesn't have to do all of these silly things, though, and here's why:


"You look so pretty the monster wants to eat you. Monsters like pretty stuff to eat. That's why. They like to eat popsicles... They like to eat you..."


When I was playing with her this morning, her grandmother was still at home getting ready for a luncheon she and Momo went to this afternoon, and she overheard. We both had a good chuckle at Momo's logic. Ü

This little princess from Japan has made my week, and I get to play with her again next week.

Overheard at Opening Night of The Nutcracker

I'm in one of the dressing rooms playing mommy to two of my favorite darlings who are in The Nutcracker this year, surrounded by approximately 30 tiny dancers and their mamas fussing over each others' hair and make-up. I'm waiting on one of my girls to get her *ahem* in gear when I hear this:

"You're not old enough to have a boyfriend! How old are you, ten?"

At this point, the ten-year-old lists off all of the li'l boyfriends she's had throughout elementary school, and then proudly states that her current boyfriend is twelve.

Then, the older dancer smirks and retorts with, "Well, my boyfriend can drive."

...WHOA!

Haha!

I'm sure you'll all be shocked to know that I was never that little girl who had scads of boyfriends in elementary school. [sniffs and pushes glasses higher onto nose]