I love tea. That’s all I really need to say about that. This very scene is probably one of the things I see most often in my life – 3 or 4 times a day.
Since hubby and I are going to visit family in Winnipeg this year and won’t be home for Christmas, we decided not to put up our tree. But I always have lights on my beautiful fake tree that sits in my kitchen all year round, right beside where I spend the majority of my time at my kitchen table where I have my computer and all my “crap”. It makes me feel merry and bright – so we thought we would put the few gifts that are at the house around that one instead.
I love my home. I have lived in many different houses but have never really felt “at home” before. I do now. And I feel fortunate to live here. It’s a lovely building with many nice features, but I’m thinking of the love, acceptance, security, safety and comfort I have found here – probably more to do with my co-occupant than anything else.
I decided to start a new daily challenge. I have no fixed time limit in mind, but a year would be great. Or a month. Whatever. I will decide later. The only decision I have made right now is to start.
Every day, I’m going to take a picture of a piece of a scene – a vignette – depicting a piece of my everyday life. Something to remind me of the small things I appreciate. Something to remind me to notice the small things. Something to keep me focused and keep me present.
Day 1:Hubby’s stuff on the bathroom counter
Makes me glad that he’s around. It’s been a rough few days for me and he’s been wonderful and supportive. Little reminders of his existence like this makes me happy.
I’m taking a page from my friend Brina’s Music Monday playlists and am attempting to make one too. So here are 50 of my favourite Christmas songs ~ something I’ve been compiling to keep my holiday spirit up.
I’m all over the place. I know that and am completely okay with it.
If you’re having trouble loading this page (it keeps crashing for me on my iPad but the computer version is fine), then you can see the whole playlist on YouTube here. (If the video is missing, that means it’s been deleted from YouTube since I posted this. They were all here to begin with.)
a Playlist by kmah88~
Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Mele Kalikimaka
Nsync – O Holy Night
John Williams – Carol of the Bells (from Home Alone)
Libera – Once in Royal David’s City
The Mills Brothers – I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Weezer – The First Noel
John Denver & The Muppets – The Twelve Days of Christmas
Frank Sinatra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Barenaked Ladies – Sleigh Ride
Vince Guaraldi – O Christmas Tree (from Charlie Brown)
The Irish Rovers – Good King Wenceslas
Monica – Grown Up Christmas List
The Drifters – White Christmas
Whitney Houston – Joy to the World
Larry Groce & Disneyland Children’s Sing-Along Chorus – Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Ella Fitzgerald – Jingle Bells
Burl Ives – Holly Jolly Christmas
Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)
Bobby Helms – Jingle Bell Rock
Schubert – Ave Maria
Bing Crosby – It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Jackie Evancho – Silent Night
Mannheim Steamroller – Deck the Halls
Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby
Elmo & Patsy – Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting – Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Harry Connick Jr. – What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?
Louis Armstrong – ‘Zat You, Santa Claus
Billy Gilman – Angels We Have Heard on High
Jimmy Durante – Frosty the Snowman
Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Kenny G – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Rosemary Clooney & Gene Autry – The Night Before Christmas
Jackson 5 – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Anne Murrary – Christmas in Killarney
Mahalia Jackson – What Child Is This?
Andy Williams – It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Babyface – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The Honey Trees – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Michael Bublé – Winter Wonderland
Kelly Clarkson – I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Dixieland Jazz Band – Go Tell It On the Mountain
Christina Aguilera – This Christmas
Dean Martin – Silver Bells
A Hero for the World – We Three Kings
Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas
Charles Brown – Merry Christmas Baby
Bing Crosby & David Bowie – The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth
Tchaikovsky – Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (from The Nutcracker)
These last 2 aren’t real Christmas songs… so they don’t count (and I couldn’t keep it down to 50).
Blink-182 – I Won’t Be Home for Christmas
Sam Bradley – Christmas Lights
And freshly minted, enjoy another one from Sam Bradley.
Also~ check out musicbobbylong.com for the BEST cover of Joni Mitchell’s River and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (*This version of the website no longer exists so here’s his other “famous” Christmas song).
Not-quite-an-update (2024-12-07): Every year, I add to and delete songs from this playlist. There are several on here that no longer make the cut and many more that have been added. Perhaps one day I’ll do a real updated version of this post, but for now, here are just a few that are sorely missing from this one that are Christmas necessities – 2 from Pentatonix, because they are just so fun to sing along with, and Wham!, because…well, it’s WHAM! Obvious.
Yet another thing I picked up from my favourite new TV show…
Yesterday, I was alerted to the fear of joy. Dr. Brené Brown pointed out how so many people tamp down their feelings of joy with the idea that it will be taken away from them. If they don’t let themselves get too wrapped up in joy, then they think they won’t feel so devastated when things take the inevitable turn and something goes wrong. Instead of just feeling gratitude for the joyous moments, we automatically turn towards how the moment can be ripped away.
I think this goes hand in hand with hope. We teach ourselves not to hope too much, so that when we don’t receive what we hoped for, we aren’t that disappointed. Why do we do this? It’s stupid. You cannot shield yourself from disappointment. It’s a part of life. Whether it’s expected or out of the blue, it’s not fun. But maybe, if we give ourselves over to giddy feelings hope ignites and let ourselves feel our own joy, those moments will carry us through those unpleasant times.
Also, I believe so strongly in the law of attraction. If we don’t expect that the things we hope for will come to us – and that we DESERVE them – they won’t. If we hope for something, we put that out there into the universe. Make it known! Hope is like a prayer.
All that said ~ I am hoping that a) I will be offered this job and b) it will be an enjoyable, fulfilling experience and/or be a stepping stone towards being able to do what I ultimately want to do, which is to help others on their own journeys.
If it’s not, I know I will be disappointed, but I also know the disappointment won’t crush me.
You may or may not know that I have been unemployed for a year and a half now. Well, technically, a lot longer than that… but I graduated from college in June of last year and have been doing “nothing” since then. I kept saying I didn’t want a job in my field. I never even tried to get one. And in that time, I only handed in applications for 3 other jobs (tea stores and a toy store). I’ve been sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike because I didn’t have any clue what I want to do – only what I didn’t want to do.
I am in the unique and blessed position that I don’t NEED to work for necessity. Hubby has a good job and takes care of everything we need. I only need a job to give my life structure (I do not do well without routine and social interaction) and purpose. I haven’t gotten one in all this time because I didn’t know where my “purpose” lies.
Lately, I have been on somewhat or a personal journey (which why I say I’m not really doing nothing) – some might say it’s a spiritual journey. Whatever. Not really the point right now. But I’ve been seeking a lot recently and it’s either spurred by or opened me up to (chicken or the egg) a feeling like… the universe is trying to tell me something. I don’t mean to sound hokey or cheesy. I just ….I don’t really know how to explain it.
Sometimes you hear people talk about getting a “calling”. My own father claims this. When I was a child, he felt called to ministry and left a cushy life and a career in dentistry. Other people always seem to know what they are supposed to be doing with their life. But I think as with the majority of people, I felt completely lost on that front. And yet, I believe that everyone HAS a purpose and when you don’t know what it is, the universe will send you messages and point you in the right direction.
Recently, I have felt that one of these messages was trying to make itself known. I had no idea what is was going to be or if I was missing something. To use a metaphor, it was like I was waiting for a phone call but maybe the ringer on my phone was off. Or even listening to a radio, waiting for a personalized message, but like the message was in Italian and I wasn’t understanding. The universe (I’m only calling it this for ease of vocabulary, BTW) was trying to tell me something but I couldn’t hear it.
Today, I was watching TV and the topic of conversation was purpose and “the hero’s journey”/call to action. Jean Houston said everyone gets a call (or several) and to ignore it will destroy you. Then she said something I’d never heard before. It’s not always a call for your life’s great purpose but calls can be to do certain things along the journey. She used the example of getting married or getting a job. This immediately struck a cord with me. It occurred to me maybe I was going about this the wrong way. Maybe it wasn’t that I should find the right job but that I should find A job. Something to kickstart the opportunities I’ve been waiting for. So I made a decision. As soon as the show was over, I was gonna send out another resume. Maybe to Starbucks. I don’t even drink coffee, but at least the heart of the company is something I believe in.
I kid you not, TWO MINUTES LATER~ I swear… two minutes after this mini epiphany, the doorbell rang. To add a fun little layer to the surreality of this situation, I will just point out the fact that I never answer the door. Never. Before Hubby left for work, he said he was expecting a package via courier that wouldn’t leave it without a signature and please, please, please answer the door when it shows up. So when the bell rang, I paused the show reluctantly got up to get it, thinking that’s what it was.
As soon as I opened the door, I saw I was wrong. Two people with Sick Kids Hospital ID tags were there. Of course, I immediately knew why they were there. They wanted money. And I immediately felt like a fool. I was wearing pajamas (consisting of giant PJ pants and a Nyan Cat shirt) and have my ridiculous hair in a spiky tuft of a pathetic ponytail on top of my head and also am in the midst of a real lovely breakout.
It’s not like I had anything pressing to do and these people were funny and nice and it was cold and I didn’t want to just say no and shut the door in their faces, so I stood there talking to them for a bit, joking around about my embarrassing ensemble and that I had no money because I was clearly unemployed.
After a few minutes, the guy was like, “You know, we’re hiring. And you seem kind of awesome. If you want, call our office. You’re practically guaranteed a job and I’ll give you a recommendation.” I almost laughed out loud. And I almost cried. (Either really would have completed my look, don’t you think?) He said, “Sometimes opportunity knocks, right?”
Yeah. And sometimes it stands at your door and slaps you in the face to make sure you get the message.
I think this is gonna be a 2-parter. There is something else going on here too. Stay tuned. –> here
I’ve always thought I had to have the bucket list of personality traits checked off in order for people to like me. But I think if anyone strives to be a compassionate person, that’s all anyone needs to be.
How are kids so smart? It’s because they are closer to the source from where they came. Time hasn’t had a chance to teach them otherwise. We are born with the knowledge of what life is and as we grow older, we fall further from that truth.
A child will say to their mom, I’m not (her name). Today, I’m a princess.
This is a beautiful thought.
We all have that right to begin each day with a fresh start. To wake up and decide who we are going to be today.
And if you want to be a princess, be the best damn princess you can be.
blah blah blah 