Am I a Grinchess?

This is a very well thought out post about the holiday frenzy that has just begun: The Manageable Life. 
She really codified most of my thoughts, so I will not repeat all of the post here, but here is how I manage the frenzy.
Since my son lives 600 miles away with my grandchildren I no longer put up a christmas tree, but I have a silk poinsettia, a festive holiday wreath for the front door and chili twinkle lights that I put up, and I do decorate my office with hanging glass ornament balls (looked for a picture but I just realized that I have never taken a picture of it...) hanging at various heights from my suspended ceiling.
I too also use Heifer International and my Unitarian Universalist outreach efforts for gifts (great nieces, nephews, and grandkids grumble) but I do try to instill giving from the heart as a part of the holidays. So that gets me out of the malls, and if I do buy gifts I buy from fellow artists or make my own (the whole family LOVES getting my snugglies, available on my etsy site).
I posted about the Black Friday insanity, and the rampant commercialism has bothered me for years. That is not what the holiday season should be about and in my little way I am rebelling against the $$$ centered focus of the 21st Century American Christmas. 
All in all, I am certainly not a grinch, but I do avoid the mall madness at all possible costs. It helps me keep my sanity!

Merry Christmas

I have had a very low key Christmas this year. I intentionally withdrew from "Commericialized Christmas" and made charitable contributions in my families names (with a few gifts for my nieces). I got all of my obligations fulfilled without setting foot in a mall! (My sister is the shopper in our family and makes up for my mother and I...).

I worked Christmas eve to let my co-workers have the day off with their families. It was a very low key day, as almost no one was there, so work was not that bad.

Since I had to work and could not go to my Mother's house, I was able to attend the Christmas Eve service at my church First Unitarian of Albuquerque. I assisted with the Children's service at 6:30 (I was the head candlelighter in charge of about 20 little candle lighters!). The Children's service was charming and chaotic, as only a church full of children can be! The adult candlelight service was very nice, and much less chaotic.

Then this morning I dragged myself out of bed to go to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge to see the birds. If you get there before dawn, when the sun comes up, the birds, en masse, take off. It is very thrilling, and they fly almost overhead.

I discovered that bird pictures MUST be taken with a telephoto lens, but here are three that will give you an idea of what it is like.

A huge flock of snow geese taking flight just after sunrise.

Believe it or not, the small black speck in the top of the tree is an Eagle!

Three Wise Cranes? Taken from my car.

I saw four eagles, three deer, lots of ducks, geese and sandhill cranes.

Now to finish off this day, I will attend a Christmas potluck at church.

Three things

Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts asked for you to send in a picture of something homemade that you had made for Xmas. I sent in a picture of the collage that I made for my friend Marion, and it is on the Quilting Arts blog. (Of course it is on my blog too, but this is almost like being published.)

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I hid out at home today and found this great story in some of my genealogy stuff:

Grandma’s Apron


When I was a little child, grandma’s garments made little impression on me. Her apron was a big affair of dark printed cotton, slow to soil, and edged around with bias tape. It’s uses were limitless.
The apron made a “basket” when she gathered eggs from the hen house late in the afternoon. If there were fluffy, yellow chicks to be carried to the back porch during the sudden cold spell, they made the trip peeping contentedly in Grandma’s apron.
When those same little darlings grew into henhood and liked to peck and scratch among Grandma’s flowers, she merely flapped her apron at them and they ran squawking to the chicken yard. And I can see her yet, tossing cracked corn to the hungry flock form her apron.
Lots of chips and kindling were needed to start fires in the big ivory colored cook stove in Grandma’s kitchen. Sure she carried them in her apron. Vegetables and fruits, too-lettuce, radishes, peas, string beans, carrots, apples, peaches, all found their way to the kitchen in Grandma’s carryall.
While things were cooking, it was a handy holder for removing hot pans from the stove. IF the men working in the field weren’t too far away, the apron waved aloft was the signal to “come to dinner”. At threshing or company time, when the long dining room table was crowded with hungry folk, Grandma hovered about passing aromatic dishes and flipping the big apron at pesky flies. When Grandma came to visit the apron stood ready to dry childish tears. IF the little ones were shy, it made a good hiding place in case a stranger appeared unexpectedly.
The apron was used countless time to stroke a perspiring brow as Grandma bent over the hot woodstove or hoed the garden under a blistering sun. In chilly weather, Grandma wrapped the friendly garment around her arms while she hurried on an outside errand or lingered at the door with a departing guest. Hastily and a bit shyly, it dusted tables and chairs if company was sighted coming down the lane. And in the evening when the day’s work was done, Grandma shed her garment of many uses and draped it over the canary’s cage.

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I got a strange call from my son today. I was expecting that he would receive his christmas present today. He did get the box,but the present was for a friend in Florida. I had them in identical boxes, and just put the wrong address on the boxes. She and my son have had "issues" in the past. so it may have been a freudian slip! Anyway, he was very puzzled over why I had sent what I did! Can't say much more or the secrets will be out!

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Snow may descend, so I don't know if I will make it to my Mother's house this weekend, may have to postpone until next weekend. Either earley or late, Christmas is still Christmas!

Christmas Tree and Christmas Cactus

This is the closest my furry aliens (a.k.a. Fuzzy Bucket and Baby Cakes) will allow me to have. This is in my studio, so note the iron, covered server and sewing machine). I love the fairy lights and may leave them up all year round.

I am so excited! I have had this Christmas Cactus for years ( I just CANNOT trash a living plant, have to wait until it dies!) and it has never bloomed. And now that I have moved it into the jungle window (see above) it has buds on almost every branch! It looks like it is going to be pink.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I have started a revolt against "Commercialized Christmas"! I have decided that only kids under 12 are going to get Christmas presents from me this yerar (well, there are few exceptions and they are not getting purchased gifts...). I just finished capes for my nieces, black with the hoods lined in pink with silver stars! They should love them, as they are both very DRAMA QUEENish! The photo above shows my latest creations, left: Goddess of the Frozen North, middle St. Frigidita, right, St. Floridita. Fun and easy to make from Sardine tins!

I am also making my christmas cards this year.