Is there a better song for peace than this? At Hadass’s prompting, I joined in the Facebook campaign to change our avatars to a peace sign to show the world we want peace.
First, you post the following as your Facebook status:
Just a reminder – A lot of our former "hippies" have indicated they would be in support of changing their profile pic to a peace sign for New Year’s Day. The day is rapidly approaching, so let’s flood Facebook with peace signs and let the world know we want peace. Paste this in your status if you agree. Peace and Love in 2011! (via @Holly Jahangiri )
I missed out on the whole hippy era, but in the spirit world peace and the eradication of two of its major obstacles – poverty and hunger – I created mine from grains of rice, fragrant orange peel and cloves, coriander seed and chili powder, and green parsley. Fingerpainting with spices will leave your hands smelling oh-so-delicious! I ate the orange, so I can truly say “Peace is within me.” It tasted faintly of powdered clove – a heady blend of citrus and herbs and spices.
Holly Jahangiri has decades of experience in tech writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
Holly Jahangiri has decades of experience in tech writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
Sink into a soft, gentle rhythm and you flow with everything around you, Pisces. Ease your mind about any worries. Your subconscious knows the way. The key today is sensitivity and intuition – your specialties. You don’t need to be concerned about a thing. Everything will work out fine. Don’t worry that you haven’t prepared enough. Give yourself a break and relax. (from horoscope.com via facebook)
Isn’t that lovely?
I think today’s the day to go see Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Holly Jahangiri has decades of experience in tech writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
Odd traditions, I’ve decided, are the whole point of having traditions at all. You can do all the cliché things, but until you make them your own, they lack real meaning.
When I was about 10, I stopped believing in Santa Claus. Shortly after I went to bed, I heard tiny hoofbeats on the roof above my attic room, accompanied by the merry sound of bells and a deep, “Ho, ho, ho… Merry Christmas!” Um, right. Could it be—naw, surely not. I squinched my eyes shut and tried to dream of sugarplums, just in case. The next morning, I asked if anyone else had heard it…
I don’t know when I put two and two together, for sure. Maybe it was the twinkle in my Dad’s eye. Maybe it was my Mom’s knowing smile, or the amused tones of their voices as they said things like, “No, what did you hear?” But I still have the red-and-black thread-wrapped string of camel bells, traditionally used to drape across the packages and keep kids from sneaking down to shake or surreptitiously unwrap them is a treasured memento and a decoration we still use today.
This Christmas Eve, William and J.J. went to bed at a reasonable hour, while Meg and Katie stuffed stockings and prepared a dish of treats for Santa and the reindeer. While Katie munched peppermint cookies and lettuce, and drew artful smudges of eggnog on the kitchen table, the three of us killed a small bottle of Goldschlager and concocted a plan to reenact that Christmas 37 years ago in a tribute to Grandpa.
It didn’t help that the camel bells were wrapped around the stair rail and entwined with the pine bough. It didn’t help that we had a case of the Goldschlager giggles. It didn’t help that I was tromping around in hiking boots and jammies (it was far too wet and muddy, outside, to wear my new slippers). “Katie! What are you doing?” William stood at the top of the stairs.
“NOTHING! Go back to bed!”
“I need a glass of water. What are you guys doing?”
“Nothing. I’ll get your water. Just…stay there. Go back to your room.” We were so caught. Fourteen year old boys know when their sisters are up to mischief.
“Shhhhh,” I said. “We’re going over to Carla’s house to go deer mounting.”
“She doesn’t have any deer, she has a nativity scene.”
“Fine, sheep mounting. Now go back to bed. Shhh.” We weren’t, of course. Not that it hasn’t been a running joke for years.
Katie handed him his water, and he shook his head, rolled his eyes, and dutifully went back to his room. If not for the Goldschlager, we might’ve scrapped the plan then and there. Instead, we counted to five and went straight out the front door. It didn’t help that the alarm beeped loudly, or that we were giggling like a gaggle of ten year old girls. Katie lobbed small rocks at her brother’s window while shaking camel bells. She did not manage to sound at all Santa-like, between the maniacal giggles and the “Ho, ho, hahahahah, ho”!
Pretty soon, he was at the window yelling, “Shut up, Katie!” (You could hear the smile in his voice as he said it, though.)
Christmas Morning
We slept in until 7:15 AM. That’s got to be some kind of a record! No hangovers, either – maybe there really IS a Santa Claus!
Another Christmas tradition: Pillsbury orange rolls and cinnamon rolls! It’s a quick, easy, no-mess breakfast that everyone enjoys. Afterwards, it’s time to start the turkey, which turned out perfectly. In fact, with an overabundance of help in the kitchen, it’s a small miracle that absolutely everything turned out beautifully! Meg made sweet potatoes and a delectable cranberry-blueberry sauce from scratch. I made green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and Stove Top Stuffing. We topped it all off with pecan pie and coffee.
Meg’s mom came over and spent the afternoon with us. I hadn’t seen her in many years, but she was looking well and we enjoyed her company, as we’ve enjoyed her daughter’s all month. The books she brought each of us were chosen with such care and thought – we loved them! I have SO much reading to catch up on, now, and I’m looking forward to it.
Day After Christmas
Bacon-induced food coma. That’s right – I ate half a package of bacon. By myself. On sourdough bread with cream cheese, and I didn’t even bother with a tomato. It was delicious, but had enough sodium nitrite to kill a horse.
Post-Christmas blues.
Sleep.
Read.
Fall asleep while reading.
Bleh.
Did I actually eat improvised turkey noodle soup and popcorn for dinner? OMG, I am pretty sure I did.
Monday
Childish rebellion. “I have NOTHING I have to do today, so I’m going to do JUST THAT – NOTHING!” I pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep. It didn’t help that J.J. was suggesting a slew of useful, organizational “projects” for me to do. I pretended to sleep while thinking hateful thoughts about the word “project.” “Organization” is just one of those exotic, foreign words that trips lightly over the tongue before twisting it into a knot. I didn’t attempt it.
Katie and Meg have found an apartment! While I love having them here, I think they’ll be happier in their own place. And they’ll be just down the street. Where we can drive by and keep an eye on them. Muahahahahahaha!!
Kidding. They assume we will – who are we to disabuse them of the notion?
What the Menehune is Up with this Title?
Um…having spent three Christmases in Hawaii, this is another “tradition” I treasure, even if it’s something I only sing in my head most years.
Holly Jahangiri has decades of experience in tech writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
Holly Jahangiri has decades of experience in tech writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
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(via @Holly Jahangiri )
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