Christmas Cheer

I really wish I had more time to write lately. The end of the semester is always packed full for teachers. However, now I have time to relax in Minnesota, watch some snowy weather outside, and enjoy my favorite Christmas past time-- sipping on holiday themed beverages.

This year I am experimenting with Bailey's and Amaretto. Nothing soothes a shopped-out soul like a good martini by the fire, with reruns on TV, and your family dog chasing after you to go for a walk.

I am not a nostalgic person usually, but we certainly have our family traditions, and as the children in the family (4 of us) we refuse to let go of them. We HAVE to open gifts Christmas Eve, with one exception from Santa, who still visits. We always wake up early and search through the stockings first. We usually go to church when our parents are singing or playing in the band, but we always dress up in festive outfits. We all eat dinner together, and we can't open gifts until mom has declared that the table is sufficiently clean and all left overs are stored away. This killed us as kids. Oh, and dad usually procrastinates a bit more and pretends to do odds and ends to torture us. At least he isn't still trying to get us to perform family Christmas songs on video anymore...

Leaves

I love leaves. But, the only reason I love them is because I don't have to rake them. Actually, I take that back, I have to rake bougainvillea leaves all the time, and that sucks. They are everywhere and then they pile up and are nests for pests.

However, colorful as the desert flora is, I love the reds, yellows, oranges, and even the browns of fall leaves. I think that I really found a love for fall when I lost it in Colorado 10 years ago. Although fall exists here in AZ, and in CO, it isn't the same.

So, to cure myself of my fall blues, I went on three recent trips just to see fall, and a forth incidental trip. I saw fall in Green Bay, WI at the end of September along Highway 94. I saw fall in Dillon, Colorado over Labor Day Weekend (early!) in the yellow Aspen trees. I saw fall in Sedona during a hike that was designed around where fall colors were noted on AZHIKES.COM. And last, I saw the peak of fall in Grand Junction Colorado, surrounding the vineyards of Palisade.

Needless to say, I took as many pictures as I could and now have great visual memories to keep with me. What a great season. I am just hoping that next fall my wedding is set to the back drop of these lovely colors! :)

Halloween

Why is Halloween my absolute favorite holiday? I'll tell you why! It is the holiday that requires you to dress up, get creative, and let your wild side out. Nothing is more fun to me than a theme party, and Halloween is the only acceptable excuse for an adult to throw a theme party (that is not "Over the Hill" or "Baby Shower"...) Ok, so if you want to throw a theme party, do it, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Anyway, every Halloween I spend months trying to come up with a creative idea for my costume. I don't like buying standard costumes, because I don't want to match anyone else. So, instead, I rummage through my closet and try to piece together items to create a look. The past few years recent summer blockbusters have inspired me. This year I haven't seen any movies...

I also like decorating for Halloween. I love gravestones, skulls and crossbones, candy corn lights, and spider webs. It makes me happy to see the decorative skull candle, and to be the most festive house on the block (and NOT for Christmas).

Do you love Halloween, too?

Why am I doing this again?

Oh yea! I have and always will be a writer. I have a passion for the written word, as is evident in my passion for the subject I teach, English Literature. Every day I give students advice on how to improve their own writing through various forms of feedback and exercise, but in the recent past I have ignored my own need to write for myself, and not just for them. I used to want to write the classic novel. Then I wanted to write a teen self-help book (we all go through that whiney, teenage angst phase), and then children books about hippos and pigs being friends to improve their self images. (I had a wild imagination, and I love pigs!) Now I just want to let it all lose. I think that this will be a good form of therapy for me, and then my boyfriend of 4.5 years will stop making me call my mother during an emotional outburst. I don't even care if NO ONE reads it.

I guess my other inspiration was my journals from when I was younger. Upon searching fervently for my old copy of Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, before his book signing on Saturday night, I found some old writings, mostly written when venting about exes or just experiencing something new in life. These were corny, cheesy, pointless. Not that my writing is here to "change the world" but in my maturity (if that really ever does happen) I've seen the ill in my ridiculous ideals of the past. I was seriously going to MARRY someone who wouldn't call me back for a month at a time?!? If I knew what I knew then...

Ooh, great topic for the next installment.