I really like to decorate for Christmas, but I have to admit that I can be obsessed with it. I have a garage full of plastic bins loaded with everything imaginable to turn my yard and my home into a Christmas wonderland. I am aware that decorating can feel kind of overwhelming and stressful, but my Abby cat is helping me this year. I have collected a lot of Christmasy things over the years. My storage bins are filled with decorations that remind me of Minnesota and my Nordic heritage. I have a 7 foot fake birch tree with lights and a half dozen small lighted mini birch trees, as well as at least 50 little pine trees of different sizes, not to mention my regular artificial Christmas tree. Sometimes my living room looks like a forest during the holidays. I have more decorations than any normal tree can hold so I have to decide what NOT to put on the tree each year. I have a giant Moose made out of branches that my sister Lin gave me, and a stuffed snowman my sister Sue gave me. I have various gnomes with pointy hats, a multitude of Danish hearts crocheted by my Dad, and a Swedish Santa Lucia Crown with battery powered candles. I have Christmas bed linens, Christmas towels, Christmas pot holders and enough lights to last a lifetime. And that’s only about half of the stuff in my garage. I realize it’s a bit out of control, so over the last few years I have started to cut down on the amount of decorations I actually put up. This year I need to seriously cut back - because of my cat. Previously I have had cats that totally ignored all that extra stuff that magically appears in my home because of Christmas. They might have done a sideways glance at something shiny or chewed on a sparkly bow or two, but I never had to worry that my decorations would be assaulted. With my Abby cat it’s a whole new ballgame. Abby is a hunter and a climber. Today she climbed up my Christmas tree. I had put it up without decorations just to make sure she wouldn’t do this, but after two days of ignoring it, today she took the plunge. It was like she was exploring it, crawling through the branches and chewing on the plastic ends. She loves chewing plastic. I have barricaded the bottom of the tree by wrapping clear plastic shower curtains around the lower branches but she found the vulnerable bare spot and scooted right up the side of the tree. This does not make me want to spend a lot of time with decorations that will only add to the enticing appeal of Christmas tree climbing for Abby. I don’t want to spend the holidays repairing the damage I know she is capable of; it’s better to reign in the potential disasters now. For the first time in my life I have decided not to decorate my tree. I am going to wrap some more protective clear plastic shower curtain strips around it like garlands and that’s it. I like the way the lights reflect off of the plastic in the same way lights sparkle off of ice. Perhaps this could start a new minimalist trend in Christmas decoration. I am seriously considering other protective measures, maybe wrapping the nativity in plastic wrap so that when Abby inevitably jumps up onto the mantel she won’t create havoc in the manger scene. I will definitely think long and hard about putting up more decorations than are really necessary to create a festive environment. Thank goodness this is not my first rodeo and I have had years of happily turning my living room (and most of the rest of the house) into a Christmas Disneyland. I don’t feel the need to continue this year with a lot of my Christmas traditions. I think it’s time to take a break from excessive decorating and Abby is a good excuse. This could save me a lot of time and energy that I could spend lounging in my recliner with Abby curled up in my lap instead of contemplating which ornaments will not make it onto the tree. I feel relieved already. I love my Abby. She has been a big challenge for me but that’s OK. She adds a lot of adventure to my life. She is teaching me to let go of my desire to control the things I don’t have any control over, and to rethink what I really need to have a Merry Christmas.
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Grandpa Jim and I both found creative outlets in our seventies.I remember the days when we counted backwards as the first astronauts lifted off into space, so when I think of the word "launch" I imagine taking off like a rocket. This week Chris, the leader of the grief group that inspired me to publish a book of my blogs, had a book launch gathering on Zoom. It was very special and something I never imagined I would ever do. I am not about to head into the stratosphere but, at nearly 75-years old, I do have the feeling of being launched into new territory.
When my Grandpa Jim was in his seventies he started making wood carvings. I remember spending time in his garage workshop watching him work on his carvings, laughing away as he worked. He got his inspiration from National Geographic magazines and memories of his life growing up in Denmark. As a kid I was amazed that someone that old could start doing something new and creative. Now that I’m in my seventies, I have to laugh at my kid’s-eye view of getting older. I know that creativity and adventure doesn’t come to a halt as you age. In fact it can blossom in the freedom of retirement. At the time I started working on the book I was thinking it would be an easy project that I could do as Christmas presents for my friends and family. After nine months of concentrated, semi-gut-wrenching effort, my perspective has changed. A friend pointed out that nine months is a good gestation period. This book is literally my baby. My heart and soul are in it. I want to throw up my arms and release it into the universe in the way doves or butterflies are released at a wedding. I am excavating a part of me that has been deeply buried. A lot of my life has been spent cultivating a low profile. To expose the real me beyond the comfortable support of my friends and family is not something I ever imagined I would do. I took my first small step when I started writing my blog in 2015. Publishing a book of blogs seven years later was a giant leap for me in embracing who I am. Even if my book is only read by a few people, the process of publishing it feels like I am spreading my wings and getting ready to fly, and that makes it a successful launch. I did it! I am now officially a published writer!I can’t believe I actually finished it. Today I finally published a book of some of my blogs on Amazon. It's been a long road. I started working on the book nine months ago. My art grief group, Nancy, Marsha, Mabel, Darrell, and our leader Chris, encouraged me to do it. Chris also helped guide me through the publishing process. I learned a lot in the process. I learned that I didn’t have a clue how much time and effort it would take to gather a bunch of stuff I had already written for my Little Old Lady with Cats blog, and put it together into a book. I discovered that, just like everything in life, I couldn’t do it alone. In addition to the grief group I had help from my friends. Fin and Linda M. inspired me with ideas, corrected my grammar and punctuation, and put me on the right path. Carol and Linda S. listened to my fears and frustrations and helped me keep going. Marion, editor extraordinaire, transformed my book into more than I ever imagined it could be. And Steven magically recreated me as a cartoon and transformed my words into drawings in a way only a master artist could manage. My sister Lin was there too. She is in the stories and in my heart. Her dream of me as an artist’s model inspired me to write a blog about being naked and vulnerable, baring my true self to the world. It became the inspiration for the title of the book. From the Introduction to the Book:I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my newfound freedom after I retired. I knew it wasn’t sitting in my recliner watching murder mysteries on TV, although I am inclined to do that too. A friend, who was a former housemate, suggested I try writing a blog, and Little Old Lady with Cats was born. She had read something I had written about trying to find a new pair of shoes for my nephew’s upcoming wedding, and that was the beginning of my writing journey. My friend told me that a good blog has a strong underlying focus, and I was focused on what the heck my new life as a retired little old lady was going to be, so my blog became: Although I sometimes feel like a caricature of a cat lady, my blog goes beyond the stereotype. It gives me a way to focus my energy on doing something purposeful and creative. Writing opens my heart and connects me to a sense of humor that I didn’t know I had.
My life and my blog have changed since I began writing about the perils of buying shoes online. I have had new housemates, new adventures, and new cats. Loss and grief, as well as joy and wonder, have given me a perspective I didn’t expect to find at this stage of life. Sharing life experiences through my blog has been good for my soul and, I hope, entertaining and thought-provoking for the people who read it. |
Leslie Masona woman in search of her post-retirement future Guess what! By subscribing, you get notices about the latest Little Old Lady with Cats posts sent to your mailbox!
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WHAT IS A LITTLE OLD LADY WITH CATS - REALLY?
(from an entry posted on 5/1/2015) “I definitely fit some of the characteristics of a little old lady with cats: Retired - check, Single - check, Like to knit - check, Have cats - check. . .I do not want to get stuck in my Little Old Lady persona, however. In fact, this blog is a risk taking experiment in exploring and redefining what I want my retired life to look like.” Categories
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