George Bailey experienced the ups and downs of the Christmas season. Me too.
I spent one morning with a friend making mini succulent gardens to use as table decorations for a fundraising luncheon. The project gave me an excuse to do one of my favorite things, thrift store shopping. I found some really cool cups to use as planters and we collected succulent cuttings from a friend’s garden to plant in the cups. We got down and dirty cramming those succulent cuttings into their new homes.
It’s been a tradition with my friends to treat each other with some kind of a performance or event for Christmas. This year we’ve shared an inspiring concert and even a musical version of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I’m looking forward to a “girl’s lunch” at a new restaurant and a murder mystery play called “The Last Noel.” It’s supposed to be tongue-in-cheek Sam Spade-ish. Even if it's totally corny it will be fun. It was George Bailey’s connection with the people of Bedford Falls that led to his transformation at the end of the movie. Even with all the difficulties he had to deal with, he realized that he had made a difference to the people in his life just by being who he was. At the end of the movie Clarence leaves a copy of a book for George with this inscription: “Remember George: no man who is a failure who has friends.” Building memories with my friends and family makes me realize I really do have a wonderful life.
0 Comments
Ho, Ho, Ho! The Christmas season is here and it’s time for me to drag massive quantities of decorations out of my garage and into my house. Considering my Scandinavian heritage, it’s not surprising gnomes are involved.
I do have a Jul Tomte and Jul Nisse in my house. Several Christmases ago I made some stuffed ones out of socks to give to my friends and family. I made some for myself too and I keep them out all year long, watching over me and my house. I managed to catch some photos of them even though they are normally quite reclusive.
For more about Jul Tomte check out this hilarious article I found on an online site called MinnPost. It was written by Max Sparber and titled Tomte: Scandinavian Christmas traditions at the American Swedish Institute. It’s about his experience meeting a Jul Tomte at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. https://www.minnpost.com/max-about-town/2011/12/tomte-scandinavian-christmas-traditions-american-swedish-institute
I remember a time when I was teaching the cooking part of a gardening and foods class. The students had harvested fresh lettuce and radishes that they had planted and we added other vegetables to make a giant salad bar. Everyone did some of the washing, chopping and prepping. As we got ready to eat, a student came up to me glowing with excitement. “We did all of this!” he said as if they had just climbed Mount Everest. The kids didn’t have to be persuaded to “Eat your vegetables.” They devoured everything. I know I experienced my passion for food last night when I did the creative cookie baking. I think cooking for other people and entertaining is a way to feed that passion too. If I really let my food fantasy go, I can even picture myself on TV hosting my own cooking show. It would be my Foods Teacher persona and my wanna-be Hollywood persona combined! THAT inspires me! I made cat cookies as a birthday gift for a friend and wrapped them in plastic wrap over a paper plate.
As I drove along, I imagined myself in a Disney Fantasia moment dancing and playing with the leaves. My spirit felt like a kid again. A childhood image flashed in my head of a sky so bright blue that it almost hurt my eyes to look at it. The contrast of that sky with the intense crayon box colors of the leaves is ingrained in my memory. Of course we did the jumping in the leaf pile thing as kids, and raked together leaf walls that defined an imaginary house but the COLORS of fall are some of my strongest memories.
The falling leaves didn’t last long. Before we knew it the strong winds, like the ones that scooped up the leaves on the street where I was driving yesterday, would strip the trees bare. We knew it wouldn’t be long before the snow would come. If we were lucky we would be skating by Thanksgiving. When I share my Thanksgiving meal with friends this year, I will give thanks that I am in warm California, but I will also be thankful that I have such wonderful memories of those windy crisp fall days of my childhood. I used to love making my Halloween costumes when I was teaching but this year I had no thought of even doing a costume for myself. Then a friend invited me to a Halloween gathering at my Dad’s old apartment. Oops, I had already lent out my box of potential costume parts, thinking I wasn’t going to need them. What the heck was I going to do? There was no time to fantasize about what persona I wanted to adopt. I jumped at the offer of a neon green wig while visiting a friend. I put it on, looked in the mirror, and saw Katy Perry.
|
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!
* * *
The Book Naked Little Old Lady with Cats A collection of Little Old Lady with Cats blogs * * *
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
All
Archive
June 2024
|