The True Meaning of Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was pretty nice - with my family all coming together on Christmas Eve, and most of us again on Christmas Day. I've been feeling bummed out about how I griped in the weeks before Christmas about how I thought I was never going to get my shopping done & how I was totally not in the Christmas spirit, especially after learning about the tragic fire that took the life of the son of one of Frank's friends - http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=55143 .

I felt so selfish for griping about such petty things, while in the blink of an eye - this family not only lost just about all their possessions, but also lost one of their precious 15 year old sons. It was simply heartbreaking to visit the scene of the housefire - to see the burned remains of the house with the remants of bed frames, a mattress in the yard & charred clothing hanging from the team and to realize that just 12 hours earlier, this young man lost his life just 2 days before Christmas. After talking to Frank's friend we went back home and gathered up some clothing and shoes that we thought this family could use.

This to me is what Christmas is about - giving to those truly in need - instead of rushing around at the last minute scooping up whatever gifts I could find that I thought those on my list may like. Maybe those gifts will be appreciated by those on my list, but surely not nearly as much as the gift of clothing & shoes will be appreciated by a family that's lost everything.

Things I'm Over

Pardon me today, I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and therfore pretty grumpy..

These are the things that I'm over today:

• The fact that Christmas is a week away & I'm soooooooooo not even ready
• The managers and employees (mostly men)here that come in sick and cough & sneeze without covering their hands. Then they proceed to hang outside my work area talking & babbling like it's ok to pass it on to me - WHICH THEY DID!
• My female boss who occasionally gets to work before 7:30 a.m., but most days it not here until right before 9:00. Then she tries to at like 7:30 is her normal starting time. PLEASE!
• The fact that the vending machine upstairs never has Turkey Hill Iced Tea - damn, if they're not going to refill it or put enough in there to meet the demand, then stop selling it!
• The 2 splatters of bird crap that have been on my windsheild for a week, just beyond on the reach of the wipers - if they're going to crap on car, they need to do it where the windshield wipers reach!

It's that time of the year that everyone and their brother decide to bring cookies, cakes, pies & miscellaneous treats in to the office to share with everyone else. Don't get me wrong - I really, really appreciate it - but how the heck can one lose weight when there are so many temptations around?

This is what was awaiting me this morning when I came in - and let me tell you, after eating a few pieces, I've decided that who the hell ever invented Fudge should either be shot, or should maybe have their own holiday or something...



On another note, I was able to finish a lot of Christmas Shopping this weekend. I've always maintained that the closer we get to the holidays, the more impatient and rude people get - and this especially holds true this year. I was cut off in traffic more times this weekend than I have been in the past 6 months. The mall was so crowded over the weekend & just about everyone I encountered while I waited in line after line, were moaning about how long the lines were - like they didn't expect it or something.

Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Tree is all up & decorated & is looking ok, I guess - I just wish I had a taller, fuller tree and I'm not 100% happy with my decorations, but maybe next year. (although I finally found a nice silver star tree topper that I really like). Anyway our cats have been very intrigued with the tree this year. Pinky, the older cat, who stalks Frank day & night - has always loved when we have the Christmas Tree up - she loves knocking the ornaments down and can usually be found at the base of the tree sleeping (as if it's a real tree). Freddy, CJ's kitten, has also decided that the ornaments look best knocked onto the floor broken in a million pieces, which doesn't really bother me except when they're freaking clear ornaments that are hard to seeespecially when they're broken into a million damn pieces on the floor.

So I've been working really hard since putting up the tree last week, to try to get them to stay out of the tree, and to not knock the ornaments off - and I actually thought it was working. It had been several days since I had seen any ornaments laying about, and then this past Saturday morning I woke up and spotted 2 broken ornaments on the floor and 3 intact ornaments on the carpet in the dining room. Freddy, dashed off, as he knew I wasn't happy - but I couldn't find Pinky anywhere. As I was hanging the unbroken ornaments back onto the tree, this is what I saw:

That's right - that's a cat INSIDE my tree - a 15 lb overweight heavy cat! And not only was she inside my tree, but I had a hell of a time getting her out of the tree, so instead of scolding her, I felt sorry for her, because she was stuck!

A short while later I spotten Freddy in just about the same spot in the tree and just as I got close enough to take a picture, he darted out & sat under one of our dining room chairs. He was looking way too cute, so I couldn't scold him either:

Luckily, for the tree (and the cats for that matter) - Christmas will be here before you know it & it will be time to put the tree down. I have a strange feeling though, that I might just need to buy new ornaments for next year...