I discovered egg blowing in 1982. When I read about it, I couldn’t believe that the glutinous mass inside could fit through such a tiny opening. Until… I made the required holes on each end of an egg and blew, really really hard. It worked! I was proud. My dad was an artist and I asked him to paint this fragile, hollowed out shell. He decided on a Santa, but Instead of painting a white beard etc., he used the white of the egg as the beard and painted the face and red suit around it. He’d be amazed and quite pleased that it’s still hanging on our tree these many years later. Merry Christmas, dad!
Like all parents, we cherish the things our children have created over the years, including our legendary tree topper. My daughter Christy brought this holiday class project home when she was in elementary school, and her toilet paper Santa has crowned our tree ever since. I don’t know, this floppy Santa just makes us laugh every single year and if it’s parked carefully, it’s sure to last another 50 years!
Now for the important stuff. This past thanksgiving I discovered the joy of NOT cooking the required turkey meal. And now I’m hooked on a local caterer. More expensive than cooking at home, yes, but half of what we’d spend by eating out. I’ve officially released myself from kitchen bondage and there’s no going back. Christmas dinner will be repeat performance, of course.
Sadly, I’ve zipped through holiday seasons in a state of frenzy at times. Compile the gift list, execute list, wrap said gifts. Bake bake bake. Shop shop shop. Clean clean clean. I look back on all these seasons and now know I’ve been nuts. This year no one will be stopping by nor will we be invited to share spirits, not at a time we’re all scared to share the very air we breathe. I’ve created my own stress during the holidays by thinking I had to do certain things a certain way, when all the time I was wrong! The old phrase “We are our own worst enemy!” comes to mind.
Weeded out this week: doing everything rapidly and to the nth degree. Getting a lot done was the only way I knew, but now I know better, I’ll be doing better! Feeling more relaxed because of it.