Late night shenanigans

I'm an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kinda girl. I usually toddle off to the bedroom around 9 to read magazines or a Nook book, and am asleep by 10, meaning I'm up before the birds start chirping.

Unless it's July. Then the birds wake me up.

I was still awake, hunched over my laptop, last night at 10:30, working on resizing/reformatting digital photos to display on the electronic frame my husband and I are giving his mother for Christmas.

My husband's son and his family gave us ours, and we love it. We think she'll enjoy one but she doesn't have a computer so it's up to me (because my husband is computer-phobic) to get the images ready to load. He's going to pick up some prints that she's gathered, which I will scan. The SDHC card has been ordered, along with a card reader.

These digital frames look easy, but there's a lot of prep work before you give one to someone who isn't computer-savvy. And believe me, my mother-in-law isn't! She paid for wireless internet with her cable bundle for several months before we realized it. Wireless services aren't much use if you're a computer-free household.

But I digress.

Going to bed late (well, late for me) doesn't necessarily mean sleeping in. I've been up since 5:30, thinking about everything I have to do today. (At 5:30 a.m., thinking about it is all I can manage!) Here's a partial list:

• Wrap gifts for my daughter and her family.
• Package and mail those gifts.
• Write thank-you notes.
• Either make or buy Christmas cards.
• Print out address labels for cards.
• Walk.

Yes, it's such a busy day I thought I'd better add a line item for exercise.

This is old news if you're one of my
Facebook friends. And if you're not
one of my Facebook friends, why
aren't you? Just sayin'.

Yesterday's three-miler went well, and I wore the Vibrams for the first time on a walk. They were surprisingly comfortable, and I even jogged a little bit on the way home. There's more of a mid-foot strike, rather than a heel strike, which must be a good thing for non-aggravation of the plantar fasciitis.

Right?

In other news, I've been playing around with the blog a bit, adding a couple tabs at the top that will take you to some easy knitting patterns and a few of the food topics I've written about. Feel free to share links! The more the merrier!

Merry, get it? Holidays ... gifts ... NaBloPoMo December ... heh.

I can't wait until Friday …

to share this quote with you:

Even more important than the warmth and affection we receive, is the warmth and affection we give. It is by giving warmth and affection, by having a genuine sense of concern for others, in other words through compassion, that we gain the conditions for genuine happiness. More important than being loved, therefore, is to love.
The Dalai Lama

Isn't that perfect for the holiday season?

I can't decide if Buddhists or Al-Anons are the happier lot. Their philosophies are certainly dissimilar, but each seems to lead to a way of living in a confused and confusing world with peace and confidence and serenity.

The trouble with the holiday season is that we sometimes equate the depth of our love with the amount of money we spend on a gift. Advertising works (I was in the business, I know whereof I speak), and the onslaught of advertising that begins at Halloween and ends December 24 – or, if you count the after-Christmas sales, December 31 – reinforces the silly notion that money can buy happiness.

It can't, of course. West Virginia is the home of a millionaire who won the Powerball – on Christmas Day, I kid you not – several years ago, and if his story isn't proof that the love of money is the root of evil, then I don't know what is.

And if you don't believe the Dalai Lama or Jack Whittaker, then listen to the Beatles.

My husband and I love our grandchildren, all seven of them. We visited four of them yesterday. The youngest is 17 months old, and there are only half a dozen toys made for the younger-than-three set. We gave the family a museum membership, but wrapped some little things the children could play with. Her three and a half-year-old triplet brothers loved their microphones and train whistles, but she couldn't figure hers out. She didn't want to touch her knitted stuffed elephant. The tea set we gave her was already in her toy box.

Her sweet mama asked if they could donate the tea set to a child who needs it. That's part of their Christmas tradition. Knowing the littlest angel wouldn't feel deprived, we agreed, and thought it was a wonderful idea.

Because sharing the love always is.