What did you like best?

Hello everyone!

Having survived yet another Christmas, I'm borrowing the line featured in this entry's title from the movie City of Angels to appropriately redirect it to all of you and ask "What did you like best" about the holiday season, now nearly completed for another year? As for me,I'm finding it quite hard to narrow it down to just one thing.

Right off the bat, I have to say that I LOVE (yes, love) the copious amount of fluffy white stuff that has been falling, pretty much non-stop, for the past several weeks. Yes, I know it's a pain in the neck to do all that shovelling (well, I don't actually do it - I have a fella who does) but for those who do, it would be a pain. And true, the driving can be a bit challenging over all the ice and snow but as far as I'm concerned, nothing says Christmas like a White Christmas. So I'm happy - never more so than yesterday when this winter's first frost turned all the trees and bushes in the city into lacy beautiful white works of art. It's just gorgeous.

Another thing that I liked best was the time and energy I was able to devote to my family during the season - in particular my parents. With both of my brothers not in attendance this Christmas, I went all out to plan extra events, little special touches like securing our long-lost family wine from France, chauffeur them around to their various social functions and in general, work hard to ensure they had a very nice Christmas.

Like many others, I REALLY liked having some time off. Taking eleven glorious days away from the office - a chunk of time that I haven't had off in over two and a half years - enabled me to get some things done, celebrate Christmas with family as mentioned and the biggie, get some desperately needed down time for myself. I even managed to get a couple of "junk" drawers cleaned out!

But perhaps most of all, I liked my reflections on the past year as well as my aspirations for the one that lies ahead. Reviewing 2007 and looking ahead to 2008 has given me strong senses of accomplishment, gratitude, joy and hope. After some thought and relaxation, I now feel I can begin a new year on a better, more resolved foot, and despite all the great food, gifts, good times and great scenery that came my way during the holidays, acquiring enthusiasm over the future is what I liked best.

Holiday Reflections for us 'Grownups'

Only seven more sleeps until you know when!

Actually I'm faking it.

As much as I like the lights,the snow, of course the food and the holiday music, I haven't really been enthused about Christmas for a few years - certainly not like when I was a kid - and that fact/realization got me thinking... what exactly is it that morphs one's childhood excited anticipation for the big day into one of resigned dread?

Is it simply the fact that we know there's no Santa Claus (oh-oh... should I have put a spoiler heading on this?); that we're overwhelmed with adult responsibilities and obligations including seasonal bills, or is it something more?

I have often wondered about this late-breaking change in perspection. Maybe it is simply that as children our take on the magic of Christmas is primarily a selfish albeit innocent one - what is Santa going to bring me? How many gifts will I get? Will that Lite Brite be in there? Conversely as adults, we think of (or should think of) the real meaning and magic of Christmas and New Years Eve, reach out to others, be thankful for what we have, and use the season as an excuse to mend fences and start again.

I mentioned earlier that I enjoy the holiday music - and I do - right from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells to such beloved classics as White Christmas and The Christmas Song. But I find as I've gotten older, I am especially touched by those Christmas songs that remind us of something beyond the frost and mistletoe and gift-giving. Tunes like So This Is Christmas by John Lennon has been a longtime favorite of mine for this very reason. More recently, I have fallen in love with a tune that has been done by several different artists including Amy Grant. It's called simply My Grownup Christmas List. Like John Lennon's song of the season, I adore what this song says and how it delicately works to remind us of what's really important. Below are the lyrics. If you get a chance, find it and give it a listen.



Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee;
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies.

Well, I'm all grown-up now,
And still need help somehow.
I'm not a child,
But my heart still can dream.

So here's my lifelong wish,
My grown-up Christmas list.
Not for myself,
But for a world in need.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree.

Well Heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end, oh.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.


MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody and all the best in 2008!