Since the Northern Lights always makes me think of Santa and his Sleigh bounding across the night sky, I simply have to share an oldy but goody. Who doesn’t love Charlie Brown?
Ok, I’ll be serious… let’s try this again.
Better??? I love the oldies for some of these songs.
This woman has some incredible vocals. Who among us girls has not dreamt of singing some of her songs… hairbrush in hand… in front of a mirror? Wait?! Did I just do an overshare? Oh well…
This last song is ridiculous but I still love it and since you are already here, you might as well check it out…
Does any of this have any rhyme or reason? Probably not, but it IS Christmas, so I just keep picking out songs and videos that make my holiday brighter… and I’m sharing them with my favorite people… YOU!
When I first saw the prompt this morning, I was momentarily perplexed. I’ve done way too many things in my life to try picking just one to remember the first day.
What are the odds that you can remember your very first birthday or your very first holiday? I wouldn’t go to Vegas with those odds if I were you… just sayin!
I, however, can remember both my very first Birthday and Christmas celebration. Why? Well, I’ll tell you, if you wish to stick around long enough to read.
Most of you have already read most of my history… born into a family that celebrated NO holidays whatsoever! I think I may have even written about a time as a small girl, where I made a tiny tree and gifts out of twigs and toilet paper and hid them under my bed. I waited for everyone to go to sleep on Christmas Eve and just sat on the floor next to my bed pretending. I was trying to celebrate something that seemed like it should be important.
Years later, when I was 15 and just landing in one of the first healthy foster homes I’d seen, it so happened to be during the Christmas Season. Somehow, I got chosen by a local family to be their guest for the upcoming holiday. Maybe you would have been scared to be handed over to complete strangers for a overnighter… but I was so used to be passed around that this was nothing!
They came and picked me up two days before Christmas, taking me to stay at their very large estate… yeah… they were very wealthy! Apparently, they owned the local timber mill that supplied the area with all its lumber needs.
I woke up on the morning of Christmas Eve to a massive table of every breakfast item imaginable… and………….. my first gift… for my Birthday!!!!! They took me horseback riding in the snow and I was wearing my first Birthday gift… a Members Only Jacket with a fur lined hood! I actually wore that thing for several years, until the fur wore away from the edges and the zipper actually dropped off.
We stayed up late into the night watching movies in this massive theatre style family room, where I eventually fell asleep from all the days adventures. While I was asleep that night, the whole family snuck in a giant Christmas tree, decorated it, and filled the entire room with gifts and stockings and all the holiday trimmings. I woke up to a wonderland of lights and packages everywhere I looked. It was amazing how the whole of this family took the time and effort to do this for me… little ole me!
I will never forget this first day at something I had never before experienced… a FAMILY! They were so loving to one another and the house was filled with laughter, love and hope. F.Y.I. … they even had a birthday cake with candles sitting amidst the holiday foods… for me!
Looking back on these memories ended up being the perfect answer to the prompt, and at Christmas time even!!!! What are them odds… maybe I should go to Vegas!
I know I played it the other day, but my all time favorite Christmas song has to be Heaven Everywhere by Francesca Battistelli. I decided to play it again……… cause I can! I tried to bring the actual music video in to my blog, rather than send you out to watch it. Let me know if you like it better when I have you click on the title, or just watch it right here.
Winter Wonderlands are never complete without puppies… who doesn’t love watching puppies play in the snow?!
While I could fill these pages with stories of some of my antics in the past, I will instead regale you with memories we all can relate to… our moments with Mr. Microphone!!!
I think that most of us have performed or given a speech at one point or another. It started when we were small children and still full of imagination! Who didn’t play pirates at the public park… we didn’t care who was watching.
Did we, or did we not play act at any given moment? We had baby dolls to feed, change, and spank… yes, I used to put my babies in the corner for time outs. I will even wager that many of us dressed up our dogs and cats and locked them in a room with us while we sang a song, or gave an award winning performance of Laura from Little House on the Prairie.
When Mr. Microphone came on the scene in 1979 I was 11 years old. I never bought one myself, but it wasn’t necessary since nearly everyone I knew had them. Now you may understand why I figured we’ve all done a bit of song and dance at some point in the past… you just sort of forgot… or blocked it out, depending on how bad you sounded on Mr. Microphone.
While I can’t say how good I was, I can say with certainty that I was LOUD! I figured that with the feedback we got from those things, if I just yelled into the mike, no one would know the difference… and they didn’t! Oh I’m sure they heard how bad I sounded, but you see, none of us cared… because we were still kids.
Looking back over the years, I have been on stage a good many times, but it wasn’t nearly as fun and fulfilling as when I was young and didn’t care what people would think.
When my girls were small, we spent a great deal of time in different children’s programs at Church and School. Every change of season brought some form of program or other that required our little ones to cross a stage, whether it be a piano recital or Holiday Pageant. The girls did great in groups of kids, but not the solo stuff… I’m talking deer in the headlights!
Get them together with their closest friends, however, and it was a completely different story… let the drama commence! All we had to do was give them some form of recording device and either lock them in… or lock them OUT! Hours later there would be food and a premier performance of whatever they came up with… sometimes a video, sometimes a talent show, or sometimes a Live Performance!
If you are ever wondering about personality and character dynamics… just watch a group of kids trying to organize themselves into a functioning show of music or acting. You will see the directors come out, the stand-up comedians, the drama queens, and last but not least… the OCD kids that will have a melt down if things can’t be perfect! Remember, they are grown ups in training, so this is where they are figuring out how to act and respond to those around them.
When I was a kid we did this kind of stuff too, but there were no lightweight cameras or Video Recorders. All we had was the 80 lb. movie production size Camcorders needing the strength of Thor to carry them… and Mr. Microphone! No Problem… we got the job done… in the back of cars driving down the street, in bathrooms across America, and in school hallways before a teacher could confiscate them.
I better stop here, or we will end up down some memory lane that lands us in a part of my naughty days that, fortunately, were not caught on camera.
I do really miss the I Don’t Care What People Think days… yes, I miss you Mr. Microphone!!!
In honor of my 55 years of existence, I have decided to gift myself 55 virtual Golden Retriever puppies…
These virtual puppies are guaranteed to brighten even the darkest of days, filling the air with oodles of puppy breath that will surely be the worlds best antidepressant on the market!!!
I had a pre Birthday walk yesterday and it was divine! While on my walk, I heard a fantastic song and wanted to share the warm fuzzies I’m feeling these days… give a listen to Lead on Good Shepard by Patrick Mayberry.
I wouldn’t dream of ending with just one song… are you kidding, it’s almost Christmas!!!
You can’t have holiday music without Ray Stevens, so for my birthday I give to me… It’s a Redneck Christmas
You all know how much I love to sing, but I chose the next best thing for this last Birthday/Holiday song… Jim Carey singing White Christmas … just think of me as you watch him.
I made us a virtual cake for my Birthday… grab a slice before you go…
Right now I am thoroughly enjoying my new eyeballs… so I’m doing a good bit of blinking, which is pretty nice. If you’re wondering, it’s because they took out the astigmatism in my right eye during the first surgery, so blinking doesn’t hurt anymore.
Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite physical activities or exercises?
Today also marks the first day I shall be walking on my trails again… I am sooooooo excited!
However, I shall first be drinking a cup of coffee while I answer this prompt. Reading and writing are some of my other favorites. My new eyes have made these activities even more wonderful than I remembered. I have placed a hold on my first choice of good reads with my new peepers. I decided on Redwall by Brian Jacques. I started reading this book for my children years ago and ended up falling in love with the characters. I basically binge read everything written by the author. Whenever a new book came out in the series… I had it! I know it’s for younger readers but I don’t care… talent is talent and this author owned it with pretty much whatever he wrote. I aspire…
I also have plans to pick a camera back up, as well as a paintbrush and also my faithful crotchet hooks… why not, I say?!
Whatever my favorite activities are or will be, it is fitting that my eyes now work fully… to be a light in the darkness, one needs good vision!
This is set to be a fantastic week! My Birthday is tomorrow and while I normally do not like to celebrate how old I am… this year shall be different!
F.Y.I. I warned you all about getting me your Christmas list on time, so I took the liberty of moving ahead with my gift ideas for everyone. Now you will just have to wait til Christmas Morning to see what I gotcha!
You know how you know to go to the medicine cabinet for what ails you… what to take when you have a headache or an upset stomach?
Same thing goes for when we are hungry, thirsty or tired…
What about our mental/emotional wellbeing? I think sometimes we forget to go to the Love Station when our tanks are running low… being human means we have a tendency to ignore safety checks when assessing our own personal needs in the emotional department. We were built for giving and receiving love… but in our humanness we tend to forget or ignore this part of our nature.
We know how to react to hunger or pain on a physical level, but sometimes we get our lines crossed in the mental/emotional section of our human nature. If food stops hunger, medicine stops pain, then an empty love tank makes us want to fill it. If we want love then we try to give it, hoping to get it in return. Have you ever tried to give a gift or do something special for someone, thinking they would be so happy and they seem to be just OK with the gift? It can be very confusing and sometimes painful for both the giver and the receiver.
Giving and receiving love can be a tricky business. Are we trying to give love to another the way we want to be loved or the way they want to be loved… see what I mean? I read a book years ago regarding different Love Languages and it left an indelible mark upon my heart. There is definitely an art… and a language to this love stuff!
Myself personally… I have a Love Language of Physical Touch primarily, but my secondary would be Quality Time. This does NOT mean, however, that anyone around me has the same language. It can be very easy to attempt to love another in the way that you yourself feel love… because it makes sense to you, since you are familiar with that language. It’s hard enough to figure this out for yourself, let alone anyone else… don’t get me started on being a parent, as this was the reason I read the book in the first place. I had three daughters… all of which had differing love languages.
Anyway… the reason my mind went there this morning was because of my Chica… my sweet sweet friend, who has been with me through hell and high water, as they say, and she has impacted my life deeply over the years. Her efforts to do and say things that she knows will touch my heart, makes her not just my Chica but an amazing human being. She is like this with everyone… just being who she is… Real!
She will call me out if I wear something ridiculous that I think is cool… tells me to hold up if I plan on some new idea that I think is great, but didn’t think through first. We all need that one soul that can shout out “STOP! … I will not be seen in public if you wear that”! That’s my Chica!
She also does things like texting or calling to make me laugh with her over something she saw or heard, dragging me out of my hobbit hole… AND she does NOT put up with my whining or bellyaching over things… feeling sorry for ones self is NOT allowed!
We met while attending College years ago, and I will never forget our conversation in the hallway before entering the classroom. I actually gave her a disclaimer that we both laugh about to this day. I told her that I was terrible friend material… I would not call, text or write… I was mean, and unlovable. She saw something in me that I did not! She stayed…
I have been truly blessed by her tenacious love and commitment to me… I may genetically be an orphan… but I have 2 woman in my life that are my true sisters in every sense of the word! That would be Christine and Danielle. They have been there to pick me up off my face, dust off the debris and help God mend my wounds. They have loved me when I felt ugly, and unlovable … they have reached out when I did not have the strength to reach back and held me up during times when I felt I could not go on… Thank you my sweet sisters, the both of you… Thank you for all the times you heard God call you to arms on my behalf!
Yes I am feeling all soft and squishy with oodles of Joy and Gratitude! All because my Chica came and stole me away yesterday, for home made soup, christmas music, and play time with Heidi, her Weimaraner. She gave me the softest blue fluffy jacket, along with a number of small items she knew I might need in my RV. Guess what else she gave me???????? A new plant! It is a Snake plant I think. Now Sis, my other plant that she gifted me, will have a roomie.
In truth, we could have been sitting at a train station sitting next to a smelly guy that stares, and I would still feel the same about time spent with Danielle or Christine… priceless!
If ever I needed a prescription for any ailment, these 2 are just what the Doctor ordered…
And… Chica knows that if ever there were a doped up druggie wanting to dance up on her in a bathroom, I would be there to save her… AGAIN!
If the worse thing I have to tackle is to sit still… I got it made!
I got up this morning fully prepared to dismantle all of the rest of my Auto Pilots and Eye to Eye posts that had been in place. I want to be back on board so bad that my fingers are itching. It is taking all of my resolve to let them play out and finish resting.
I guess it is somewhat like a kid with a brand new toy that he’d been anxiously awaiting. I have two brand new eyes and I WANT TO USE EM!!!
Sorry… that’s the coffee talking!
Today my Chica is stealing me away from my hobbit hole… time with either of my sweet friends is always welcomed. Maybe homemade soup and bread bowls are just what the doctor ordered to keep my fingers off the keyboard for another day.
Journey With Me! 