Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

So I was thinking... let's just skip Christmas this year at my house. Really, it's okay. You have a lot of other places you need to be. I have had a crazy year and to be honest with you I am not up to it. I don't have the energy to put up the decorations much less get a tree. I don't feel like hanging the stockings or sending out cards or baking christmas goodies. You see... my parents are ill and their dementia is so progressed they don't even know it's Christmas. My boys are now young men and they will be fine on their own. Big Guy will probably go to his girlfriends house and spend the day with her large family. Younger Guy is living on his own in another state and won't be coming home because of school and work.

It all goes by in a blur anyway. And everything is such a hassle. The crowds. The traffic. The constant non stop Christmas muzak and the bell ringing of the Salvation Army volunteers. I don't have the energy to do all that. I really don't.

So Santa skip my house this year.  We'll try for next year.

Happy New Year and all my best to Mrs Claus.

Love,

Mary


Dear Mary,

My dear it does sound like you have had quite a year. Therefore you are in critical need of Christmas.
Christmas is what will lift your spirits. Trust me, I've been doing this a while.


Send a card to your parents. They just might enjoy looking at a pretty picture... in fact, instead of sending a gift that they probably won't use or want, send them a photo of you. They might not recognize you on Christmas but they will have a glimpse of clarity one day and what joy it would be if they saw your smiling face.

Let me also remind you my dear gal that even though your sons are grown now, they still want the traditions that you started for them as children. Please get a Christmas tree.... it is a must. Then put that little red wagon with the Christmas Snoopy and Curious George sitting in it together as they have been for the last 24 years. Hang the boy's stockings up. Just because the boys are now young men, they are and always will be children at heart this time of year.  They will be disappointed if they knew their first grade ornaments they made were not hanging on the tree. You will not want to break that tradition becausen you are not up to it.... next year it will be harder to follow through if you skip it this year. 1 see it happen all the time. People skip a year and then they never go back to enjoying Christmas the following year like they promised they would.

Go out and be with others. Try humming along to the Christmas carols, smile at the cashier and put change in the Salvation kettle. You will surprise yourself.

And Mary, one last thing. Don't try and have it all so perfect. I know for a fact that even Martha Stewart buys store bought cookies every now and then. It's not about the perfect gift, or the house decorated just right. It's not about having the perfect meal or  wearing the right dress to the office party.
It's about being with family and friends. People you love and love you back. And Christmas allows that to happen.

Christmas is that unexplainable wonderous time where everything is magical. You don't want to miss out on that.

I will be by your house on Christmas Eve because I don't ever let anyone skip Christmas!


Ho Ho Ho

Santa Claus



This post inspired by Mama Kat!

Colors of joy

Nature loves to show it’s colors.

 The deep dark green of aspen trees. The multi facets of desert colors splashed on huge granites. The frigid icy cobalt ocean blue to the emerald shores of the warm Caribbean seas. The blindingly bright whiteness of a newly fallen snow to the deep midnight darkness of the night sky speckled with sparkling diamonds of stars. 

Colors everywhere. Proud, unabashed and beautiful. Colors of joy.

As humans we have our own colors for show. 

 Our moments of love and joy to display to the world. The yellow amber color of sunshine a smile can bring. The blush of pink in the silliness of laughter. The royal blue of unshakable faith as well as the deep dark cherry red of passion in a kiss. 

Every action, every emotion, every move on our part presents our colors. Shades and hues of who we are. 

Show off who you are.

 And spend some time to look around at the colors of every person you see. To notice their own beauty.

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.... People think pleasing God is all God care about.  But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.  ~Alice Walker,The Color Purple, 1982

Paradise Found

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.  ~Buddha

I just have gotten off a cruise ship two hours ago after sailing around the Caribbean for ten days. Ten glorious days. Ten days that literally changed the direction of my own sails. 

It’s been a difficult year for me. A year of complicated grief. Grief is difficult under any circumstances however mine was complicated. I’m not going to say that I handled the last few months poorly because I know I did the best I can. Grief will weigh you down. And it gets heavier and heavier. And I held on to it until one day I simply broke into what felt like a million pieces. 

Friends and family stood by me trying to put me back together just like all the kings horses and all the kings men tried to do for Humpty Dumpty. It didn’t take long to figure out that only Mary can put Mary back together again. 

So I took off on a cruise ship to the islands. Bobbing along on the ocean with no distractions, no decisions, nothing but me and lots of time. And slowly the pieces of me came back together. The smile came back. The spark in my eyes came back. The joy in my soul came back. The love in my heart came back. 

I’ve learned that I was lost. Very lost. I had to take the time to stop and find the answers myself. To find my own paradise. And that I did. 

Paradise found!






This post inspired by Shell at Things I Can't Say... stop by her place to visit!

I Am From...Baskin Robbins to mashed potatoes

I am from fireflies in a bug catcher, Baskin Robbins Rocky Road ice cream, Flintstones vitamins  and scabby knees from metal roller skates.

I am from cracked sidewalks with tic-tac-toe drawn in yellow chalk and double dutch jump rope. From  pigeons pecking hot pavement in the summer and lingering gray puddles of slush in the winter.

I am from the pine tree fort sheltering our screen porch from late afternoon thunderstorms and rose bushes lined along the sidewalk in attempt to beautify the urban. From the St Gerards Parish picnic at Cunningham Park to sunburned skin and riding the waves at Rockaway Beach.

I am from roasted chicken and mashed potatoes on Sundays timed around half time of the New York Giants. I am from Irish whiskey and freckles. From Murphys and O'Neils.

I am from 5 o'clock mass and Girl Scout merit badges. From scalding hot metal playground slides to splashing in the street under an open fire hydrant.

I am from metropolitan Queens, NY to the suburban utopia of New Jersey. From Gino's lemon Italian ice to the Hickory Tree Deli. From Michael Jackson, big hair and the Jersey Shore way before it became a TV reality show. White Castle Burgers and Friendly's Ice Cream.

I am from the junior varsity track team, the CTHS Gladiator marching band and an orange chiffon prom dress to match my date's rented brown tuxedo. From poison ivy to the hugest mosquito bites ever.

I am from a believer in Santa Claus to a believer in a Higher Power. From the wrath of Sister Ellen to being free to living one day at a time.

I am from the farms of Ireland to the shore of Ellis Island. I am from don't say bad words, sharing is caring and here's a dollar for the ice cream man.


I am from hardworking people. I am from family, tradition and the past. I am from the here and now.



This post inspired by Kat and her famous Writer's Workshop. I want to say that I met the famous Kat at Bloggy Boot Camp in Denver and she is as lovely in person as she is online!