Holiday Meals With Family

The gift of time;

Enjoying the labors of great cooks;

The special effort of the table setting;

The children in "nice"clothes;

Beautifully decorated homes;

Laughter;

Pictures;

Memories

Celebrations of Faith and Family

This is always the beginning of the end. The year is coming to a close and before it does, we gather together and celebrate. We celebrate our thanks and our faith and all that makes faith come alive in us. In my family, we also celebrate birthdays. This month my mother, my sister in law, several cousins and their progeny. Next month is mine. So we spend a great deal of time coordinating and planning... Not to mention eating. The hardest part is keeping the details in check and taking time to savor the people. So breathe deeply. Take in the sights, sounds and smells. See if you can will the season to move more slowly. Because next up is the New Year and, for me, three more birthdays in January. Including that baby of mine who turns 16.

Familiar sights, sounds and smells of November.

It is here. One of my favorite months of the year. November. Colors scream outside every window. I need my blanket on the bed. The coffee tastes better. I smell wood burning fireplaces at night when I go outside. Cinnamon, gingerbread, pumpkin spice and cloves are everywhere. Starbucks has my holiday drink favorites. I can find turkey and cranberry sauce all month. Egg nog is on the shelf. It is dark before dinner. My mail box is full of glossy magazines and letters seeking contributions for charities. I have restocked on the hot chocolate and marshmallows. I can bring our my George Winston "Thanksgiving' album. My family starts talking about family meals and visits. And everyone is inside more.... closer together. It is time to breath in and be aware. So if you catch me and I am not smiling. Please remind me. I love what this month brings. Let me be the first to wish you Happy Thanksgiving.

Prayer. From a song

Father give me the strength to be everything I am called to be ,
Father show me the way ,
To Lead them, won't you lead me , to lead them with strong hands, to stand up when they can't,
So I will never leave them hungry for love, chasing things that I could give up,
Show them I am willing to fight,and give them
The best of my life, so we can call this a home,
So lead me, because I can't do this alone.

10 Things I know about my Daughter even when I am mad. (And she forgets)

1. She is incredibly intuitive and bright.
2. She is full of compassion and empathy.
3. She is beautiful without trying.
4. She will not always give you another chance, but she is loyal to her friends.
5. She is full of dreams and will make them come true.
6. She can talk a fish into flying.
7. She can make art out of silly string while sleeping if she wants to.
8. She is musical in everything she does and says.
9. She was born with a gift for words and speech.
10. I will always love her, no matter what.

Family Guy, Snowboarders, and Tiger.

As usual, common sense is hard to find this day and age. The creator of Family Guy allowed a person with Down's Syndrome to be portrayed in his show and made a crack about Sarah Palin. This causes a public debate. Everything about that show offends someone. That seems to be the point of the show Whether the jokes were funny or not was the point of the debate. It was whether anyone should be allowed to laugh at someone who has a disability. If you spend time with the disabled you will be inspired, saddened and amused by them as much as anybody else you meet.

An Olympic snowboarder, leaves the Olympics and apologizes over photos TMZ circulated showing a drunk woman, moving his medal up his body with her tongue while he stands there drunk and fuzzy and surrounded by his friends. He had to publicly apologize? For being drunk and being surrounded by drunks? Does anyone look up to snowboarders except other snowboarders? Do we really talk to our children and tell them to be or not to be like snowboarders. I have been embarrassed by more important Americans representing this country than a drunk snowboarder.

Tiger apologizes publicly! To who? Companies who paid him for endorsements got their money. Fans who looked up to him as a person chose a stranger. He may still be a great golf player. He devastated his family... no one else.

Don't we have real news to report any more?

Can't people just lighten up?

How does it happen?

"Man Shot by Deputy Dies in Hospital" My Mother had already told me about the shooting and the death. Spartanburg is not a large town. The largest part of my family and my husband's family still live in Spartanburg. A girl who was on the cheer leading squad with me in Junior High chats with my Mother in Law in the Elementary School car pool line when she picks up my niece. Another High School class mate lives in my Mom's current neighborhood. Kids that used to eat dinner with us at my house are on the Board at my old K-12 school. After we met while I was in law school, my husband and I discovered that his old girlfriend had been one grade older than me at my school and that I dated one of his two best friends one summer in high school. You get the picture.

The man who was shot was an old boyfriend. Some one I had not seen but one time since we "broke up." I was waiting tables between college and law school and he walked into the restaurant with his family. He had already married and had a small child. He and his family looked happy and we joked and caught up for a few minutes. We dated when I was in 10th grade. I do not remember how we met, or how long we dated. In 1980, when this picture was taken, we were headed to a dance at his school. I remember his Dad was a coach at the local high school. His Mom was a decorator. His older sister was a cheerleader and student at USC and his little sister was, a sweet little sister who adored the older siblings and the attention she might get from their dates. I remember going to church outings and double dating with his older sister once. They were a nice family. From what he showed me, Steve was a nice guy. I didn't go to school with him and we didn't share any friends.

Somehow twenty nine years later, Steve ended up in trouble. Some choice he made, some turn he made, took him down this path. Already, there are stories of possible drugs or alcohol and hospitalizations. His wife left him not long ago, I am told. His friends and family were helpless to help him. Dave Matthews has a song on his latest album. "Funny the way it is, no right or wrong, Someone is going hungry, someone else is eating out.... I can't help wondering how some people make it through and some people don't. How can it happen, that the life you have becomes something that you can't control. How does a nice kid, someones little boy, someones childhood friend, someones father, end up dying in their suburban yard like this. With my Mom's lifelong friend, a woman who I have known my whole life, was trapped in her house on the same street as Steve, watching as the police tried to subdue him. Funny the way it is.