December One Stop Chat Spot

Hello Ladies!

I'm back from Dubai and getting ready to head to Texas for the holidays.

Lola - have a great trip..Texas is so big, I am sure you can get some walks in. If you can tear yourself away from your New niece. When my nephew was born, he was premature so it was a month before I could hold him. I still remember the first time - I felt like I had never known what love was until I held him in my lap. I could hardly manage to leave him. At his first Thanksgiving, my sister in law's brother and sister were there (all of us childless at the time)' and I told everyone that we weren't dividing the 'baby time' in thirds - they got half (as her siblings) and I got half(as my brother's sibling). And 20 years later, I am just as in awe of the man that baby has become...build lots of memories, the time really does fly. Tmz - speaking of little ones, I was wondering today how your little one us doing since the tubes went in her ears. Is she very excited about the holidays? My guess is that she is at the age where this is all new and exciting - no expectations, everything is a delight? Except maybe that scary man with a beard and a red suit...ho ho ho... I should be addressing cards, but I am not...I took out Decorations on the weekend, and my house looks cozy. Every thing I have has a memory tied to it, so it was emotional for me. Of course much of it came ad a gift from my mother. She tried very hard tom please me and I have some beautiful things. In an odd way, my decorations remind me of how far I have come in life. We had very little money growing up, but my mother was endlessly clever. Our tree ornaments were things like tracings of our hands that we cut out, an empty spool of thread that we glued macaroni on and painted silver, paper chains, little lifesaver dolls with styrofoam heads and yarn bodies, things she knit or we painted. They were not beautiful, but our tree...my mother told us that anyone could have a beautiful tree...we were the kind of people who could have a tree that needed love...this allowed us to be satisfied with a cheaper tree, and feel special at the same time. When I went to college, I had a friend whose family was affluent. They were very kind to me - I think his mother hoped we would end up together. For Christmas, he gave me a silver snowflake. I didn't even know there were ornaments like that. A few years later, my mom bought me a silver angel, and another year a bell, and another year a snowflake. Our lives were much easier and she understood that I wanted my life to be different. I love her for the spool painted silver and for the silver ornaments...most of my ornaments were either gifts or souvenirs and so de orating was a trip down memory lane. Hope everyone has a good week. SJ