the most wonderful time …

This is it:  The most wonderful time of the year.  Christmas morning has come and gone, and it’s the Saturday after.  There’s a new ping pong table, an xbox 360, treats to polish off (keep that See’s chocolate away from me, would ya?), and another week to go before the kids have to return to school. We are in full-swing holiday  here.  We saw Nannie and Pop Pop off in their car home bound for New England at 6 a.m., then I poured a hot cup of coffee from my new Cuisinart 12-cup press-and-go coffee maker they gave me and curled up on my sofa in my robe to watch … can you believe it … “Love Story.”  Totally girled and comfied out in my heat-inducting slippers and Pier One Christmas throw, I sipped my coffee, thought about the Christmas I had thrown and wished that I’d put out at least one more appetizer!  After a few days, when you still have hungry company around, you’d better be ready or you have to dig up what you can.  Big tip:  If you’re hosting family for the holidays, be sure to stock up plenty of appetizers, chips, dips, nuts, cheeses and assorted delicacies — this will make or break your Christmas!  In quiet repose on my sofa, I thought about Nannie and Pop Pop driving away as my husband resumed snoring again having returned to bed … and our kids, ensconced in the xbox zone upstairs.  A whole, wonderful, lazy day is splayed out before us.  Tonight, Stewart and I will resume our backgammon tournament and maybe play a ping pong game after a homemade taco fiesta with the kids.  Lots of sour cream. Love the holidays.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year

what makes you merry

I do too much, I admit it.  I’m what is called an over-achiever, except that what I’m achieving is not something that can be measured on a report card.  I’m achieving the day-to-day … and I can be pretty intensely focused.  So when someone asks, “How do you do it?” I don’t flap a wing, don’t raise a brow.

You just do it.  Yeah, all four of my kids play soccer, two are also in ice hockey at the same time … we have winter training going on and piano lessons, voice, school, work … you know, LIFE.

You can get so slammed that people start to behave as though you are odd because you are constantly working in a cylinder-like manner, chasing your tail, getting it all done.

Engaged in life … I told my 13-year-old … it’s the secret to happiness.  To go after what you are interested in.  That’s what makes you happy.  To pursue it and never let it go.

Merry, merry.