Very Christmas- December 9th

In 2010, I am glad that I could laugh. And laugh and laugh and laugh. I feel like I've laughed more this year than I have in years. GOOD laughing, HARD laughing. With friends, with family, with my class.

And at my favorite TV show...

MODERN FAMILY!!!

Enjoy:

REALLY REALLY one of my favorite moments on this show:

Obviously you know who my favorite characters are... but this show is SO funny... if you haven't watched it, do. Make it your 2011 goal.

Love!

Very Christmas- December 8th

It's officially Christmas... tonight Jaime and I watched:

Bring on the Love, Universe!

Today at school we had a Christmas Cookie Exchange! 8 of us baked different cookies and we each got to take some home... mmm...

Here were my contributions:

Mama's Snowball Cookies.

Butter, Sugar, Rice Krispies, Pecans, Dates... all rolled in coconut. Oh. My. Gosh. I haven't made them in about 5 years, but they remind me of my mom and I love them. Plus, they are freaking delicious.

Christmas Shapes with a Sugar Glaze.

I remember this from my youth, as well, except it reminds me of Grandma's house. I had never tried a cookie glaze before, but it turned out SUPER yummy!

I do have more Christmas Spirit this year than I have had in about 4 years. I can feel the peace coming slowly but surely.

Be on the lookout: House Decorations and our Gi-normous Tree post coming soon

December 7- a Christmas Blog Name Change

I saw this on one of my student's desks today. It's such a darling mistake of english for an english language learner Plus a sweet philosophy for the season.

From now on, my December blogs will be called "Very Christmas- December 7" (etc).

Very Christmas, everyone!

Today I am glad that I read my horoscope. I don't read it every day. But I get on my.yahoo and sometimes I read it. And 9/10 times, it gives me hope. I think that's what's missing these days. Hope. Fearless Hope. I let too many other things make me stress or worry or distract. I've let experiences in my life make me fear and doubt and question and distrust.

But to accept and embody that simple idea of Fearless Hope that I used to have...

my, that sounds nice.

Here's my horoscope today, for example:

Something is brewing, and it's shaping up to be a special (and very positive) influence in your life. This could be an unexpected phenomenon, but more likely this is something you have been wishing for and working on for quite a while. Keep your lines of communication open all day long -- make sure your phone is turned on and charged up, because one call could bring everything together in an instant. Things are getting started whether you are ready for them or not, but you should be excited.

How could I not Hope? ... I'll give in... just a little...

December 6th

In 2010, I made my first turkey for Thanksgiving. After many many many many many calls, some Skyping and some text pictures to mom, I did it. And it was delicious... for several more days.

There was a lot to be thankful for this year. But I do love my class... and this is shameless, but they I guess they think I'm ok, too...

Or they are kissing up a little...

Or they don't want to offend any of the teachers or specialists that come into our room to help, so they specify...

But they know that I am thankful for them, too.

I hope the 2011 part of the school year will be as cool as the 2010 part :)

December 5th (the real one)

Most assuredly, some of my favorite parts of 2010 were the births!! There were three very important babies born within months of each other...

Andrea and Ed's Jack

Heather and Brad's Chase

Joy and Kevin's Owen

I got to spend a little time with Owen today. I gave him the Kevin Henkes book "Owen" and made him a yellow blanket to go with the book. I hope he'll like it when he gets a little older. I got to hold him for a Long time! He fell asleep on me a couple of times. ahhhhhh

Congratulations, families! Can't wait to watch these little guys grow up :)

Lost and Found

I'm going to be pretty honest here. For about 3 weeks, I have been a little blue. Inexplicably. And not exceptionally noticeable. There's so much good in my life and in the world and I definitely see and appreciate all of that, but there is still something plaguing me. And I don't know what it is. I've tried to figure it out. Is it my job? I haven't been 100% happy there, except when I am teaching my kiddos. Is it something else? Is it a combination? I'm still trying to figure it out so I can feel the warmth and peace that I enjoy this season. I can feel it...

This was my horoscope today:

It's time to go back to the beginning to get the inspiration you need today. Remember back when you were enthusiastic about where you were going? The passion is still there, you just have to dig down deep enough to find it! This process of digging will take your mind off of the work you're doing right now and help you stay distracted enough to not worry -- worrying is not going to help you one bit, so why bother? Call up a fun friend and get back in touch with what really matters.

Ok. I need to dig deep and refocus and get back to what is important to me. I think some Lists are going to come into play...

December 4 (a few hours late)

2010 brought me back to life in a lot of ways. I took control of what I was eating and lost (depending on the week in 2010) between 23 and 29 pounds. Now I'm taking control of my exercise. Soccer is a thing of the past, it doesn't interest me as much anymore.

So I'm starting to run.

Today I ran a 5K beside a girl I taught in 1st grade and then again in 3rd grade. It was awesome! She was such a trooper! It was cold but it felt wonderful to be part of it!

December 3rd

I should be asleep right now because I'm running a 5K with one of my students early tomorrow morning.

But it's blog time.

One thing in 2010 that has made me Really happy is Skype. I first got on Skype at my aunt Martha's house in New York and got to talk to my cousins in Austin, TX. Then we Skyped with my brother and Sofia in San Diego.

Then I got my new computer (heart). And now I can Skype with my mom, my dad, my brothers, Joy Kevin and Owen, and tonight I got to meet my cousin's new baby via Skype!!

It's so comforting to see your family. It makes me feel warm.

Love.

December 2nd

I decorated my house for Christmas tonight.

It took me four hours.

I enjoyed every second of it.

More to come...

December 1st

It has been brought to my attention that I have not been blogging as much recently (thanks, carm). So I will. In fact, I am going to challenge myself to blog every day in December.

I need to blog. And the December blogs will have a purpose. I am going to blog about things that:

1. make me happy

2. have made 2010 an amazing year

3. I learned in 2010

4. demonstrate the magic of the Christmas season/the magic of the world.

For Tonight's Installment, I will tell you some amazing stories about the Kindness of Strangers.

Story #1: Mom's Wallet

Last weekend, my mom came to visit. We had a very lovely time (I still feel bad that Sunday we started to watch a movie and I completely passed out nap-style almost as soon as the movie started-- sorry, mama, you have more energy than I do. Always!) and Sunday evening, I dropped her off in BUSY downtown chinatown DC so she could catch her bus. It hurt my tummy to leave her there but there wasn't any other option. Her bus was supposed to come at 7:45pm. It didn't come until 9:00! Then I got a phone call from her at 10:45 from Richmond. She didn't have her wallet. NOOOO. Panic set in me immediately. I called, I texted, I looked up phone numbers for every place we went that day. I retraced our steps. You had it after IKEA because you used your card at the grocery store... your purse fell off the chair at Kate's house, maybe it's there... But it wasn't anywhere. My mom finally made it back to Newport News and I talked to her on the phone until she was in my stepdad's car. Then at 12:30am, I got another call from Mom. When she got back to the house in Chesapeake, there was a message on the answering machine from the DC metro police department. Someone had found the remnants of my mom's wallet on the street in DC (we assume that somehow it fell out of her purse and someone snatched it) and turned it into the police. I went down to the DC police station at about 1:30am to get it.

**This is not a great story. A wallet was stolen. Credit cards were taken out. Fortunately, there was only one small $7 charge to McDonald's. So, we are choosing to look at it this way:

1. A Kind Stranger could have thrown away my mom's wallet (with her SS card, School ID card, grocery store cards, Movie tickets, Old family pictures, Gift cards, etc, etc) but they gave it to the police because there was still some good stuff in it.

2. My mom "gave" someone a meal who probably needed it.

3. They took $100 in cash... and I am choosing to believe it was for Christmas presents for other people.

Story #2: Dad's Cell Phone

Right around Veteran's Day, my dad and brother were traveling up to DC to go to a CAPS game. As they were traveling (and I was at work), I got a phone call from my dad's cell. I was able to check it 2 hours later during my lunch. This was the message. "Hi Cait, this is Chris. I found this cell phone in the parking lot of the Harris Teeter off Ferrell Parkway in Virginia Beach. I am turning it in to the Customer Service desk." My jaw dropped. First, I called my stepmother so she would know/could go get it. Then I called my brother's cell phone and it turned out that I actually Told my dad that he lost it! (he didn't know) Dads are so cute. :) What a lovely act from a Stranger. Pay it forward. If you ever find a cell phone, do what that guy did!

Story #3: The Accident

A few Christmases ago, my mom was driving on her lunch hour to go pick up a gift for my Stepdad. She was traveling down the road and someone sideswiped her and drove off. To compensate, she veered into the other lane, sending another car into the metal guardrail. Of COURSE, my mom stopped ahead and came back, feeling HORRIBLE. Apologizing all over the place and trying to explain that she was sideswiped. Then she saw a man on the other side of the guardrail stop his car (he was going in the opposite direction), climb over the guardrail and wait for the cops to come so he could tell the cops that he saw someone sideswipe my mom. My mom was so touched by this random act of Kindness that she said, "Why on earth would you do that for a complete stranger?" He said, "My wife is in labor at the hospital right now and I am on my way there, but I couldn't bring my baby into the world knowing that I could have helped someone but didn't." Amazing.

December 1st... here's the beginning of the Christmas cheer... May your days be merry and bright.

see you tomorrow :)