Let's Make it a Good One

I woke up this morning with a million good intentions running through my mind. Then I took this photo. The Halloween mug, the Alpine trees, and the 2020 calendar provide a stark contrast to those well-meaning intentions and more accurately depicts my entry into the New Year ... a little of this, a little of that, one foot here, and one foot there.

But it's all good! A journey begins with a single step. No one said it had to be a leap. 

I do have some new things going on. This morning my sister and I are starting a 12-week yoga burn challenge, and I my mat and resistance bands are ready and waiting (I'll get to them as soon as I finish my cappuccino in the Halloween mug). 

This evening I begin training to become a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). And between the yoga and CASA training I have a lot of things to get done (I'm eyeing those Alpine trees). 

Finally, as we venture into the New Year, some with giant leaps and bounds while others (eh hem) a little more quietly, I leave you with this: Saturday night after Mass I stopped to speak to a woman who usually sits in front of us. When I wished her a Happy New Year she replied, "Happy New Year. Let's make it a good one."

Amen.  There's a LOT we can do to make it a good one. 

Happy New Year! Let's make it a good one!

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 12, Putting Away Christmas (with a little help from Dr. Suess)

We are packing away the ribbons and tags; storing packages, boxes, and bags.

In other words, we are putting away Christmas.

Jonathan and Timothy take down the ornaments from the tree and place them on the kitchen table so I can put them in the storage boxes. Back and forth they carry ornaments, from tree to table. We have a lot of ornaments on the tree.

Then, Timothy accidentally breaks one, glass shards scattering across the floor. But that's okay. EVERY year someone breaks an ornament, so it's almost a tradition.

Joe pulls off the lights, and coils them carefully because we replaced ALL the lights this year and so they should be good for another year or two. Maybe. If we're lucky.

As I watch all the vestiges of Christmas disappear, it dawns on me how we are basically undoing everything we did a month ago. The tree that went up, is now coming down. The nativity sets, garland, and stockings that were on display, are not hidden away.

All that fuss, and just like that it's over.

But then I reach for a Christmas signboard propped in a corner. Painted on its surface are the Three Wise Men with the words, "REJOICE in the gifts of the season."

Rejoice. In the gifts.

The gifts of the Magi, the angels' Alleluia, the shepherds' witness, and the Christ child in a manger. The gifts of faith, peace, goodwill, forgiveness, and salvation for all mankind until the end of time.

These Christmas gifts don't go away to reappear one time a year.

So yes, we clear away the trimmings of Christmas--the things that made the season sparkly, cozy, and exciting! We store away the ribbons and tags, packages, boxes, and bows.

But we're not putting away Christmas.

Not at all.

It's here just the same.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 11, What to Give Adult Sons For Christmas

I can look at a string of Christmas pasts and see a definite pattern in gifts as our sons grew older:

toddler: matchbox cars, Thomas trains, Duplo

primary school: Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Lego

elementary school: Lego, board games, scooters

middle school: Lego, strategy board games, Wii games, sports equipment

high school: phone, high end sneakers, gift cards, video games

college: money, college game gear, electronics

But now that our two eldest are adults--one living on his own in Little Rock and one who has a job already lined up in Atlanta after he finishes grad school this spring--the gift ideas have changed. Of course, they still like Lego and electronics, strategy board games are always a hit, and they will take a gift card any day, but they also have needs--for their apartment (kitchen appliances, furniture) their car (air compressor for tires, a car emergency kit, jumper cables), or their new job (business suits, dress shoes). 

But while all those things are practical, I still like to think of one special gift to add. 

This year, it was a Fontanini nativity set (a stable and the Holy Family) for Nicholas. I also gave him, carefully packaged in a beautifully decorated box,  all his childhood tree ornaments from Nonna and Nonnno--brass ornaments engraved with his name and the year. One ornament for every year until he turned 18 years of age. (Next Christmas, when Jonathan has his own apartment, he will get the same.)

When Nicholas drove home Christmas day due to work, the first thing he did when he arrived back to his apartment in Little Rock was to set up his nativity and hang the ornaments on his tree. 

And hopefully these things will always be a little reminder of family and faith.

A little reminder of home.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 10, Where in the World is Santa?

In case you're wondering what Santa is doing after a busy Christmas season, word has it he's relaxing somewhere in Italy ...

(photo from locorotondo on instagram)

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 9, The Book Swap

This year I knew exactly what to get Joe for his December birthday: a copy of Stan Byrdy's new book, Against All Odds: The Donnie Hixon Story, which tells the amazing story of Augustan Donnie Hixon who overcame personal adversity and ultimately served as Burt Reynold's stunt double in the movie, The Longest Yard. 

For those who don't know, Stan Byrdy is an Augusta writer, speaker, sports historian, and award winning journalist. He has written two other books: Alister MacKenzie's Masterpiece: The Augusta National Golf Club, and Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age. 

He also happens to be our neighbor and a member of our church. 

When I contacted Stan and asked if he would sign a book for Joe, he suggested we meet and do an author book swap. One of his books for one of mine. So a few days later, during a torrential thunderstorm, Stan came to our house. We talked about the writing process, shared publishing stories, discussed marketing ideas, and then we swapped books. 

Now, shortly before our book swap my friend Thalia, who was flying out of the Augusta Regional Airport, sent me a photo of my book An Ocean, an Airplane, and Two Countries Full of Kisses which she spotted in the Landings Gift Shop. She didn't know I was meeting with Stan, and yet her photo showed my book AND Stan's book, The Augusta National Golf Club, sharing a book stand at the airport gift shop. 

How's that for a little Christmas serendipity?

Stan's book, Against All Odds: The Donnie Hixon Story is available on Amazon and at the Sacred Hearts Cultural Center gift shop. 

As it happens, my book is available in both places, too, as well as Dr. David Tribby's volume of poetry, Gifts in Time. 

I guess the moral of the story is to support local authors (insert smiley face emoji).

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 8, Books of 2019 (including Top Three)

For Christmas, it seems EVERYONE gave me a book. And that's a perfect Christmas.

As I begin to delve into my stack of books, I want to take a moment to list my TOP THREE books of 2019. If you're interested in the entire list you can scroll below; the list isn't complete because I listened to some books on Audible, and there were many I forgot to write down. As you can see I also rated the books--know that I don't give out five stars lightly.

Anyway, here are my top choices from last year:

TOP THREE BOOKS OF 2019

Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) *****
So beautifully written. Almost lyrical, poetic. Delia Owens came to Augusta to speak when I was out of the country, so a sweet friend attended and brought me back an autographed copy.

A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)*****
This made my top three for 2018, but I read it again in 2019 and it STILL made my top list. And if I can get my Book Club to select it, I'll read it AGAIN this year. You can't learn too much Russian history.

The Secret History (Donna Tartt)*****
I first read Tartt's The Goldfinch to see what the fuss was about. I really, really liked that book and decided to read this one, which I also really, really liked. Maybe even a little more.

Honorable Mention

Lost for Words (Stephanie Butland)*****
A bookshop, a girl with a secret past, poetry readings, a good guy, a bad guy ... this book made me cry. In good ways, and sad ways. Touching. Endearing. Moving.

Reading list for 2019

I Know this Much is True (Wally Lamb) *****
Gritty. Harsh. Beautiful. Reminded me of Pat Conroy's books.

Ghosted (Rosie Walsh)***
I had never heard of the term "ghosted" but now I know! While I enjoyed the book I gave it three stars because the main character didn't act logically. In our book club everyone wondered why the main character just didn't go to the guy's house and simply confront him.

The Bookshop (Penelope Fitzgerald) ****
The last line in the novel inspired our Book Club to come up with our own interpretation of the book's ending.

Where'd You Go Bernadette? (Maria Semple)****
Read the book, saw the move. The book was much better.

A Man Called Ove (Fredrik Backman)*****
Quirky. Endearing. A story of love.

A Place to Call Home (Deborah Smith)****
Historical fiction with a splash of romance. Takes place in the South, so lots of quirky humor.

Radium Girls (Kate Moore)****
Yikes. Don't get a toothache or you'll imagine all sorts of horrid things. Don't get x-rays, either.

Killers of the Flower Moon (David Grann)*****
My son gave me this book. True story of the Osage Indian murders and the birth of the FBI.

The Scribe of Siena (Melodie Winawer)***
Great premise, but felt the author missed the opportunity to make this a great book.

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me (Jennifer Teege)***
Saw her speak. Fascinating story, but found the book cold and impersonal.

Innocence (Dean Koontz)****
This is a book I will have to read again, slowly this time so I can ponder. I jotted down some quotes that I found profound.

The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt)*****
The reviews for this book were all over the place, but I loved it so much I then read her other book, The Secret History, which made my top three for the year.

Game of Thrones, Books 1-3 (George R. R. Martin)****
Haven't seen the television series, but really liked the books. My son had to help me keep the characters' names straight. Still working on the fourth one ...

Bury Your Dead, The Brutal Telling, A Fatal Grace, Still Life (Louise Penny)****
I haven't read all the Chief Inspector Gamache series, but I'm working on it.

The Things We Cannot Say (Kelly Rimmer)**
Interestingly, many blogs rated this book as a favorite. I found it ponderous and predictable. I started skimming just to get to the end already.

Brunelleschi's Dome (Ross King)***
When you're taking a group to Florence, you read this book. Then you can teach everyone in the group about Brunelleschi.

Misery (Stephen King)***
We happened to watch the movie one afternoon, so I had to read the book. Annie is even more horrid in the book.

Bill Hodges Trilogy: Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch (Stephen King)***
I remember reading these books over a period of two weeks (after watching and reading Misery). I remember liking them. But when I sat down to compile this list I couldn't really remember what they were about.

A Room with a View (E.M. Forster)*****
When you're planning a trip to Italy, this is a must read. Love the book, love the movie.

Lord of the Flies (William Golding)***
In high school I read this book because I had to; when my son had to read it for his literature class, he asked if I could read it too so we could discuss it together. I get why it's a classic, and I understand why it's required reading, but it's still not a favorite. My son wasn't thrilled with it either.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 7, New Year's Eve with the Celtics!

Whoa. This year we actually have plans for New Year's Eve! With the exception of two years ago when we celebrated New Year's Eve while cruising to Cozumel, Mexico, most years we are home with pizza, a movie, and the obligatory bubbly for midnight celebrations. But THIS year we are headed to Charlotte for a Celtics-Hornets basketball game.

Jonathan is a HUGE Celtics fan, and since Joe was able to get four tickets (more on this later) we decided to attend the game and then, on the way home, spend a couple of hours at Carowinds' WinterFest celebration.

Now, about those tickets. There is something funny about the seat assignments, and SOME of us will need binoculars, but that's okay. Timothy and I are going to have a BLAST. You know ... spying on Jonathan and Joe, eating all the popcorn we want, catching t-shirts, and sending annoying texts to TWO SOMEBODIES sitting court-side.

Happy New Year and ... go green!