The Holidays - Shall We Plan A Hullabaloo or Shall We Just Hunker Down This Year?

What's all the fuss about anyway?

With each passing year I'm more and more inclined to visit with my mom and sister (if she doesn't have plans) for Thanksgiving and then stay home during the December holidays. What's not to appreciate with a morning walk with the dogs, followed by breakfast, a nice toasty fire in the wood stove, good food in the oven, or Chinese take out (inside joke), holiday-themed movies, and of course, popcorn!

Over the years when I was raising two children with my first wife we would visit with her two sisters and their families throughout the year. Each sister hosted a holiday: Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas with a little Hannukah sprinkled in for me. Meals were an extravaganza with all the trimmings depending upon the holiday.

Now that I think about it, we ALWAYS HAD BLACK OLIVES with every holiday meal. Was it a family tradition or was there something special about those fleshy orbs of fruit?

Botanically speaking, olives are technically fruits because the stones inside are the seeds of the Olea europaea tree. They're specifically a kind of drupe, or stone fruit, similar to peaches and plums.

Now you know.

Since all the kids from those earlier years are moms and dads and aunts and uncles we don't get together so much. Everyone has there own special way of celebrating and there are other ways to connect on those special days. New iPhone anyone?

Yet, when I think back on early Christmas mornings when the adults were barely awake after a night of partying while assembling bicycles and other assembly required gifts and the kids were squealing with glee, it was a joy to behold.

Nowadays, I'm grateful for the quieter side of holidays at home with my beloved Ashara, our cats, dogs and horses (in that order). Bonus is we skip the shopping craze, exchange a couple of heartfelt gifts, while making sure the cats and dogs get something fun, and we call it good.

By the by: this year Hannukah and Christmas start on Dec 25. That's a cosmic alignment!

What I'd like to offer to everyone is a message of love, peace, compassion and gratitude for ALL THE BEINGS who live on our Mother Earth. And, let's remember to offer the same to our home world. Without her we'd be miniscule (or minuscule) specks in space. Space dust forever moving across the universe.

How are ya feeling now in the grand scheme of things?

All the hubbub of daily life and the media can prevail if we allow it.

Let's all celebrate each other instead, shall we?

Glenn

Inspired and written with you in my heart.