The Mystery of Penguins at Christmas...

I got my wish today. I woke up just as daylight was starting to creep in only to see that it was snowing.

Needless to say, this made me quite happy. It didn't please the pups quite so much, however. I made them wear their little pink coats since it was cold out and they didn't like that very much. They went out but then they came in and sat still, sulking until I took them off. They promptly ran outside again. I'm hoping they get used to them since it was cold today but not as cold as it's lightly to get.

As the day past, the snow fell a little faster and a little heavier. I had at least three people ask me if I'd done the snow dance with Sookie or worn my snowflake necklace. The answer was, in fact, yes. Hey, it's December. Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance for snow.

It was good snow. It fell enough to put the thinnest coating on the ground but not enough that the naysayers could complain that the snow was a problem. It was nice to come out of work, turn my face up to the sky and let the flakes fall.

It's still snowing a little out there. When I came home from work, I decided that even though it was cold, the puppies and I were going to celebrate the first official snowfall of winter by going for our walk. This time, I made them wear their coats. I think they look adorable. They have twin mock-Burberry pink fleece coats that cover their middles which, being dachshunds, are quite long. They walk side by side down the street and it's just plain fun to watch.

They didn't seem to mind the cold although it occurred that their feet might be cold. The pavement had to be pretty frigit. Yet, does that bother dogs? I don't have a clue. I know they make shoes for dogs but to me they've always seemed like a vanity thing rather than a practical thing. I mean, there are some dogs like huskies that are made for cold climates and you don't see them wearing boots or shoes. So I'm hoping that the puppies feet acclimate to the colder temperatures. I don't fancy putting shoes on each of their four feet. It's hard enough velcro-ing Rory's coat closed as she wriggles around.

Still, we enjoyed our walk. With my gloves, comfy shoes and coat, I stayed warm except for my ears. The puppies didn't seem to get too cold. They liked to sniff at the little dollops of snow that had accumulated on the raked piles of leaves. This time of year, it's nice to walk because everyone's putting their Christmas lights up. I like to see whose decorations I think are the best. I am not, sadly, a fan of the giant inflatable...anything. It might be a giant train with penguins on it, a giant snowglobe with blowing snow and penguins in it, a tree with a mini Santa hanging from it, blowing in the breeze...I don't care. I find giant inflatable holiday decor to be, uh, tacky.

Also, I find much of it involves penguins. Why is that? I mean, I rather like penguins. They're cute. They're comical when you watch them at Seaworld and the zoo. They're fun to watch on the nature channel.

But why are they really associated with Christmas and the holidays? I mean, ok, so they live in a snowy climate and, Christmas, typically, in this hemisphere is often associated with snow. However, there are also other creatures that live in the artic...walruses for example. Do you see giant inflatable walruses? How about musk oxen? Wolverines? Whales? (yes, I googled "arctic creatures" in case you were wondering.) Do you see giant inflatable musk oxen? Nope. So why penguins?

So, these are actually the things I ponder as I walk the puppies and look at the Christmas decorations. The puppies are a little puzzled by the giant inflatables anyway because their air pump thingies make a strange whirring noise. Also, if they flap in the breeze, that tends to make the puppies jump.

We prefer the classically decorated houses with their lights, wreathes, pine, bows and snowmen. There are a few on our street that are beautiful. It's nice to walk by and see them up close because it's never quite the same when you drive by.

On nights like this, with the Christmas lights and snow, it makes me happy I moved back to the midwest. California for all it's balminess and prettiness was never the same in the winter. I could never get used to the palm trees being decorated with Christmas lights.

Never mind it never snowing. That...I could never get used to for all the years I lived out there. Snow, how I've missed you. Welcome back!

Happy Wednesday!

A Frosty Friday...

It's a frosty Friday morning and I'm ready for the weekend. As I drove in, the frost was thick on the cars parked outside, the grass and on the tall piles of leaves that have been raked at the side fo the street.

I always think it's nice to see those piles of leaves. I admire the people who rake that diligently because all it really takes is one gusty day or one enthusiastic leaf-pile-jumper and all those leaves are scattered again.

I have a lot of leaves in my own yard. I don't even have a tree. I have a sneaking suspicion that the leaves came from both the hickory nut tree or the sycamore tree that belongs to my neighbour. I suppose I could rake the leaves but the thing is, I don't want to. I personally like a coating of leaves because I think it does the grass good to be covered up for winter; sort of a thermalizing effect.

Also, it means that if I have too many leaves, I can't really find my lawn which means I don't have to mow anymore. The Dog Whisperer next door mowed his lawn last weekend. My own grass hasn't really grown that much since it's hit the 'hibernation' period. His grass wasn't that long either. I've always heard that you're not supposed to mow after the first heavy frost because it's bad for the grass. Since he now has several dead-looking patches, I can't help but think there might be something to this. Even if there's not, I don't care. It's a handy excuse to avoid mowing the lawn.

I'm hoping this Friday will fly by. All in all, it hasn't been a bad week. Most of the managers have been gone at conferences and the atmosphere in the office is a little more relaxed. Besides, it's Friday and everyone loves Friday.

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend but, then again, that's nothing new. I'm not sure what I'm up to yet for the weekend. It's supposed to be Indian summer weather in which it gets up to nearly 70. Since I have some final work to do in the garden, I need to get that done this weekend. There's a lot of things that need to be cut back so that they don't rot and make a mess over the winter.

In addition, I want to do a little Christmas shopping. I'm liking my strategy of starting very early with shopping because it's making it more economical. If I see a good gift for someone at a good price, I'll buy it.

Yet, just because I plan on doing a little shopping, it doesn't mean that I think it's really time to start getting ready for Christmas. As I blogged last year almost on this exact same day, it seems as though Christmas is already in full swing, according to the retailers. Last night was my 'busy' TV night and even though some of the shows were recorded on my handy-dandy DVR, I still had to sit through commercials. Apparently, it's time to start decorating, to start buying cell phones as gifts and going to 'pre-Thanksgiving' sales with the "Lowest Prices EVER for the holidays."

I don't know why I'm still horrified that we're already seeing these advertisements. By now, you'd think I'd be used to it. Retailers want people to jump into the holidays with both feet starting the day after Halloween. Actually, if I want to get nit-picky, they started stocking Christmas stuff at Walmart about two weeks before Halloween. Yet, as much as I love Christmas and all the trimmings that go with it, I'm not ready to start getting ready for Christmas. I want to enjoy that Thanksgiving turkey first. I want to feel that little rush of thrill when I'm close enough to Christmas that I can start getting excited about it. I can't do that now although, I confess, when I got to a store and see aisles of decorations, wrapping paper and lights, I want to start getting ready for it. This idea, naturally, makes me angry when I make myself remember the date. I'm being manipulated by retailers and manufacturers and I don't like it.

I mentioned the other day that there's a house on my street that has the decorations up already. I've noticed that every day, they add to it. It started with candy canes lighting the driveway. Then they added a row of ginormous outdoor fairy lights. I say ginormous because they're not actually normal lights; they're these massive plastic things that are more like a lawn decoration than a lighting method. On Tuesday, they added a snowman to their yard. Yesterday, they added a penguin and a caroler. Today, they've added a stack of 'presents'. I'm not sure about those. They're no plastic-made-for-the-outdoors type of decoration, they're actually cardboard boxes wrapped up with shiny wrapping paper and tied with ribbon bows. They've been out there less than 24 hours and, already, they're looking a little saggy and soggy. I'm thinking they're going to be one of those Griswold type of families that is going to be the best and brightest house on the block by the time it actually is close to Christmas. Thus, they add slowly but surely and eventually, their house will be visible from outer space because of the glow.

I haven't seen anyone else in my neighbourhood put their decorations up yet but since it's the weekend and it's now been a week since Halloween, others will most likely follow. I'm not going to join them. The most I'll do is peruse the sales and see if there's anything worth squirreling away until Christmas. I will NOT be putting my decorations out yet. Also, I will not be listening to Christmas music yet even though the radio tries to tell me otherwise. There's a station that I flick to once in a while that has now become "All Christmas Music, All the Time!" It's TOO early!

Ok, I'm not going to talk about that anymore. Although I'm curious to hear an opposing viewpoint to mine as to why we should be preparing for the holidays already. So, if you have one, comment away and I'll happily entertain the notion of breaking out my Transiberian Orchestra CD's and baking gingerbread.

Most likely though, I'll try to ignore the fact that it's hard to walk in a store and avoid the Christmas merchandise. Even the giftcards that places like Target, Walmart and K-Mart have on sale are emblazened with festive decorations. The question I have about this is...REALLY? Do we need Christmas gift cards yet? I mean, hello, it's a GIFT CARD. It's not exactly something that stores are going to run out of. The one thing they want to ensure is that people will spend money in their store and gift-cards are the most secure way of doing that. Thus, you can walk into store at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve and buy a Christmas gift card. You don't need to run out and fight the crowds for one of those so, I ask, is there any reason we should have them on display already? I'm not going to buy those yet! If I did, I'd probably talk myself into using it and buying the intended recipient something else!

Still, there is no escape: In the World of Retail Merchandise, the holidays are already here. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's going to stop. All I have to do is not let myself get sucked into the vortex of hollyberry scents, shiny ornaments and glittery lights.

Right?

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend.

Christmas Trees and the Reflection of Two-Hundred Multi-Coloured Lights

It snowed a little last night. It was the clingy snow that forms clusters on the ground and sticks to your car windshield. It's pretty. Since it is now officially December and thus Christmas season, I have my tree up. It's the first tree I've ever put up by myself. When I moved to L.A., I lived by myself for five years and because I had virtually no money, I made do with decorating my mantel with ornaments and one of those green tinsel garlands that is the same colour as a Christmas tree from the 99 cent store. I twirled lights around the tinsel for effect and it was pretty. As the years went by, I upgraded to a fake pine garland and added some nativities and candles. Since I flew back to the Midwest for Christmas every year, it didn't matter that there was no tree. My little gas fireplace always looked cozy and with the glow of the multi-colour lights that I had wrapped around the garland, it was very festive.

When I moved in with my roommate, she liked real trees and so we would go pick our tree every Christmas and then spend hours in Walmart picking out decorations. That was always fun. I love the smell of a fresh tree, it brings the outside indoors without the inconvenience of mud, ice and, well, the outdoors. I'm not a very outdoorsy person. I don't mind a good hike or a walk but then I'm done. I hate camping. I've really tried to like it. I even went camping with some experts who cooked gourmet food and had all sorts of nifty camping stuff. The company was awesome, the camping was miserable. I hate sleeping outside. I hate that my feet get so cold that nothing warms them. I hate that damp cold that creeps in overnight so when you wake up, you can't escape from it until you crawl outside and practically wrap yourself around the camp fire that the more experienced campers have already set. And though that warms me, I then smell like smoke for the rest of the trip. So, yeah, a real Christmas tree inside my apartment? That's as outdoorsy as I get.

This year, I don't have a real tree. I have my Black Friday Triumph Tree. It's pre-lit so I don't have to worry about wrapping the lights around the branches. I've never been good at that. I've watched other people spend hours and hours individually wrapping each branch with lights. It always looks awesome but during the time the lights are being put on the tree, the would-be decorators eventually lose all hope that they'll get to hang the baubles on the tree at all that day. I was worried my pre-lit tree would be skimpy on lights and I'd have to supplement but after plugging it in, it is beautifully lit with no bare spots.

I hung the ornaments I inherited when I moved. It was a little sad to hang them alone; I remembered picking them with my roommate and choosing the colours carefully. I also hung up my garland that I first bought when I lived alone. My apartment is twinkly and festive and it makes me happy to turn on the lights.

I tried not to be too reflective when I decorated. It has been a tough year, full of loss and change. Christmas is hard that way. While it's full of tidings of comfort and joy, it's also a reminder that life changes, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. The change can be good; I'm still grateful and thrilled that I was able to move so much closer to my family. It's such a treat to drive home and be surrounded by the people that I love, even when we drive each other crazy.

But the change can also be bad. Christmas is a time when the emptiness in our life is a little louder and no matter how many twinkly lights or gift-exchanges you fill it with, it's always there. There's always a gap that can't quite be filled. Christmas is a time when ghosts whisper a little louder, wanting to be remembered and nostalgia grows into something tangible, something that makes your heart break just a little at the most unexpected moments.

Yet Christmas is also the end of the year, a time when all things end, only to begin again. It's a gentle reminder that everything comes full circle. For each year that begins, an ending must follow. It's the in-between part that is tricky. New Years is a time of renewal, of new hope, of resolutions for change. Christmas is a time to reflect and look back. It's a time to celebrate the promise of hope, provided you remember why we have Christmas in the first place. It's a time to spend with loved ones, to honour the spaces that are left unfilled but to not let those gaps overwhelm us.

There's a lot that I miss in my new life. I miss the trip to Target or Home Depot to pick out the tree. I miss laughing and being silly as we decorate the tree. I miss the bickering over whether we should be tasteful (as my roommate preferred) or colourfully tacky (my prefence). We usually compromised and ended up with a pretty cool-looking tree. I'll miss the mini-Christmases I had before I came home for Christmas with my family, the gift exchanges, the laughter, the food. Most of all I'll miss the friends and family I have in California who filled the gap when my own family was too far away and the distance couldn't be bridged with a phone call.

It's been a year full of change, good and bad. It's a year of growing up and realizing that life is too short to waste. Though the new year is still a month away, the inevitable reflection begins in the comfort of 200 multi-coloured lights, blazing away on my $25 pre-lit tree. Though my writing is no further than it was a year ago as far as publishing goes, it's taken leaps and bounds with the subjects I choose and the way in which I write them. The rejection I receive is hard but it's not everything. It depends on how I let it affect me. And so as I lay beneath my Christmas tree and stared up at the lights last night, I decided to enjoy the beauty of life rather than the harshness. The lights, the tree, the snow, the family and the friends, absent and present, all these things make Christmas my favourite time of year.

Happy Tuesday.