Day 48, 100 Happy Days: Jesus Shaves Mug

Jesus saves, aaaand...

Jesus shaves. Boom.

I belong to this really amazing woman's meet-up group. It's a very active group (sometimes several meet-ups a week), yet I only manage to get to a couple a year. But every time I go I get a warm welcome from ladies I know as well as ones that I hadn't met yet.

Tonight was the 5th Annual Procrastinators Xmas Party and White Elephant Gift Exchange. It's always a good time. I gotta tell you, I love me a white elephant gift exchange!

A couple of years ago I scored a sweet programmable slow cooker at a white elephant.  Tonight I came ever so close to getting a beautiful ceramic sushi set, but alas, it was stolen from me. As was the Duck Dynasty doll, the glass brick with white lights in it, the tea-for-one teapot with mug and tiny bottles of booze and... I don't even remember what else. It seems like I was up there every 10 minutes opening a new gift (there were more than 30 of us).

In the end, I nabbed this super cool Jesus Saves (money)/Shaves mug. YES. Pour hot water in, and the beard disappears. Does it even get more awesome than that? (Well, ceramic sushi set...)
I must say a few people wanted to steal my Jesus Shaves  mug, but I gave them the pathetic trembling lower lip, and they felt sorry for poor little old me who kept getting her gifts stolen. Bwahahahaaaa...

Day 29, 100 Happy Days: Handmade Card in the Mail

It seems a rare thing to get holiday cards in the mail anymore. I got three this year: one was mailed
alone, one came in a box with gifts, and one showed up today.

In all fairness to the sender (providing she hoped it would be here by Christmas), the envelope was postmarked December 18th (today is the 29th).
Two pieces of mail turned up outside my door today (instead of my mailbox), so my guess is a neighbor has been sitting on it for week or so.

But it matters not! Even if it had been mailed late it would have been fine - it made my day! I was delighted to get not only a card, but a beautiful hand made card at that.  And it says "joy"!

Happy happy, joy joy.  :)

Day 22, 100 Happy Days: Love Actually

To be honest, I really didn't want to have my happy thing come from a movie, but... that's just the way it turned out... I watched Love Actually, and it was what made me the happiest today.

I love this movie! I don't know how many times I've seen it - it's just one of those movies I like to watch around the holidays.

Even though I know the stories well, the movie never fails to make me happy.

There are the big stories where someone takes great risks for love are great: the Prime Minister going door to door to find his love; the boy who runs through the airport to say goodbye to his love; and the writer who learns another language to propose to the woman he's never really spoken to, but has fallen in love with.

Grand romance, indeed.

But even the stories that didn't work out so well are about love: the woman who looses the man she's in love with because she won't set boundaries with her mentally ill brother. And the man who falls in love with his best friend's bride. The message in both of those stories is that there is value simply in loving. Love can be bumpy and doesn't always work out the way you want - romantic or otherwise. But it's always there if you look for it.

That makes me very happy. And hopeful for humankind.

My Favorite Scrooge

My favorite version of "A Christmas Carol" is from 1951 and stars Alastair Sim as old Ebenezer Scrooge. This is the version I'd scour the TV Guide for every year and stay up late to watch. Usually around midnight on Christmas Eve, if I'm remembering correctly. (Of course that could just be my memory playing tricks on me. Wouldn't midnight on Christmas Eve be the perfect time to watch this movie?

There are different versions of the story that I like for different reasons, but this one is my favorite  because of the ending. No other ending has made me quite as happy as this one. Alastair Sim is delightful as the "post spirits" Scrooge. He laughs like a mad man, dances like a fool, and scares the hell out of his maid. He sings as his eyes are opened to a new day: "I don't know anything, I never did know anything. But now I know that I don't know..." You can't help but love the guy.


Here is the ending to the movie. It's 12 minutes, but it's worth it. It'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

Feliz Navidad!

Even after singing in a band, I still think that making music is magical. Especially when it's in a band. And no, it's not magic; it's hard work and lots of practice. But when it all comes together it feels like magic. It's co-creating at it's best.

My wish for you is that you have a magical and musical holiday season and new year.

Feliz Navidad!

The Spirit of the Season

Every Sunday I wake up and check PostSecret.com for the latest batch of secrets that people have sent in. I don't know if it's the voyuer in me that likes to read other people's secrets, or just knowing that I'm not alone in my particular quirkiness. Once in a while the secrets make me feel really good about myself (kind of like watching the Jerry Springer show), and there are times like this when they just make me feel good about humanity.

Here are my two favorite secrets of this week (first one is a 2-parter):

 

My second fave is not the secret itself, but the responses to it: