In The Spirit of Christmas

I love music this time of year, Christmas music. The classics really do it for me. I have Mary J. Blige and Kelly Clarkson Christmas CD’s that I’ve been listening to in my car. They never fail to put me in the Christmas spirit. My favorites are “The Christmas Song”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, “My Favorite Things” ( from The Sound Of Music, my favorite musical), “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “Noche De Paz”(Silent Night sung as a Spanish duet between Mary J. Blige and Marc Antony).  I sing along during my morning commute and after work, they tend to soothe and restore my soul.

I’m sitting here experiencing really good aches & pains from my yoga class the night before. There’s soreness in my ribs when I turn suddenly or laugh too hard, my shoulders and arms ache from an especially effective heart opening asana involving a band, and a delicious mild stiffness in my thighs and calves from our warrior poses! If any of you recall, I’ve been sick and then depressed so I’ve missed about two weeks of classes. Last night’s class was like coming home to myself. It was strenuous, a little painful, very emotional and absolutely beautiful. I can’t believe I stayed away so long or that I tried to talk myself out of  going.

I’m feeling pretty accomplished too as I delivered a crockpot chili dinner with cornbread to a friend tonight as part of my “Bali-fund” fundraising endeavors! I have a co-worker that ordered one from me for next week after I told her about putting the chili together in the crockpot before work this morning. Plus I managed to whip up Spaghetti for Baby Bub and me for our own dinner. She called me earlier when I was at work to tell me she stirred the chili for me and expressed an interest in making cookies. She had a hankering for oatmeal cookies without the raisins. I told her to call Auntie Chelle (my sister) for a recipe because she has a good one. I texted her the phone number because Baby Bub is 20 years old and never keeps track of family phone numbers beyond her parents and brothers. Lo, and behold she did call her Auntie and got the recipe. She just finished baking them and now the house smells like a delicious amalgam of chili, spaghetti, and cookies! She was chatting and asking me a bazillion questions on how to do things, which is what she does when she has a recipe, but I am nearby. Or she calls me on the phone a bazillion times when I’m not.

I’m looking forward to Christmas day because I’ll get to see and spend time with all three of my children! Not all of them in the same place at the same time, though, let’s not get crazy. I’ll get up and out early to visit my two best friends’ houses for coffee and to give them some of my French Toast Bakes made especially for Christmas morning. Then it’s back home to watch the Miami Heat hopefully beat the New Orleans Pelicans in their 9:00 am NBA Christmas kick-off game. At some point, Baby Bub will wake up on her own or from my normal screaming and hollering during a Miami Heat game. My middle child, Ahbuh is here from Northern California, but not staying with us, so he will mosey on over some time before 11:00 am when we leave for Pasadena to see the grandbabies, my daughter-in-love and my oldest son, Charles. Baby Bub has her own plans and will not be joining us for the trip up there. Now that my children are grown up, I’ll take my family however I can get them.

In the spirit of Christmas, I want to tell you how grateful I am for the healthy, meaningful connections I am blessed with in my life. Music connects me to fond memories and uplifting emotion. My spiritual practices and programs connect me to God, myself and others in such a profound way when I am fully present. Most importantly I am grateful for the connections to my family of origin, my family of the heart and my worldwide human family. In the spirit of Christmas, I acknowledge how this blog has connected me with myself and hopefully extends out to you all who so graciously share in my journey by reading it. Merry Christmas and I love you all.