Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 - 6:16 p.m.
After I cooked breakfast this Sunday morning, I sat down to read through the local paper and the advertisements. Our eldest, who turns 16 over the Christmas holiday, made nut bread with a recipe from his paternal grandmother, and then he put up our looks-real-but-doesn�t-smell-real tree, checked the lights, and did perfunctory decorating with same, waiting for his younger brother to return home from some shopping with Hubby before they both put on garlands and baubles � I noticed that when our eldest called his grandmother for the oven temperature, which she had forgotten to include, he checked himself en route to accusatory wording and saved the question rather nicely. He also refrained from bossing our youngest around while they were decorating the tree. Woo hoo! Could it be that our eldest is truly transitioning into adulthood? A third aspect that I appreciated was that our eldest cleaned up the cooking utensils while the nut bread was cooking � (a) he did it; (b) he did it in a timely manner.
Our youngest later called the Mother in Law to check on the amount of nuts to be used � she divides into 2 smaller pans, and had forgotten to annotate to double the nuts for a full batch into 1 larger pan. While on the phone, which was on speaker for Hubby and our eldest to also participate, the MiL just couldn�t help herself from mentioning that Hubby�s younger brother abhors Hubby and me carrying concealed weapons. This, of course, in the aftershock of the Connecticut shooting on Friday, just 2 short days ago. The reality is that if anyone in the vicinity of the shooter had been a concealed carrier there is less likelihood that the shooter would have killed so many innocent people � the shooting spree by a madman in a Colorado shopping mall the previous week was curtailed by a concealed carrier. Things are often counter-intuitive to what a lot of people believe these days. The fact is that individuals with mental health issues need to be treated, forcibly if need be � the idea that they can all be mainstreamed into society successfully is just utter rot.
As for our country, I�d like to have a third political party that is viable, and won�t have votes it needs pulled by either the Democrats or the Republicans. I would call the party something like, the Constitution Party. I have always been an Independent, as my hubby, but we always called ourselves Republicans because we believe in fiscal responsibility. The problem is, the Republicans have spent as much as the Democrats the past few presidencies. I am also sick and tired of the far right element in the Republican party citing abortion and gay rights � let it go! There�s supposed to be a separation of church and state, and you cannot police other people. Besides which, for me, I would never judge another woman on her right to choose what she does with her own body. Nor do I judge gay individuals, who are the way God made them. This whole hypocrisy from so-called Christians is the very reason I don�t go to church. AND I�m sick of monies being raised to help those in other countries when we have people in this country who need our help first � charity begins at home! There are so many military veterans who need help, to start with.
The national theme of the many able relying on the few motivated is reflected in the local scene: When those of us who keep things going with positivity occasionally have a bad day � inevitably a �last straw� situation of dealing with too many horses� bottoms in a row, and then experiencing individuals on whom we count for validation doing the opposite � we are criticized. I did point out the reality of the phenomenon to a colleague, who immediately saw the light � a great epiphany for the local scene! ;-) I recovered from my personal cloud with a couple of days off work (scheduled beforehand) and by reading some of �Dancing the Dream�, which reminded me that every bad thought puts bad energy into the world. The dark season is always hard, especially as yours truly is currently not getting weekly doses of daylight walks; my physical therapist is still investigating a hip issue for me.
Sending love, light and laughter into the world, which always needs positive energy! Wishing you all a happy Hanukah, a merry Christmas and a wonderful Yule!
Paeggan OX
