pyewacketsworld

As I write this it is now the 10th day of January 2009. I just came across a remark in a discussion group forum where they didn’t see the New Year’s Eve or Day as anything special and treated it as any other day. I have to admit I was a bit aghast at this. So many of my on-line friends have had, well, lets put it this way, a horrendous year in 2008. Many were caught up in the economic crunch, some lost jobs, had money problems, health problems, friends and family passing one. One of my on-line friends had one of those “disaster” years in 2008, when it seemed one thing was happening right after another, after another, like a snowball effect. Is it any wonder she was glad to see the year go. I know where she was coming from, as 2006, was my winner year, and breathed a sigh of relief when it came to an end.

To me the New Year is special. On January 1st of any year, one wakes up to 365 brand new days, days where one can start one’s life again…a brand new era of one’s life, a new journal of possibilities…to further set one’s goals that one wants to accomplish and perhaps make them more ironclad then the previous year. Despite the hardships many of my on-line friends may have had last year, and the hardships people in general may have had, 2008 was a relatively calm year for me, but then if I could survive what I went through in 2006, any year would seem mild and tame. I really do look forward to each New Year filled with bright new promise of moving my life in the direction I’m longing to follow. I look at each new year to accomplish the goals I may not have done in the previous year. Oh, yes, I look at each new year in a wonderfully positive way. Is New Year’s Day special? I most definitely think so.

©2008~Melanie Neer aka pyewacket

Everyone I think has one Christmas that really stands out as being a memorable one.  Mine happened last year, in 2007 and it showed me how loving, caring and generous people can be, especially people that one may never meet in their lifetime.

I happen to belong to a discussion forum called MyLot, I had only joined up in early 2007.  I quickly became good friends with many of the folks there and it proved to be a great place to share ideas, tell of one’s joys, sorrows, concerns, fears and on and on.  Then Christmas was coming up but it was beginning to look like a dismal one for me.  You see in all my years I’ve never, ever been without a Christmas tree, but the way my finances were at the time, it looked impossible for me to get a real tree.  So I even started a discussion, “Have You Ever Wanted Something….And..”   It was sort of a rant of how this just didn’t look like it was going to be a good Christmas for me since I wouldn’t be able to afford a tree.

Well, my goodness, I never in my wildest dreams expect what was to happen.  One of my friends there who had my private email wrote me and asked me for my address.  I kind of scratched my head wondering why, as she lived in England while here I was in America.  A few days pass, and I scanned my emails and got one from a company I never heard of before.  It was from a Christmas Tree farm in North Carolina, informing me that I was to soon expect a delivery of a tree by UPS by an  anonymous person as a gift to me.  I put the two together and realized that this friend from England had “rounded” up some fellow other MyLotter friends of mine and all chipped in to get me that tree!

On Friday, December 11th, sure enough, the UPS truck was outside and rang my bell and the delivery man handed over a gigantic package….it was the tree!  I was to call my tree the “Love Tree” as it was given to me by people I would probably never meet, and they got it for me out of the true kindness and generosity of their hearts.  I was never to learn who the other people were that were involved with this magical offer and to this day, whoever they were still refuse to claim any “honors”….yes, I knew who the one person was involved but not the rest.

With all the gloom, doom and negativity that we are exposed to everyday via the news, the hardships and so forth, this wonderful offer restored faith in me of the generous nature people can demonstrate.

My “Love Tree” ironically lasted the longest I’ve ever had a tree and was still fresh even until well into the month of February, when I finally took it down.  A sad day indeed for me, but I have pictures of that tree, and even now, as I write this, I have two photos of it near my computer.

Here’s just one of the many photos I took.

I shall return to my blog entries about my cats, but I thought I’d take a time out and share how my Christmas was with you all.

As I write this, it’s now December 26th, the day after Christmas, and while some people are happy that the crazy franticness is all done and over with, I’m not.  In fact, when it comes to the whole Christmas thing, I’m like a little kid and look forward to it each and every year.  I’m not big on the fanatical shopping thing for presents to give to people, since I do crafts and make many of my gifts that I give to people, from my teddy bears that I make up to even Native American beaded styled earrings.  So in one way that lets me off the hook. Besides in these economic times many of us had to downsize our gift buying habits and perhaps buy only simple little tokens of love and appreciation.

One of my pet peeves however about Christmas is how the whole season is crammed down our throats and it seems earlier and earlier each year.  I remember as a young girl, the official Christmas season didn’t start until the day after Thanksgiving, but as many of you have come to realize, this isn’t the case anymore.  In fact, one can often find Christmas items for sale alongside items set for Halloween.  Even Christmas carols are pumped in the stores as early as the first week of November when we haven’t even had the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving yet!  My goodness  I’m just not ready for it all that early.

It isn’t until the first week of December, that I make the Christmas season come alive.  I start transforming my apartment into a Santa’s dream of a workshop, filling my entire apartment with decorations.  The last two things I do, usually around the 14th of December is get my real Christmas tree.  Now, yes, many may wonder and I’ve often been chided by people, who ask me, for an environmentalist, why do you get a real tree?  Well I have a philosophy about that.  There are so many trees cut down for Christmas anyway, my viewpoint is, is that I take a tree home, give it love and “save” it from just being trashed if it isn’t sold.  Besides, nothing beats that delightful smell of a real tree, and my two current cats, Pyewacket and Kissy just love snoozing under the real tree, as if it were their own private forest.

The very last thing I decorate it the door itself…and  go all out and takes me about two to three hours to do.  I’ve done my door decorating for so long I’ve actually forgotten how long I’ve done this tradition, but it must be at least thirty years.  What I do it make my door to look like a gigantic gift…I cover the door with gift wrapping paper, add red velveteen strips to make it look like gift ribbon, add a gigantic red velveteen bow, then add more ornaments, plus a Christmas wreath.  I now have “competition” to boot.  For years only I decorated my door this way, but now, my next door neighbors have copied my idea and do the same thing each year.

For years now, I broke with tradition on how and what I serve for the Christmas dinner.  I used to prepare a Turkey dinner, with apple/raisin/walnut/celery stuffing, Brussels sprouts and carrots in an orange glaze, and for dessert usually my Cranberry Pudding Cake.  But now I gave up on that fussing and have opted to make one of the very first French meals ever, that being my “famous” Beouf Bourguinonne dinner.  For those not familiar with what that is, think of it as a glorified Beef Stew, but so much better.  One first sautés minced garlic, chopped onions and cubes of beef meat.  Then turn the heat off, pour Brandy over it, ignite it, and spoon the mixture until the flames go out.  Then comes the fun part…the wine!  I add  a full bottle of red wine, then add sliced up carrots and mushrooms and let it all simmer for two to three hours.  I then thicken it up with cornstarch, and while the meal simmers some more I cook up Couscous as I just love serving the Beouf Bourguinonne dinner with it.  It’s truly an elegant and fancy tasting meal, but without as much fussing as a full blown Turkey dinner.  What could be easier?

While some people are glad when Christmas is over, I keep “celebrating” the mood well into the month of January and often don’t even take down my tree or ornaments until even February.  Since I’m usually so busy writing articles, reviews, and so forth, I don’t have the time to watch the Christmas specials that are on, so it usually isn’t until after Christmas that I squeeze in some time and watch the movies I’ve taped over the years.  There was one great snag with this, this year however, as my VCR completely died.  I’m hoping to wing getting a new one soon though and make up for lost time, as I literally have hundreds of Christmas specials and shows I’ve taped over a span of twenty years or so.

This was the second Christmas however, being completely alone as I have no family close by now.  My mother passed away during 2006, so my only “family” now  is me and my two cats.  However, I didn’t feel lonely, so don’t feel bad for me.  Truth be told, my mother’s health conditions were so bad her last few years of life, it was almost like living alone anyway.

In my next entry, I plan to write about the best Christmas I ever had… a real special one that made me realize the true love people can give out during this time of year.

I include one of my studio photos I took some years ago on a Christmas theme