The Spirit of the Season ...?

So I walked in to the school office to sign in for volunteering this morning, and noticed one of those photo Christmas cards taped up on the cabinet for the faculty. Under the photograph of the happy couple, the card had printed:

Wishing you keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Merry Christmas.

I was inspired, touched, by this sentiment of good will offered by my kids' school principal and her husband during this season commemorating of the birth of our Savior, bless their hearts. I realized that my typical Holiday greetings are severely lacking in warmth and meaning. Things like, "may you and your family find peace and happiness," or, "wishing you all the joy of the season," just sound trite and old fashioned.

I have a lot to do today to help my mother and get ready for my brother-in-law to arrive, but I'm setting those things aside for the moment to brain storm for a better tag line for our annual family Christmas letter. How about:

Let us all remember that the secret of success is sincerity.
Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.
Happy Holidays!

OR:

If this special time of year gives you lemons,
but does not also give you water and sugar,
you're going to have some crappy Christmas lemonade.
Ho Ho Ho!

OR:

If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you even tried.
Mele Kilikimaka!

But I think I may go with:

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares?
He'll be a mile away and shoeless.
Joyeux Noel!

I don't know. Do any of you have any ideas? Maybe I need to go find my good old book of Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. Nothing says Feliz Navidad like SNL snark.

On A Certain Lack of Maturity

I think I must need to grow up a little. Maybe God knows that, and is giving me ample opportunity.

I feel like I am in a holding pattern. One I've been in pretty continually for nearly two years. I am waiting. Waiting for life to change so that I can rejoin it. I realize how maladaptive that behavior is.

The thought occurred to me in February that perhaps there was some degree of relief experienced by Job once he'd really lost everything. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," right? But if I'm being honest with myself, to identify with Job would be to imply that I possess some measure of patience. I do not.

Nor am I disciplined enough to make myself behave properly, even though. Many nights I fall asleep thinking, "This is ridiculous, Mina. You have got to pull yourself together and just work tomorrow. You'll feel better." I sit weekly in silent prayer through the Sacrament promising myself and God that I will do better this week. But I don't. Because I feel complete impotence. Changing my attitude will not materially change our struggles. That's a hard reality for me at the moment and I don't care to face it. It's easier to check out.

It reminds me of my early motherhood years which I spent waiting for life to settle down. Things improved only once I accepted the fact that life doesn't really do that. So intellectually, I'm there. Pining away for something different serves no purpose. Shutting down accomplishes nothing. Life is what it is, and I, and everyone around me, will be better off with a functional, happy person living it. Practically, however, I am a toddler, squeezing shut my eyelids to avoid the drops. (That reference is for you, Mom.) I'd rather wait to open my eyes once the infection is gone.

"Grow up," He tells me, "grow up."

Political Blatherings

So for all of my political junkie friends, check out my other gig (which we really haven't done so well at keeping up with) for some of what has been bouncing around in my brain this week. I didn't post it here, because the last time I went all political few folks seemed to care. Of course, I had a more regular audience due to regular posting back then ...

Anyway, click and enjoy. Or not.