year in review

I am doing this same meme (questionnaire thingy) that 'Rain did on her blog. Fun stuff. (jessica smirks)

• What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? put our house for sale
• Did anyone close to you give birth? no
• Did anyone close to you die? not really (close, not someone close, that is...)
• What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? sell our house
• What was your biggest failure of the year? realized too late that some (big and important) things were not as i thought they were
  
• Where did most of your money go? house renos

Compared to this time last year:

• Are you happier or sadder? happier
• Thinner or fatter? thinner, thanks to manual labor!
• Richer or poorer? poorer

• What do you wish you’d done more of? communicating with loved ones
• What do you wish you’d done less of? stupid assbook, ahem, i mean facebook
• What was the best book you read? (still in progress) but Dune, by Frank Herbert (its also a movie, maybe i will watch it sometime)
  
• What was your favorite film of this year? can honestly say that i wouldn't be able to tell you the name of a new movie from this year
• What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? selling our house and moving
  
• Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. you can't trust very many people to be true to their word. a phrase like "my word is my bond" is indeed a rarity these days.

a different christmas

It is a weird Christmas this year. Its the first year in many that we didn't send Christmas cards. The first year in many that we haven't gotten gifts for the people we always buy gifts for. The first year that we have no real Christmas festivities to attend.

But that's not what Christmas really is anyway. Yes, one aspect of Christmas is spending time with family and loved ones. However, just because you aren't physically in the same place doesn't mean you are not together in a sense, in each others' hearts and minds. And Christmas isn't really about gifts and cards...

Its obvious to me what Christmas is about, remembering Jesus' birth. Sometimes though, the obvious is still a struggle to see, to accept as real. What I am trying to get at is this: somehow I am feeling that its not really Christmas because I'm not doing any of the traditional Christmas things. But how much of those traditions are not really Jesus-loving practices anyway?

I won't go far down the whole consumerism path, but not buying useless junk for people isn't such a bad thing. I do have lots of baked goods in my freezer, so those who I see over the holidays will get that from me. Something I made, something that can be enjoyed, but something that doesn't add clutter or work to someone's life. (okay, maybe some work in terms of working off the calories!)

I am accepting that Christmas can be exactly what this year is for me, a quiet holiday alone with the ONE person who I would share Christmas with no matter what, by choice! Hubby and I will start our own family traditions!

no real surprises here...

I just read a friend's blog and did this personality test. Thanks 'Rain!
well, honestly, I didn't perceive myself to be so "judging"... hehe

But for a lot of the answers, the ideal choice would have been:

• “sometimes both, it all depends on the circumstances!

on my mind

If I'm not careful, this entry could get a little wonky, I mean who really wants to go too deep into my mind! But there are a lot of things on my mind lately.
There are the typical household worries, like income and being able to pay for the bills. There are employment worries, like whether or not I can afford to be off for 4 weeks... (maybe with the assistance of EI). There's the whole house selling thing, waiting as patiently as possible for the buyer to come along!
And after all that starts the thought pattern of relationships, current, past, and future. The thoughts of my interpersonal skills, and where things have gone wrong in the past. And then there's knowing that I must pick up the phone and make a certain call.
Here comes the daydreaming now, all the scenarios (good and bad) that I can think of play in my mind. Some in vivid detail others not. And dreaming at night, typical extensions of the day time fantasy land.
Yep, lots on my mind. It could be worse, and I'm not getting down over any of it.