God Bless Us, Every One!

This is a really fun post! Lisa asked me if I had my "jingles on" with some instructions regarding how to keep the search for early signs of Christmas going. I would like to ask Lisa M. if she has her jingles on. (I know she does because I have seen 'crafty' evidence of it on her site.)

So, just how Christmasy am I feeling??? I hope everyone that reads this post gets as much pleasure in reading it as I did in writing it.

Where should I begin? At the beginning, I suppose. Have you ever read this book?

Have you seen this movie?
This is one of my favorite all time books and not just because it was written by my favorite author. Now, I know literary scholars do not fail to point up the fact that Dickens wrote during a time when writers were paid by the word and not by the substance of their content. However, that does not mean that Dickens did not have something important to say. He did and I understand it. As he says in the preface to this book, "I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea..". In my family, this book and this movie rate a cult following. I must admit that I read this book several times throughout the year. (It is short!) I never know when I will take a notion to watch this movie. I might decide to watch it in the middle of summer. I may watch it tonight! The reason being, Christmas is a feeling that lives in one's heart. Christmas is giving something of yourself to someone else that needs it. In a nutshell, Christmas is giving to others not because it is expected of you but because you want to. It can happen at anytime! That is the beauty and the magic of it.

Here is the funniest part...I keep some elements of Christmas out all year! Sometimes I just like to look at them, appreciate them and be reminded that Christmas is a feeling in a person's heart.
(And maybe to remind me that I should be ever watchful regarding the generosity of my giving to others less fortunate.) Plus, I love snow people! Every one of these little trinkets mean something special to me. See the little kitten on the left holding the bunny? My niece, Andrea gave me that for Christmas when she was so small she could barely toddle over to hand it to me; just knee-high to a grasshopper as they say. Its a small thing but I LOVE IT. It has meaning behind it. Therefore, it is in my "perpetual Christmas parade" that resides on my armoire 365 days of the year! Now, just how Christmasy will things get around here? That is a touchy situation which begs an explanation. I really appreciate other homes decorations. I love to go driving just to appreciate them. I would love to decorate my own house in true "Griswold" fashion but there have been many, shall we say, 'issues' with this in the past. For example, scrutinize the top of this music box...see what I mean?

A tiny thing like that can mean a major surgery for one of my furry children. (Disaster almost struck once with the tassle off of a bookmarker.) Therefore, I have to be very cautious as to what I can put out, when and where. I have a very small tree that can fit in the closet because it cannot be out when I am not at home. If I left it out...well, I shudder to think of the repercussions. Okay, enough of those scarey thoughts!

Again in my family, all grown-up Andrea started a family tradition called "The Ugly Sweater Contest". Anyone who wants to participate gets herself a sweater or sweatshirt and decorates it as gaudily as they wish in a Christmas theme. If one can get music on their sweater, they will likely be the winner! I say 'gets herself' a sweater because to date we have not had any men-folk participants. Hmmm...can't understand why, really. ;)

I would like to leave you friends with these wonderful words regarding Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, "...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!" ~Charles Dickens


PS. Remember it lives in your heart. Yeah, you.