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I’ve been reading other people’s blogs this morning about New Year’s resolutions. Most of them go something like this: “Another year has passed, blah blah blah… this year I’ll lose 20 pounds blah blah blah…”
Then I came across something fresh and funny: one blogger’s resolutions from 1978.
My New Year's Resolutions, Age 11 1. Do more serious astronomy. 2. Cut more grass = Buy more records. 3. Build a pulley system in the fort. 4. Develop a network of hiding places. 5. Learn 6502. 6. Run more. 7. Hit some home runs! 8. Study the Aztec and Olmec civilizations. 9. Take black and white pictures of everybody. 10. Write down funny things that happen.
December 31, 1978 10:32PM --Raul G.
Now those are some resolutions!
Thinking back, my resolutions at age 11 probably had something to do with writing more letters to NASA; convincing my parents to let me get my ears pierced; and getting contact lenses instead of the glasses that were broken or bent every other week in soccer practice.
What exciting times those were! Resolutions were all about doing more, discovering things, building things – not quitting this or that bad habit.
Sure, I had a few bad habits back then, but I was 11! Having a messy room and skipping violin practice were rites of passage, not things to put on my list of resolutions. The world looked very big to me then -- wide open with possibility.
This year, I’m going to write my resolutions like I did when I was a kid, when I knew that anything was possible. I'm going to think in terms of what I'd like to do, not stop doing.
I’d like to write more, play outside more, spend more time with friends, build a few great websites, help the children, fall in love, get my book published…
I’m home! Oh, how I loved spending Christmas in New York City this year – the lights, the excitement, the fabulous restaurants, the white-knuckle taxicab rides… It was wonderful to share holiday cheer with old friends and new ones, and of course, family.
The return home (to Boston) took about four hours, and on the way I glanced from the highway to the mega-malls that dot the East Coast. I was surprised that their parking lots were not nearly as full as I had expected. This is, after all, the day of many happy returns.
In my family, we make a lot of our gifts so returning them is out of the question! But, according to the National Retail Federation, across the country about one in three people will return at least some portion of the Christmas gifts they receive. I imagine that if I were to return a gift (to a brick-and-mortar store on online), I’d take the time while shopping to pick up a few extra goodies. So for retailers today is a big day. What is bigger than ever is the latest hot trend in giving: gift cards.
Earlier I wrote about our family’s holiday gift drawing… I “drew” my youngest brother’s name and had plenty of time to pick out the perfect gift. So what did I get him? Nope, I didn’t make him a sweater or even a scarf. I’d made a few gifts for other siblings, and for this brother I know he’s into “Xbox” so I bought him a gift card (it’s hard to crochet something that you can play on an Xbox). And what did I receive? A gift card! It turns out, as amazing as my family is we are not unique in the gift card trend; according to the Chicago Tribune: “Consumers are expected to spend a total of $24.81 billion on gift cards this holiday season, up from $18.48 billion last year, a remarkable 34 percent spike. Stores got ready for the surge in traffic by bringing in new merchandise, to make stores look fresh, and stepping up the promotions.” Yippee! I’ve got three cards here, to three of my favorite places: Starbucks, Joann.com, and my favorite store of all, Target.
Maybe gift cards are the answer to avoiding returns. There’s another point of etiquette to consider at the holidays, too. What to do when you receive a gift but haven’t given one? The answer is: flowers. What better way to say "thank you" and Happy New Year all at once than with a bouquet?
I love my family. I love every minute with them. The happiest return of all is returning home.
Right about now you are either (a) receiving all the fabulous gifts that you ordered online for friends and family; or (b) just starting to make your list.
Yikes. I’m in the middle. Sometime in October I found a bunch of great items – good bargains, too – online and ordered them. Those arrived at my home early; they have been wrapped, and are in the mail to my family who is 3,000 miles away. If our pals at FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service don’t drink too much eggnog, everything will be where it’s supposed to be on time.
But then, there are the stragglers… the gifts I’ve been meaning to finish making for a month: beaded jewelry, handmade organic soap, even a few vintage baubles from eBay that I had hoped to dip in the silver polish by now. Each day, I think, “Well, I could finish them up today and mail them and they’ll get there on time…” then, “OK, I could always pay a little extra and mail them Priority…” Now it’s down to this: either I pay a pretty penny to ship them via overnight delivery or a couple of folks on my list are getting their gifts in January.
Our family is so big (I have more than two dozen nieces and nephews) that sometimes I think the January gifts are actually kind of a treat. When I was a kid, the gifts for my all my brothers and sisters and I filled our living room. I have a picture of my youngest brother, when he was just a tyke, sitting in the middle of about a hundred presents! We had no idea, as children, what it took for our parents to provide that kind of Christmas for us. Even with Santa’s help, it was quite astonishing. We didn’t realize what our parents had gone without (they went on one vacation alone during 40 years, and that was by car) for us to have that special day every year.
In all the rush of opening presents, I always wanted to save a few gifts for the next day. This caused no end of frustration (I would have “more” gifts after everyone else had opened theirs). I wanted to stretch out the gifts and keep a little something to look forward to.
So maybe the people on my list who will get their gifts after December 25th will enjoy the late-arriving packages. At least, that’s what I tell myself.
Well, I’ve got to run to the post office. I just now finished my Christmas cards!
On this day, December 11th, in 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the Nobel Lecture at the University of Oslo. This was just one day after his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35. King, a leader in the civil rights movement, advocated peace all of his life. His “I Have a Dream” speech is known around the world as a vision of what could be. Today, as I sit watching the news of all the strife in the world, and wrapping Christmas gifts for my dozen siblings, it occurs to me that there is so much more to this season than finding the perfect gift. And so this Monday I share with you these words, much more profound than anything I could write.
From MLK’s Nobel Lecture, 42 years ago today:
“Let me close by saying that I have the personal faith that mankind will somehow rise up to the occasion and give new directions to an age drifting rapidly to its doom. In spite of the tensions and uncertainties of this period something profoundly meaningful is taking place. Old systems of exploitation and oppression are passing away, and out of the womb of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. Doors of opportunity are gradually being opened to those at the bottom of society. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are developing a new sense of 'some-bodiness' and carving a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of despair. 'The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.' Here and there an individual or group dares to love, and rises to the majestic heights of moral maturity. So in a real sense this is a great time to be alive.”
I work at home. My family lives 3,000 miles away. I volunteer for a children’s charity. No, this is not the beginning of a pathetic personal ad; this is a short list explaining why I go to the local post office almost every day of the week.
It helps that the post office is about a mile from where I live, and I don’t have a car, so there’s the exercise factor: a quick stroll over and back and I feel a bit less guilty about quitting my Pilates class.
I know from experience that the best time to go to the post office is early in the morning. We’re talking 7:00 a.m., when the go-getters are already at work and the students (I live in a college town) are still fast asleep. Problem is, I’m usually fast asleep then, too. So I go in the afternoon, and almost every trip makes my head spin.
I don’t mind the guy in front of me mailing 30 boxes (every one of them requiring insurance)… he’s obviously making a living on eBay and I respect that – though I would cringe if I knew that my eBay purchase came from someone who looked like he hadn’t showered in two years. I don’t mind the girl who asks to borrow my pen; I guess it never occurred to her to put the addresses on her holiday cards before she got in line at the post office. The crying kids in strollers are actually not that bad – I’d be crying too if my mother dragged me to this place and handed me a bunch of Cheerios to try to keep me quiet.
What I do mind – and people, “mind” is putting it mildly – are the line creepers. These are the folks who think that inching up on the person in front of them will actually make the line move more quickly. The guy who slides his box along the countertop every five seconds; the woman who gets so close to me that I can feel her breath on the back of my neck… the girl on a cell phone who is so clueless that she fails to notice that NO I have not moved forward and yes, she is stepping on the back of my shoes. Sometimes I like to mess with these people: I’ll lean forward as if I were going to take a step ahead in line, then lean back. I’ll let the person ahead of me take a few steps forward, but I’ll stand still (this makes the line creepers go crazy!). Inevitably, an anxious person behind me will ask, “Are you in line?” No, I’m standing here waiting for my packages to teleport themselves to California. “Yes, I’m line. Why do you ask?” This week I received a cute little card from the U.S. Postal Service. It included a list of “Dates to Remember” to get my holiday packages to their destinations on time. Thanks, I had forgotten that every December 25th for the past 2,000 years is the day the gifts need to be under the tree.
I love mailing gifts to my mom and (most of) my big family. But before next year, to save time in the post office, I might just move home. Until next time,
The weather is, actually, pretty darned delightful. I’ve just come back from a stroll to the local health food store, and I have to admit that my hat and scarf were probably a bit over the top.
The weatherman says that snow is on the way to New England. Certainly the Midwest has been hit hard during the past week, and I suppose it’s only a matter of time until we get ours. I’ve been stocking up for a cold week but so far it’s clear as a bell outside.
Every year, there are “winter warnings” from the local newscasters to stay up and stay with them for the weather report. Why? I mean, all I have to do is walk downstairs, open the door, and there it is: the weather. As a friend of mine says during awkward moments, “’Lot of weather we’ve been having lately…”
(We used to say “How about those Red Sox?” but that’s been a little touchy lately.)
I am originally from sunny, beautiful California. How I ended up on the chilly East Coast is a long story. The thing is it’s never a real surprise that winter will indeed arrive, in its own time, and that we need to prepare.
What never ceases to delight me is when my family in California calls to tell me how COLD it is: 60 degrees! Whoo hooh! Hey, I’ve been stuck to the seats at football games when the temps are 10 degrees below zero with the wind chill factor. (Oh, that’s right, most people out west think that “wind chill factor” means you might need to wear a cardigan.)
I’m ready for the cold. Out here, all that means is that I’ve paid my heating bill and only time and nature will tell what’s ahead.
If you long for the snow, you probably ski. That’s good news for you because you can save up to 60% at Snowshack. I have tried skiing, and I think it is one of the most glorious and expensive ways in the world to spend time. Whether on the slopes or walking around “the square” (that’s what we call neighborhoods out east) I want to look like an Italian movie star so I make sure to bring the proper shades.
One of these days (soon), I'll move back to a sunnier climate. Until then, stay up, stay warm, and stay with me.
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