Annnnnnnnnnd...then it was December



http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/best-christmas-light-displays/ 

Shunned for acting just a bit nutty, Dominic Luberto started decorating his gigantic single-family home in Boston back in 2006. He has to get an early start, usually in October, in order to get all $10,000 worth of lights up in time for his holiday party.



His neighbors don’t necessarily enjoy the early display, but Luberto has been quoted as saying that he only wants to add beauty to life and enjoys the happy gazes of children as they pass by his monstrous creation. It may not be the biggest Christmas light display on earth, but it was definitely created with love.



I used to mock people who said they didn’t have time to blog.  I thought they were just lazy or maybe that they were suffering a serious case of writer’s block. I even thought that perhaps they just decided surfing pinterest was a better way to blow time. Then, I became a person who doesn’t have time to blog and now I am issuing a public apology to all the previous non bloggers for my harsh judgments.  It really DOES happen, this lack of time to blog, and in short: that sucks!

I’m ttttthhhiiiiiisssss close to bidding the fall of 2012 semester adieu and with the passing of time I encounter my standard bittersweet feeling.  I learned that graduate level classes really mean nothing except twice the reading and twice the papers. I also learned that the people are so stinking nice in class that it’s almost sad to say good-bye.  When I was 18, people were SOOOO not that nice in class.

I know that The Hubs had a fabulous time at the cabin hunting over Thanksgiving, but I don’t know if I had a fabulous time being solo on the holiday.  I sat down next to my eldest brother to eat dinner and said to him, “You know, I waited my whole life to grow up and get married so I wouldn’t be the single girl at the dinner table hitching rides home with her cousins.  Look at me now, I’m married, I still hitched a ride here with my cousin and a ride home with a different cousin, and I am the single girl at the dinner table!”  I’m so glad he was able to uphold a family tradition, but he was sorely missed not only by me but by so many family members who care so much about him that they have made it clear they are Team D.  I don’t know if I have any Team A’s left?

I LOVE Christmastime – I think everyone is extra kind to each other and I go all gooey on the inside for the music, the decorations, the lights (OMG THE LIGHTS!!!), the good cheer and the joy.  I wish every year I had more money than I do, not for gift giving but for random acts of kindness. I wish I could be the person that leaves the waitress a 20 dollar tip on a 10 dollar bill or the person who can select a family in need from the community tree to provide for.  Maybe someday, but for now I am a few pennies away from being a family name on that tree! Instead I try to spread joy and kindness and smiles and lots of “Happy Holidays!” Words just don’t do this time of year justice, it simply is something one must feel, and feel it I shall!

I haven’t stretched my fingers much this semester, and I know that means people from far away don’t get many updates. I’m going to try to be better about it, I swear!  I do promise everyone will get a Christmas card, which has got to count for something.  J We will be incognito December 20-30 while I set sail to have the time of my life with some of my favorite people.  I can’t wait.  I also can’t believe how darn lucky I am to live this blessed life full of so much love.