Happy Holiday 2012

I wish you a day of ordinary miracles.

A fresh pot of coffee you didn’t have to make yourself.

An unexpected phone call from an old friend.

Green stoplights on your way to work or shopping.

I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in.

The fastest line at the grocery store.

A good sing-along song on the radio.

Your keys right where you look.

I wish you a day of happiness and perfection –

Little bite-size pieces of perfection that give you a wonderful feeling.

I wish you Peace, Happiness and Joy.

 

Judith

New Year’s Wish for 2012

As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss, and cold hands touch and warm each other against the year ahead, may I wish you not the biggest and best of life but the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.

Sometime during the New Year, to keep your heart in practice, may you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.  May you find a little island of time to read that book and write that letter, and to visit that friend.

May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it yourself.  May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when they win the lottery.  May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst puns win admiring groans.  May all those who told you so, refrain from saying “I told you so.”

May all the predictions you’ve made for your future come true.  May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high school yearbook made for you come true.  In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore before you call the lifeguard.  May you keep at least one ideal that you can pass along to your kids.

For a change, some rainy day when you’re late, may the train be waiting for you.  May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice about you.  If you run into an old school friend, may you both remember each other’s names.  If you are on a diet, may someone say “You’ve lost some weight” without knowing you’re on a diet.

May that long and lonely night be brightened by a telephone call.  When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to  laugh at you or feel sorry for you.  Sometime soon may you be waved at by a friend, smiled at by a stranger, wagged at by a puppy, run to by a child, and counted on by someone you love.

More than this, no one can wish you.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Traditions

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This weekend we had our annual tree-trimming party with all of our friends.  It is a chance for all of us to have some cocktails and nibbles, and to enjoy each other’s company.

It started with just six of us, right after college (i.e. longer than we care to admit), and we have picked up many more friends along the way.  We now numbered thirty and that will no doubt still grow in the coming years.

One of our traditions (in addition to Jessie doing his infamous Bing Crosby imitation) is to exchange tree ornaments so that every year everyone has a brand new-looking tree.  And at the end of the night, I give everyone a popcorn ball to take home.  Not to store-bought kind but the gooey homemade kind.  It’s not the best or most expensive gift we give to our closest friends, but it is one that everyone knows comes from the heart.

This year, I “adopted” five troops serving in Afghanistan.  An email a week seems the least I can do for those half a world away from their families so that we can be safe here at home.  The holiday boxes I sent to them included the same popcorn balls I gave to friends here – a dozen to each instead of just one.  Needless to say, I am now the best friend of those five troops and all of their friends, too.  The warm and fuzzy feeling from the thank you notes will last long into the new year.

Do you have a holiday tradition – new or old – that you would like to share?  Inquiring minds would like to know!