This Magic Moment

 You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment...

-Henry David Thoreau

Why is it that as we get older we start to dread birthdays?  Certain milestone birthdays are especially intimidating....40, 50, 60.  I put some of the blame on greeting card companies and their ilk.  The "Over the Hill" birthday cards, fun grim reaper party balloons, and these

It doesn't help when I stop to consider that there are so many people who, at my age accomplished far more than myself. 

While I still don't own anything purple and I'm not yelling at kids to get off my lawn (yet), there are days when I definitely feel my age.  I do find consolation in the fact that I'm not as old as Barbie and the Edsel.

There are times I relish the idea that I'm getting to the point that I'm old enough to say exactly what's on my mind and not care (much) what anyone else thinks.  The last thing I want to do is become a cliche, though, and I feel I'm dangerously close to that precipice.  This book is now on my wish list and I keep this website close for what our culture likes to call "senior moments".  And it's nice to know that the NYTimes has my back.

There are blogs out there that take ownership of the subject of aging:  How Not to Act Old and Crabby Old Fart.  And Margaret and Helen are my new heroines.

I think we dread birthdays as we age because of past regrets and anxiety about the future.  One way to change this is to start living in the now.  Be mindful of the moment you're in, and stop focusing on the thoughts, negative or otherwise, that come and go.  Easier said than done.

There is a term that Buddhists use to describe the constant hum that goes on in your head.  It is, and I'm not making this up, "monkey mind".  I can't think of a better way to describe what is going on in my brain at any given moment.

Psychology Today had a great article a couple of years ago called "The Art of Now:  Six Steps to Living in the Moment" which is sort of a beginner's guide to mindfulness.

The six steps are, in a nutshell

• Unselfconsciousness- getting out of your own head and being part of what's going on around you
  
• Savoring- appreciating the moment...stop flitting around between past and future
  
• Breathe- something you can do anywhere, anytime to bring you back to being present in the moment
  
• Flow- focusing your attention on a task so as to not even notice the passage of time
  
• Acceptance- a non-judgmental way of looking at emotions
  
• Engagement- not assuming you know everything about the moment you're presently in 

So, this is my resolution for my new year...to be more mindful about the present, and to try and tame my monkey mind.

Now, where did I put my...um, what do you call them?  Oh, yeah, car keys.

(thanks again, John and Ann!)

I'll Be Looking at the Moon, But I'll Be Seeing You

 I will honour Christmas in my heart, 
and try to keep it all the year.

I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.

The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.

I will not shut out the lessons they teach.

-Ebeneezer Scrooge

             

Because of several unfortunate incidents, including, but not limited to: the sunburn incident, the shingles incident, and the great thumb incident of aught-nine, and because Christmas waits for no (wo)man, something had to give this year.

So was it the cookies that got the boot? The Raspberry Shortbread Cookies, Dulce de Leche Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies or the Lemon Meringue Filled Ginger Snap cookies? Inconceivable! (They were awesome!)

Was it the Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread Cake or Meyer Lemon-Cranberry Bundt Cake? Not a chance.

The tourtiere? Nope (more on that later.)

It was Christmas cards that took the hit this year. No cheerful notecard with photos depicting our wondrous life in the Bay Area. No newsy newsletter. Not even the random talking squirrel Ecard (there was the occasional dancing elf card, but that's another story.)

I'm not sure I've ever missed a year of sending at least some cards...even when I had the perfectly legitimate excuse of two small children, or the Hanukkah Eve Wind Storm of 2006 that caused a power outage lasting over a week in below freezing temperatures, when I had to write cards with numb fingers by candlelight.

I fear my omission of the annual card writing only succeeded in offending the Ghost of Christmas Past.

I then had the audacity to provoke the Ghost of Christmas Present by making a short unexpected trip to the east coast two weeks before Christmas. I nearly lost three toes and a finger in the sub-zero weather, and I lost all my gelt in a rousing game of dreidel...so much fun-akkah!

So, to avoid triggering the three-strike rule by goading the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, I offer this appeasement: "Ode to the Christmas Ornament".

The history of the Christmas tree and ornament is actually pretty interesting. The first ornaments were fruits and nuts. Way back when, German families hung shaped gingerbread cookies on their tree as ornaments. I used to do that, too, until the year we were awoken in the middle of the night by mice jumping into the tree to eat the cookies. I don't do that any more.

I started collecting gold-covered brass ornaments- the kind you can buy at tacky souvenir shops- about 13 years ago when we drove from Boston to San Francisco.  And believe you me, there are plenty of tacky gift shops between here and there.  Because I don't live at 30 Rockefeller Plaza I can't display all of these ornaments on our tree, so for now I stick to the more conventional ornaments.

Other than that, our tree is pretty traditional.  Except I don't use tinsel...I find tinsel distracting :)

So, without further ado I give you my peace offering to the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.  Here they are, in no particular order:

The year we got engaged

1982: Our first Christmas together

Yosemite

Washington:
Hurricane Ridge ornament,
Space Needle ornament,
Ornament made with the ash of Mount St. Helens,
Ornament from the Stanley Family Reunion 1990


Tijuana


Taiwan


Skiing


No Christmas tree is complete without a Simpsons ornament...
...ours has two!

San Leandro


Poky Little Puppy (complete with diamond earrings)


Oakham and Barre


New Orleans


New England:
Wellfleet,
Faneuil Hall in Boston,
Longfellow's Wayside Inn and Grist Mill,
Kennebunkport, ME
Gold dipped leaves from Walden Pond


Victoria, BC ornament,
Ornament made of olive wood from Bethlehem (Walnut Bowl Factory Store in Lebanon, MO)
Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Pescadero, CA
San Diego golf ball,
Two ornaments from Leavenworth, WA


Issaquah, WA


Handmade by me


Handmade by someone else


From the kids


Disneyland 2000, 2001, 2002


Curious George in NYC, 2001


Ornaments of accomplishment:
Emerson
UC Berkeley


Bodega Bay, Monterey, Placerville


Officially the Oldest Ornament on the Tree, circa 1976
(from somewhere in Southern California)


Berkeley 2000
Lawrence Hall of Science

And finally, the quirkiest ornament on our tree:
Liberace from Las Vegas

Hope your Yule Log is burning bright tonight!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!