No Resolution

I finally got my present for winning Novel Writing Month.  I really wanted a Wesley Crushers t-shirt.

I have never liked making resolutions, but as I planner I do enjoy setting practical goals for the New Year.  For 2012 my goal was simple-

Have surgery and feel better.

I am happy to say that the goal was achieved.  I had my surgery in August of 2012 and now that I no longer have an ovary and tube wrapped around my intestine I feel much better and I am no longer having terrible bouts of stomach issues. 

For 2013 I decided to set several fun goals.

-Complete the second draft of my 2009 Nano novel The Dream Artist- Starting this year I will be participating in a Writers of YA/middle grade fiction critique group so they will be keeping me accountable and ensuring that I complete this goal.

-Continue to Practice Knitting- I am hoping that practice makes perfect because thus far I am a pretty terrible knitter.

-Get Canning- One of my Christmas gifts was a book on small batch canning (Food in Jars) and I am looking forward to preserving some yummy things.

-Make Mozzarella Cheese- I have already successfully made my own ricotta cheese (super easy) and now I’d like to move on to something a smidge more challenging so I am going to attempt homemade mozzarella.

-Feed my new Dr. Who obsession- I only started getting into The Doctor starting with the 11^th/current Doctor (season 5).  I plan on spending time going back and watching the seasons containing the 9^th and 10^th Doctors this year.  It is a truly awesome show if you are nerdy, geeky, creative, or a lover of witty British things I highly recommend Dr. Who (on BBC America).

As you can see I didn’t make any goals regarding adopting because since we are still unsure how that is going to go I hold that goal lightly and feel that I am more open to whatever God wants to do in our lives whether it involves us being parents or not.  I did give my rheumatologist the information on writing my medical letter.  My doctor seemed quite enthusiastic about completing it but I think with all of the holiday stuff and end of the year stuff it may have gotten put aside.  I am hoping that a friendly and pleasant reminding phone call at the end of this week will cause the letter to be ready for pick up by the end of next week.

Tradition

I am intrigued by traditions.  I’m always interested in learning how they start, how they perpetuate, how they morph and how they die away or are replaced by new traditions.  Holidays are a particularly fun time to start new traditions or to cherish the old ones that have continued sometimes for generations.

Our first Christmas together as a married couple filled me with both excitement and a small degree of sadness.  My parents had sold the house I grew up in and I knew that year I would never again pull into my driveway to see the hand painted wooden manger scene on the front lawn or the tree glowing in the same window it had always stood throughout my entire life thus far.  The ceramic nativity my mom had hand painted years ago had crumbled into disuse and although I inherited my mom’s ceramic house display, there was nowhere in our small apartment to display them. That year I packed up a box of ornaments from my former home and brought them to my new home to be hung on my newlywed Christmas tree.

That first year my husband and I decided that we preferred a real tree to an artificial one.  We were living in Pitman at the time and there was a little tree lot not too far from our apartment complex.  It seemed as good a place as any to pick up a tree and since it was close by we wouldn’t have to spend too much time driving with a tree strapped to the roof of our tiny Toyota Corolla.  After the always difficult task of selecting the perfect tree we decided we needed some sustenance before completing the next task of setting said tree up in our living room.  There was a Chinese restaurant close to the tree lot so for convenience sake we stopped there, had dinner and then went home to enjoy our very first Christmas tree as a married couple.  The next year we did the same.

The first Christmas after we moved from our apartment into our house (not near Pitman) we stared at each other blankly trying to figure out where we were going to get our tree now. We finally decided that since we were so comfortable with that little tree lot near our now former apartment we would take the drive there, purchase our tree and stop for Chinese food and so a tradition was born. Although we don’t reside near that particular Christmas tree lot we return each year, pick out our tree and reward ourselves with some yummy dinner afterward.  It is something we both look forward to and Christmas wouldn’t seem the same now if we did anything else, though like all traditions I am sure this too has the potential to morph, die away and/or be replaced by something new in the future.

We arrive at the lot.

So many trees.  They always look smaller at the lot and bigger in the house.

We found it! Our 2012 tree.

The tree gets a trim.

The Element makes driving the tree around a piece of cake.

Time to eat!

I have pad thai.

2012 Christmas Tree is complete.

Not only does Emma insist on hanging out under the tree, she insists on hanging out under the tree skirt.