Happy New Year!

Wow....WOW

This is the first New Year's Eve since I've been a teenager that I'm not melancholy and wistful and regretful and fearful about the old year and the new.

Why has my life always revolved around have the perfect, ideal man - just having a man? I guess that's due to the fairy tales we girls are raised on. "Your Prince Charming is out there!"

Bleh.

I waited for Prince Charming and he turned out to be an ugly toad in disguise. And every New Year's Eve I wished and hoped the new year would magically turn him into a prince. But he only became more hideous.

And then *poof* he was gone. And I was sad. Because I thought he was the one and only frog. But once I realized it was a good thing he was gone, I thought instantly the REAL Prince Charming would come galloping up on his white steed.

But.....the real Prince Charming apparently had issues of his own and could not be found.

So, to make a long story short, this princess is FINALLY and happily content - truly content - to know her self-worth does not involve having a Prince Charming in her life to make her happy.

Now I celebrate the old with no regrets and look joyfully into the New Year and thankful for the road behind and the one that's ahead. No fear, no doubt, no sadness!

Praying you will have a regret-free and hopeful 2010 as well!

Mourning my Coffee Pot

Is it wrong to mourn an inanimate object? Yesterday, Emily, in all her 14-year-old carelessness, flung my coffee pot away from the wall, trying to access the microwave. I heard a crash and gasped to see my little 6-cup decanter from Gevalia strewn across the kitchen floor in millions of pieces!

It's not that big of a deal. I can probably run up to Walgreen's and get a replacement. But that coffee pot has been around 15 years and has made me many a fine cup of coffee! Since the ex didn't drink coffee, it was the perfect size for me. I could get just about 2-1/2 mugs from it.

That coffee pot saw me through major changes in my relationship with God - through many good conversations with Him and some deep, revelatory Bible studies. That coffee pot has been around since the early moments when I saw my marriage fall apart and subsequent years where I tried valiantly and failed not-so-valiantly to save my marriage. That coffee pot has seen me through laughter, tears, hundreds of journal entries, hours on the phone, hours spent online, chatting with friends or emailing, comforting times in the sunroom, watching the rain, or the snow. That coffee pot has been around for all the holidays over the years and since my girls were very small!

*sniff*

Thank you for sharing this time of mourning with me. Thankfully I still have my big coffee pot to fall back on!

An Orange in Your Stocking

I'm trying to be healthy amidst the holiday banquets, Christmas cookies, and extra decadent treats that appear this time of year. As I ate my egg substitute breakfast and peeled the orange to go with it, I reflected on Christmases of my early years. Mom used to always put an orange in our stocking, along with the standard pack of gum, pair of socks, and other trinkets.

I could never understand the point of the orange. Why is it a gift when I can walk into the kitchen and take one out of the fruit basket any time I please? Mom explained that when she was a child, an orange was a rare thing and considered to be a big treat when found in a stocking on Christmas morn.

Following tradition, I pack my own children's (and nieces' and nephew's) stockings with the standard package of gum, pair of socks, and other trinkets. It's not surprising to see my girls politely smile at the package of gum and wonder why it's there when they can have gum any time they choose. I explain to them that growing up in a household of five children and one income, a WHOLE package of gum to ourselves was indeed a treat to us!

It makes me wonder what items will be found in the Christmas stockings of my grandchildren someday. Will they look to their mothers and ask, "Why is this here?" and listen as their moms explain that when they were a child, it was a rare treat indeed.

Wishing you and yours a very blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!