Lying Fallow

I've not posted in a while.  I'm letting this blog lie fallow for a while.  Every field needs a rest, so I hear from the farmers and gardeners, and crop rotation is healthy.  I'm still writing, in pen-and-paper journals mostly, even more regularly than before, since about November.  Cross-pollination is healthy, too, I hear.  I have a writing buddy, which is the most incredible gift!  Someone who actually goes on writing dates, regularly, and with whom the stretching and learning works in both directions.  So cool!  God is good. 

Christmas was lovely, winter break was relaxing and rejuvenating, New Year's was mellow.  Started back to school today and didn't hate it.  It's been a difficult year -- not the kids;  it's never the kids;  it's all the other bureaucratic bs that makes life and labor hard.  But...I've decided to rediscover the joy in this here job (English teacher joke there).  I'm going to rediscover it (revolutionary thought) by looking for it.  Hmmm.  Could it be that easy?  We shall see.

It's an intensive four weeks to the end of our first semester.  It will be challenging to remain energized, be effective and effectual in my (mountains of) grading, and not lose sight of the joys that exist in this work.  Working on being present in every moment.  Good stuff.  Just thought I'd drop an update in case anyone ever looks at this anymore.  I still read and am nourished by a number of the blogs on my blogroll.  I don't comment much, but some of you bloggers minister to my soul weekly, and I am thankful for you.  (I'm talking to folks like Linda, jo(e), Songbird, Rachelle, MomPriest, Lena, Lomagirl, WhatNow, and so many others.  You ladies rock!) 

Another good one...

..from the RevGalBlogPals:

As posted by Jan at RevGalBlogPals:

"Christmas traditions vary from family to family and from regions afar. I've been pleased that my oldest son's wife AA loves to be with our family for Christmas, though I don't think we do anything out of the ordinary. It helps that DC has one brother and two sisters to liven up our home. Since I finally decorated the Christmas tree and have started baking Christmas cookies, I am thinking of Christmas only being one week away." So for this Friday Five, tell us five things about the traditions in your family.

Think of traditions you always do -- My sister's birthday is on Christmas, and so to prevent the blurring of the two events, we have always held a separate birthday party for her on Christmas Eve. (The date occasionally gets changed when we go out of town for Christmas.) Another Christmas tradition we have begun in the past decade is we, at least every other year, forgo Christmas gifts and go out of town together instead. Thus far we have have chalked up trips to Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Indianapolis (for a mega-family celebration), and this year Mendocino. We can boast that snow has been a tradition on the majority of those excursions. During travel years, we only do stockings; during non-travel years, we have begun giving family experiences instead of things. Before we open gifts or stockings, my dad always reads the Christmas story, but having been a pastor in an earlier stage of his life, he is never content to read just the Luke account or just the Matthew account -- we have to read the whole thing. My sister and I used to roll our eyes at it, but it would be wrong somehow, so wrong, to skip it.

traditions you always cook or eat -- For my sister's b-day party, we always have the same traditional stew and cheese/potato soup. For Christmas morning, my dad started bringing real live sugarplums to the occasion (thank heavens for the Vermont Country Store!). There is just something about the taste of those things! My own personal traditional food is a stollen purchased either from Trader Joe's or Cost Plus. No one else in my family or household likes it, so I indulge myself.

traditions you would like to start -- I would like to start writing Christmas cards earlier so I can write a real and personalized message of some length to each person to whom I send a card. It's a good thing I'm orthodox and can claim the twelve days of Christmas! (Though we have been known to send Happy New Year cards and Happy Spring newsletters instead.) I'd also like to do more crafts and art with the family, perhaps as gifts to send out the following year. Just a thought.

traditions you would like to discard -- Spending too much money.

anything about your family Christmases -- Sleep in, no rush anymore. (We're all grownups and value our sleep.) Coffee. Puzzles. Food. A Christmas Story on dvd (formerly on vhs). A phone call to the giant family gatherings in Hoosierville. When we're in town, church. (When we're out of town, sometimes church -- though I will never let my parents choose that one again!)

I'm heading out...

...to Mendocino for Christmas! Yay! Looking forward to cooler temps, possible inclement weather, an excuse to use the woodstove and hot tub (and jetted bathtub), fabulous photo treks, time scheduled for doing puzzles and playing board games, time to read and write, eating too many homemade snacks, and a pressure-free Christmas. I wish at least some of those things to each of you, too! Pix when I return.

Someone on the net is talking about doing a Project 52 -- posting on your blog at least once a week. I think maybe I can handle that commitment. (A 365 just seems out of the question right now.) I actually miss writing and reading blogs. It's good that I miss it.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Advent's here...

...and I'm in the mood for the relaxation of vacation. It's not here yet, mind you, but that doesn't prevent me from utter lack of motivation in every other arena of life. Having been sick for nearly four weeks doesn't help, either, but I'm hoping to find my mojo for other stuff, like, oh, grading, church, yoga, writing...anything besides lying around and reading, eating, and sitting slack-jawed staring at tv.

Songbird made me think about Christmas this week with the Friday Five (originally from the RevGalBlogPals): "List five things you won't be doing to prepare for Christmas."

1. I won't be shopping for gifts. This is a travel year. Our family will be staying in a rented house up the Cali coast. Bliss!
2. I won't be inhaling smog or having an eighty-degree Christmas this year.
3. I won't be obsessing over an annual newsletter. I think just a few well-placed Christmas cards will do.
4. I won't be doing a lot of decorating. We'll pull out some items -- candles, tchotchkes, throws, perhaps even lights -- but probably not the tree this year. Since we'll be away for Christmas, and since we've both been sick, it seems too much this year.
5. I won't be abstaining from reading.
[6. Bonus: Having just seen an ad for it, I will not be see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Bleah.]

I will be relaxing, doing things with the family like making Christmas ornaments, playing games and doing puzzles, cooking and baking, and taking walks, and, I hope, sitting a hot tub a lot. Looking forward to it!

Almost-Christmas Eve Bullets

• If you haven't discovered joys of http://www.freerice.com/, let me take this opportunity to recommend it, for both enjoyment and good cause (good cause being learning vocabulary and donating rice to those in need). I'm asking my AP kids to visit it at least thrice over this Christmas break.
• Doing experiential, whole-family gifts is the only way to go for Christmas, as far as I'm concerned! Our family made the decision to do this this year, and it has led to an essentially stress-free season. It forced us to spend less (we enacted a dollar limit), caused us to be creative in our presentation of the gift to the family, and it will increase family together time over the course of this next calendar year! Can't beat that! [For those who are wondering, we had my side of the family's Christmas early -- the 22nd -- so we know what our gifts are. Throughout the year, we will be visiting the Getty, doing a traditional family game night, picnicking in Descanso Gardens to the tunes of the Pasadena Pops Orchestra, boating around the Long Beach Harbor and Naples, and attending a cooking class together.]
• Next year will be no gifts. We're going to the Grand Canyon for Christmas! (We did this for the first time several years ago, in Yosemite. It snowed on Christmas morning. It was a gorgeous trip!)
• My sister was born on Christmas Day (2:30 a.m.) lo these 33 years ago. She was delivered to my mom swaddled in a ginormous red stocking. :-) Many people who learn of her birthday moan and mention how terrible they think having a Christmas birthday would be. Don't you get ripped off? Don't people give you combination gifts? Ever since I can remember, we have always held a Christmas Eve birthday party for her, a completely separate event from Christmas. It has morphed into both birthday and annual see-old-friends party. In years when we travel for Christmas, we hold the event on a different...and so many friends comment how weird Christmas Eve felt with no LittleSis party.
• Fervently praying for young Christian, son of my dentist (who has become at least a little more than an acquaintance). Christian has acute lymphoblastic leukemia, diagnosed over a year and a half ago. He's received two bone marrow transplants. With the first, the cancer recurred. With the second, his body and the donor marrow have not been getting along as well we'd like. The cancer is still gone, but he is suffering a 'multipass' of physical woes -- things no 14-year-old should have to endure. If anyone who reads this is the praying type, your petitions would be most appreciated. If you're interested in knowing more, visit his Caring Bridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/christianbarker.
• Looking forward to visiting with some old and dear friends this Christmas break! One is an old college buddy, another a retired colleague, and possibly a former student. I'm making a Christmas resolution to actually make contact with a couple other friends of yore. Why is it so easy to lurk on blogs and so difficult to make meaningful contact?
• I was forced to pack up my entire classroom (everything into boxes) so the carpet could be replaced over Christmas break. Now, I don't want to sound like an ingrate, because I'm actually thankful for new carpet -- the old stuff was ripping up, stained, and foul -- but doesn't it seem illogical to make me pack up twice in the same school year? Wouldn't it be more efficient to do it during the summer, when the room is already packed? I had to eat into instructional time and have my students help me pack, because there was no physically possible way I could have gotten it done on my own...save staying till 10 p.m. each night for at least a week...which I would have happily done during this Christmas season...when hell froze over...or if they actually paid me overtime for it. (Ha!) Our Key Club kids are coming in one day near the end of break...and so am I {sigh} to unpack everything and get it all back into place. It's that or lose another instructional day. Seems wrong.
• I wish you all a restful Christmas filled with reflection and renewal.