Holidays Close Out 2012

These last two pages of my 2012 journal happen to tie the year up with both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The holidays often are turbulent for my mind and heart ... my mind thinks I need be disappointed that I don't have that Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving Dinner and that I don't have oodles of family around for Christmas. But my heart knows those things are mostly an illusion painted by movies, television and marketing firms. I try to spread my spirit of "Christmas" and "caring" through out the year, rather than save it up for one month. I feel it's more realistic and certainly what my lifestyle accommodates more comfortably.

But we still have the celebratory Turkey Dinner ... often it's just Roland and Cody and I. This year friends couldn't make it so it was a quite feast of gratitude and acceptance. My aim was to remember how fortunate we are compared to so many families (especially those who'd just experience the Hurricane Sandy). So my journal page is a slice (oh my, pun not intended) of our delicious dinner, prepared mostly by my honey (who loves to cook) while I assisted in things like chopping etc. T'was a peaceful, yummy time.

Now Christmas was also a mental parade. I tried to stay on board with with a surprisingly energetic program Roland invented for seeing several Christmas Parades in the area. Our Jacksonville Parade was sweet, although sporadically spaced. I heard others inquiring if the parade was over several times. But the music was joyful and being out in the chattery crowd stirred "visions of sugar plums dancin' in my head". And that's a good thing. Here, I did my best to replicate one of the bands.

When it's the end of my journal I've taken to choosing a quote and sometimes an image to close out the collection. I try to sum up what I most feel or need at that time in my life ... for this ending ... "The light, always follow the light" was fitting for me. Happy New 2013 is on it's way.