Monday Moanings - December 21, 2015

Make We Merry?

It's raining. It's gloomy outside my door. My arthritic hands are groaning in protest against this winter-less Christmas season. I am going to have to get out and push my own Christmas Spirit wagon today. Its engine of self-propulsion seems to have bogged down.

The decorations are two-thirds done.


The gift wrapping is one-third done.


The cleaning is one-third done.













But the Christmas baking is all done!

So on this dreary day, let's add it all up:

2/3 decorations + 1/3 gift wrapping + 1/3 cleaning + 1/1 baking = 2-1/3

(And that's how math works this week!)

Now if anyone asks if  I'm ready for Christmas I can say, 

"You bet! I'm more than double ready."

Banish the doldrums. It's time to be merry.

Be safe my friends.
Let's all be home for Christmas.

©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - December 7, 2015

I'm not just at the bottom of Christmas mountain, I feel like I'm buried somewhere underneath it!


Not a single cookie has been baked, but there is Christmas fruitcake maturing in a cool dark place. Not a single bauble or trinket hangs in the house, but there is a creche flanked by an Advent wreath and menorah, and St. Nicholas parked outside.

And my orthodox icons keep watch over me from the bookshelf above my laptop.

Perhaps it's not as awful as it feels on this foggy morning. The basics are in place. There will be food, family and love when the big day comes whether all the ornaments are in place or not; whether there is snow or not. Christmas will come.

So while I actually do something about the baking and decorating today, instead of just fretting and whining, here are some images from past years.

December 11, 2014

December 6, 2011

©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - December 1, 2014

The view from the Bottom of Christmas Mountain

Kotor, Montenegro

It may be the top of the first week of a new month, but from my wagon the ride ahead looks steep and long, and anything but even. I'm rocking back and forth way down at the bottom of Christmas mountain. A 24 day climb lies ahead and it zigzags through all kinds of  hurdles: cookies to be baked, presents to be bought, decorations to be hauled out and put up, menu plans, food shopping and cleaning, lots and lots of cleaning.

The Christmas Magician in me is cringing just thinking about the number of feats of prestidigitation required to reach the top - pulling Yuletide out of my ordinary, everyday hat is no small thing. Good thing I have years of experience behind me to bolster my confidence. What I don't have on this Monday is the energy, but I do have a wagonload of apathy with which to begin the week.

Why bother?
December 25 is just another day, isn't it?
It's just another family feast, isn't it?
It's just another holiday hijacked by the Big Box Stores, isn't it?



In the chilly early light of today my answer is a long whiny yes. But not to worry - this seasoned Wizard of Yule knows just how to turn a frown upside down. A little rest, some fragrant soothing tea with just a smackerel of something sweet, and lots and lots of great music can always coax even the most reluctant of Christmas spirits out of my woolly and tattered hat.

Catch up with you later - I'm off to find my wand. I bet it's in the kitchen...

(If you yearn, as I do, for a moment of quiet along the mad dash to Christmas, a place away from all the hype and hurry, check out my daily Reflections for Advent 2014 blog. I post a little soothing something every day.)

©2014 April Hoeller