Making a Little Christmas Magic

While decking the halls and making the yule tide gay may not have similar meanings as originally intended there are some traditions that have survived, many that have changed, and many that have improved. As far back as I can remember there has been a tree that much I am certain. The tree has always been a pine tree; including several species of pine (Douglas Fir, Blue Spruce, Grand, Noble, etc) as well as appearance of said tree; short, tall, thin, fat, real, or live was a matter of preference. For my family when I was younger it was always a tall noble not too thin, and not too thick (gaps were acceptable). Today not much has changed for my own family; not too tall of a noble, not too thin, and not too thick (gaps are still acceptable). The change is in how the tree is harvested for years it was a tree lot; today in Oregon there are many U-cut lots and so we have started a new tradition in cutting our own tree. Next we move on to the lights; another grand tradition that has been around for as long as I can remember. A Christmas Tree was always covered in as many colored jeweled lights as possible in my earlier years. Lighting the tree always presented a challenge as hours were spent plugging in and trying to find the one bulb that caused the whole strand not to work; this of course was my job that I found exciting, challenging, and rewarding. Today our tree poses with a single color of white lights, and if a strand does not work it is thrown out and a new strand is bought; simplicity. After the lights the younger years showed strands and strands of tinsel in colors of red, green, silver, and gold. Today our tree is bare of such propaganda and poses no such garland. The decorations of years past were bulbs of glass or silk with larger bulbs adorning the bottom; as they ascended up the tree the size of the bulbs shrunk. Today there are but few bulbs on the tree and each ornament is a representation of our family and Christmases past. Finally the star on Christmas past was a spherical pointer that in no way resembled a star. Today our tree gracefully displays a simple five point star on top that is not lit. While the Christmas of years past have not changed much in the way of decorations; it was something I had to learn to accept. I think the hardest thing I had to come to accept was the loss of the tinsel and many colored lights. This was one my dads and therefore one of my favorite things. Our tree was so heavy laden with tinsel our tree could have shown without the lights. When I was first married to my beloved wife I was soon made aware that colored lights were out and tinsel was so 70's that it will never fly in this home. This was hard for me because tinsel and lights had become so much of Christmas that I did not realize what Christmas really was. Christmas is what you make of it for those you love; and this I mistook for tinsel and lights. Christmas to my dad was the happiest time of the year and he shared it with his family with bright lights and brighter tinsel. In many ways I am sure it was a small reflection of his childhood days. Christmas is about giving and taking, sharing and loving. Together with my wife we have created a Christmas that is a reflection of both of our childhoods as well as a reflection of us together. We have created some new traditions and have enjoyed many old traditions as well; we hope one day these will pass on through our children a reflection of us and what Christmas was in our home. I have come to know Christmas is so much more than tinsel and lights; as the true meaning rests in the birth of a humble child. This my father knew well and passed on to his children of which is now my responsibility to pass on to my children. Making Christmas fun helps to bring out the wonderful and true spirit of Christmas of giving and receiving love; taking a page from the one whose life we celebrate every December 25. I look with happiness at my green tree with white lights and no garland because I know that it is not the lights and the tinsel that makes the Christmas; but in the light of the eyes of your children that shines the true meaning.

We Choose Everyday whether or not to Live...

The word "live" reminds me of a conversation I had with my now beautiful wife Tiffany. We stayed up talking for hours on the responsibility of the partnership between a man and a woman. At one point in the conversation it turned to the ultimate show of love between two people; it was suggested that dying for someone has been the pinnacle of love for ages. After much thought on the matter we decided living for someone took more courage and showed more love than even dying. While it takes a lot of courage to die for someone and it does prove an ultimate sacrifice; living can be more difficult and harder to face at times. This became our theme and it was no surprise the "I will live for you" slogan surfaced on her wedding ring. To live is a choice we make every morning when we arise and every evening when we turn in. I now look at dying as not just the end of our physical life, but of our mental as well as our emotional life. Quiting or letting life control you is a means of dying and letting go. How we face life's challenges, whether to pursue or hold back on dreams, and the decisions that influence our lives brings us to the position of where we stand today. Every choice we have made in our life has put us exactly where we are currently. Continuing to make the same choices over and over will put us in an eternal circle which will spiral until we are no longer in control of our character. Shake things up a bit by choosing to live life to its fullest; look for the good life has to offer and reach for it. Take the challenges head on and let them teach and inspire you to improve daily; this will lead you to dream bigger, experience more, and overcome anything. Life is not about being led around and drifting aimlessly like a raft at sea. Life is about creating waves, changing your sails when the wind changes, and causing a little turbulence in your life. Life was meant to be experienced; it was not meant to be endured. Make a choice, decide where you want to go and find a way to do it. When given a choice between living and dying I choose to live every time...

If I could eat lunch with one

As I reflect on this subject I wonder how I could possibly fit just one person into my life that has more and means more to me than any other that I would consider them over another. The worldly side of me chooses the usual people I think most would want to invite; famous people and people with power such as Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, Brad Paisley, Bill Gates, the President, etc. Then of course there is the religious side of me that chooses people such as the savior, prophets past and present, etc. While all of these are great ideas and would make for some great (and interesting) conversation I don't think I would follow this generalized pattern (even if Jessica Alba would have lunch with me). Some of the greatest people I know I am related to and some have even passed on; it is within this group I would make my choice. My dad passed away 10 years ago this December; I have missed him and his guidance tremendously and lunch with him would be both wonderful and welcomed. My mother lives over 800 miles away and lunch with her would be pleasant and delightful. My brothers are always fun to be around and make for a great time. My sisters are sweet and the company couldn't be better. With all of these choices however I must choose one and every time I am given a choice I choose my wonderful, beautiful wife. I know I get to go out with her all the time and I am with her everyday. We even have a special day (Thursday) we go out on a date once a week. She is my eternal companion who I love and who I want to be with forever. She completes me and my life and I put her above all others. Given a choice I will choose her always; this doesn't mean I would not love an opportunity to have lunch with the aforementioned people it just means if I have but one choice I choose her in my life every time.

Moderately Heavy to Comfortably Full

I guess you could take the word full and run with it in several areas such as full of @!#$#, or full tank of gas, no longer hungry, the house is full, and on and on and on... I would like to change the direction of full and compare it to our lives. When we come to this earth we have nothing and we are empty and ready to take on and experience everything life has to offer. As we grow we learn to walk, talk, read, etc. and this adds to our experience or our fullness. When we become teenagers we feel we are full and know all we need and send us out to the world; by the time we get into the world we realize we haven't even scratched the surface. In fact the older we get we realize the more we have been running on empty and how much we must catch up to try to fill our experiences. We work more, read more, play more, learn more, and still we can't fill up our fullness. This is life; we can not fill up our fullness nor can we expect to run out of things to learn and experience, otherwise we would shrivel up and become raisins. Most people that retire I believe leave this life early because they stopped trying to fill their fullness meter and gave up on life and its experiences. We must understand and know that we will never fill our fullness meter as its capacity rises as we learn; if we choose not to learn it drops along with our knowledge. We must be engaged in continuous learning and growing; we must press forward with a desire to gain all life has to offer. Did you know people can not take experiences and knowledge from you? Grab life by the horns, take control of your destiny, find the happiness along the way that will continually push your fullness meter up. In life you may get tired, you may get tied up, you can even get fed up, but you will never truly be full...

These are a few of my favorite... uh... Sounds?

When I was a child one of my favorite sounds was putting a sea shell to my ear and listening to the ocean; I guess not much has changed I still love the sound of the ocean however I prefer the live version versus the prerecorded Sunny (Sony) Seashell method. As I have grown I discovered many wonderful noises; the outdoors, a coyote howling in the distance (not as cute when it's right outside your trailer), the sound of a river even if it's a babbling brook, crunching snow underneath your feet, the wonderful sound of a fishing reel as a fish is pulling line out.... Okay put anything outdoors and I am in listening heaven. Sounds I enjoy on a daily basis are closer to home and bring more meaning to my heart; when I come home from work and my kids come screaming "daddy" and grab my leg, and even better still when my children tell me they love me. The sound of my beautiful wife's voice makes me calm and always brings a smile to my face; brings truth to the lyrics "there is beauty all around when there's love at home". There is no happier sound then peace at home and in the heart; you can not beat the calmness of the heart and the quiet solitude of love. Whether we hear sounds, or whether we live in a world of silence; peace is an amazing sound that stirs the soul. Two people that brought peace in my life will always be an influence to me; I still love to hear my mother say "Chaddy how are you doing pal"? and I will miss how my dad would call me "Chaddy Buck". I do know that sounds are connected to feelings and when a sound has true meaning we feel it deep within us and we are not just hearing we are experiencing.... this crazy, wonderful, emotional, absolutely amazing life.

Nicholas Handle AKA Nicknames

There sure are a lot of names out there that do not belong to people or that did not originally start out with the person they are now attached. Have you also noticed a nickname that is okay for one person to call you may not be appropriate for others. For example my dad called me chaddy buck and sometimes just buck; now my friends called me buck and that was acceptable, however when a cute girl called me chaddy buck I didn't think that was cool because I figured she was treating me as a little kid. My mother called me several names and I am sure more that I never heard. Chaddy is one of her most used; and then of course there is dear and precious all those manly names you grow up with. I have been called chaddy waddy doodle all the day, cheddar, the chad, little foot (long story), hewy, pumpkin bum (my sweet wife), and several other just as embarrassing names my wife can come up with. Her current favorite is idiot. I like a dog will answer to pretty much any of them, it pretty much just depends on the tone of the voice calling me. Of course if there weren't any nicknames I don't think most of us would be called anything at all.

Delighted, Delectable, and Delicious

You say the word delight and I think of the song "Dixieland Delight" by Alabama, or the new delight sauce by Papa Murphy's (Delicious). Of course delight is to be happy or surprisingly pleased. It almost sounds as if delighted is a word that was created by a wealthy land owner that did not want to commune with the commoner and created his own vocabulary to prove he was better. However it came about it has stuck through the years and I am sure we will see a lot more of it. When I think of delighted I think not of a person who is happy, but of someone who was expecting to be disappointed and by some stroke of luck was "delighted" by the outcome. I don't know if I have ever been delighted by that definition except perhaps by a movie I didn't want to watch and by some force of hand watched it and was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying it. I think to be delighted is to always find yourself surprised to experience happiness; perhaps instead of being delighted we can find ourselves deliriously happy and always expecting to find happiness. Then again perhaps being delighted is always finding everything to be pleasing and I am just delighted to have finished this post.