...holiday crumbs...

There are holiday crumbs in the couch, on the floor, around the kitchen, even on the walls of the condo.

Not real "crumbs", more like the random detritus of the holidays. Christmas and holiday cards, ornaments, packing materials from boxes in the mail, empty holiday plates, and of course the twinkling lights along the indoor-plant 'christmas tree' and the mantle.

So today I'm cleaning. Time to take down the lights and pack up the holidays that seemed to sneak up on us, ambushed and then flitted away into the night. What day is it anyway? Oh, right... the third of January... 2009!

With cleaning always comes introspection on my part... which is probably why I'm waxing philosophical at the moment. That, and the holidays always tend to bring people out of the woodwork. Those that you've sort of let slip over time and have reunited with for whatever reason that the holidays always seem to spark.

Perhaps its the movie that I received through Netflix this week? I watched "Home for the Holidays" while eating a brunch of sorts. Buy this movie... seriously.

Its my favorite holiday movie. Its not one of those movies like "Miracle on 34th st" or "Its a wonderful Life"... its more of a real 'how life over the holidays' sort of thing. It always makes me want to hug my mom and thank her for raising me. It doesn't sugar coat the holidays, but it does make you feel good about the holidays that you do have.

The special things that make you and the ones you love different are the things that should be treasured.

Who cares if you got what you wanted or if crazy Aunt Jane asked you fifty times if you were done with school or if your Dad has never apologized for anything in his entire life or if you accidentally got your Mom drunk for Christmas. Its the memories that matter!

Life keeps on going and you just have to keep going... even if its not perfect like you think it should be, it is what it is, so make the best of it. Thats my big plan for this year... make the best of whatever happens and just to keep smiling as best I can. There are some things I can change, but there are some that I can't, so I'll do what I do and hope for the best!

I basically work, eat, sleep and play guitar. Not necessarily in that order, but hey... that's the fun part, right? Variety of the when versus the variety of the what.

I guess its one of those easy things to pare down on when you can't afford to drive half-way across the state to hang out nonchalantly with friends.

I'm not complaining... Life's been good for the most part. Sean, my boyfriend who I live with in Boulder, has been busybusybusy and we've just managed to squeeze in actual social activities on all the major holidays including New Year's Eve.

The plus side of his being busy is that he's one of the few people who are thriving monetarily in this whacked-out economy. I'm scraping by bill wise and am very happy that I still have my savings chugging along.

Currently I'm waiting to hear back from Betty on whether or not she wants me to come back to faire sans Madrigals... Dana and Leah quit, Michelle is having her baby in March, Emily wants to start a whole new group, but I'm really burned out on the group thing...

Last year, trying to get all of the girls together for rehearsals (nevermind the antics AT the faire... but we won't get into that... oi.) was much like trying to herd cats. If you can convince one, the others want to do something else, or vise-versa... and the prospect of starting over with people that I don't know? Gives me heartburn just thinking about it.

But I'm getting pretty damned decent on guitar. Sean's recently taught me bar and power-chords. I've been in touch with Gary and Steve Mariner about getting tab or chords for some of the faire songs... Steve promised that he'll get back to me on it.

So, yeah... All things concidered, I think 2009 will be much better than last year... There is a hope in the air that I didn't have last year. Makes me smile a bit... guess I'll just have to wait and see, right?

Happy New Year!

I hope that you and yours have lots of luck, lots of love... and a postive outlook for the future. It is what you make it, so make it a good one!