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Stay on Task
After being down with a cold for 2.5 days, I’m frustrated with the little amount of crafting, sewing, growing I’ve done. Of course, any energy I have has to be focused on getting the December issue complete and put to bed (deadline 2 days early due to the holiday.)
I do have one quilt half-quilted, another quilt top of pieces half cut out, and the material for a third quit washed and pressed for measuring.
But not much progress has been made the last three days. Needing to accomplish something while I lay miserable in bed, I started filling out and addressing my Christmas cards. I made it about half way through the list.
I also researched new themes and layouts for the TLL web site, and ordered the new theme today. It’s a “responsive” layout, which will automatically adjust depending on the size screen the viewer is using. (Phone, tablet, laptop, desktop.) I was tempted to activate the theme today, but did not have faith in the process happening without a glitch or two, and I didn’t have the time to get sidetracked by glitches.
My goal is to have it up and running with the new “mobile friendly” design by Monday morning.
In the meantime, in spite of the cold, I am on schedule with the December issue (knock on wood) and should make the deadline without too much pressure. I’ve missed contact with a few crucial clients (think first day of deer season), but other than that, we should be right on track.
Those quilts keep calling my name, but Christmas creating will just have to wait.
Let Your Heart Be Light
 Originally part of the ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ movie soundtrack, the song, ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas†is the second most performed Christmas carol in the nation. It has been rewritten three times, with the original version never being recorded.    The original was drafted for a scene in the movie in which Judy Garland sings on Christmas Eve, to cheer up the character who plays her little sister, when faced with the fact that they will be moving, and leaving their home, their friends, everything they know. The first version, however, was not cheerful at all, with lines like: ”Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last,†and Garland refused to sing it. The version released with the movie, then included both sadness and hope.
  (The ‘cheery’ version of the song that most of us know what released by Frank Sinatra, in 1957, who thought the movie version was still a little depressing for his Christmas Album, “A Jolly Christmas.†It was this version that removed the sadness, and hung the “shining star upon the highest bough.â€)
  It is listed below as recorded by James Taylor in 2001, with the lyrics based on the movie’s version.
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Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
In a year our troubles will be out of sight
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   Go Ahead. Allow yourself to enjoy the holiday. Let your heart be light! For one day, set aside your worries, knowing they too shall pass.
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Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
In a year our troubles will be miles away
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   Go Ahead. Celebrate! Be happy this season! Problems you face today could be forgotten a year from now.
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Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Precious friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
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  Remember the good times of past, and come together to share time during the season, to make more memories.
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I know that in a year we all
will be together if the Fates allow
Until then, we’ll just have to muddle through somehow
And have ourselves a merry little Christmas now.
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   The future is uncertain, and we all have to just do the best we can, and part of that is celebrating the holiday, and making good memories no matter what our current troubles are.
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   Go Ahead.
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    It’s Christmas.
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    Let your heart be light.
I’m Dreaming of a Red Clay Mud Christmas. NOT.
I remember one time, when I was about 11 years old, in a winter when snow had consistently been covering the ground for days, and during the evening, a crisp and thick dusting of fresh snow fell late in the evening covering the world again in white.
About the time “preparation for bed time†usually began, my mother asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. Perhaps I remember so well because I didn’t understand then the reason for this interruption in our routine.
But, once properly bundled and venturing outside, I noticed that the dusting of new snow that had fallen was the chrystalline type of snow that sparkled in the light, and because of the weather, no footprints or car tracks had yet marred the blanket of sparkling crystals that had covered our suburbian neighborhood.
Each step caused the brilliance reflected from the street lights to shine and sparkle in other directions, the night so clear and quiet that made it seem that the whole world was frozen in a diamond-faceted encasing – like the stars from the sky had, for a moment, mirrors on the ground.
As a young child, I realized then, that the rarely seen shimmering of this special snow was the reason for the change in our routine. This rarely seen beauty was important, and it was important to take time out to witness and appreciate it. The experience made such an impression that I remember it vividly — over 30 years later.
It doesn’t seem like snow stays on the ground as long as it used to. I don’t recall many times since when the world sparkled as it did that night. In fact, I remember the winters of my youth as mostly white and clean. But, since I moved away from the world of paved driveways, roads and sidewalks, these seemingly milder winters now seem to be The Seasons of Mud.
I hate mud.
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