This installment of Advent Adventure deals with celebration - always a good idea in my book. Today is my father's 87th birthday. (We counted up today - it's his 42d year of playing Santa and his 27th doing the "Pilots for Kids" visit [see yesterday's post for details.]) Now, I'd argue that any of that … Continue reading Advent 18 – Birthdays & Unbirthdays
OK - this post is a direct copy from a post I made on my previous blog, Mockingbird's Nest, back in 2012, but it bears repeating tonight. I'm at my childhood home visiting my parents. Dad turns 87 tomorrow and I spent part of tonight watching him play Santa at the World's Very Best BBQ Joint, … Continue reading Advent 17 – Santa
The end of the semester needed concentrated attention from me over the last few days, and I made the right-for-me decision to let posting wait until after those responsibilities had been fulfilled. I kept working on my Advent Adventure during this time so this will be a bit of a catch-up posting. And you know … Continue reading Advent – Catch Up 2!
Advent is, in large part, all about community. While Mary may have kept to herself as she "pondered these things in her heart" (Luke 2:19), she was in the stable at the time, surrounded by a no doubt still-stunned Joseph and a cadre of wild-talking shepherds. People need people. We're a social species. And sometimes, … Continue reading Advent 13 – Community
Here we are on Day 12 of the Advent Adventure. For most everyone I know, it's a busy time of the year that can very easily cross over into Stress Central if you don't take care on that front. Seriously, this is the time of the year when you just HAVE to replenish your own … Continue reading Advent 12 – Share!
Woof! Here it is at the end of the semester and - to use a Southernism I heard recently - I'm busier than a moth in a mitten! Which means that I didn't do as well today as I would have liked - in fact, I need to double up on my "Reverse Advent Calendar" … Continue reading Advent 11 – Use Your Own Yardstick!
This was an especially nice idea - I'm thinking of it as "stealth kindness." I think that sometimes we get a little wrapped up in wanting to be "caught" being nice - you see it in some charity pictures (mission trips, soup kitchens, and so on) where people pose with the folks they're helping out. … Continue reading Advent 10 – Stealth Kindness
In the spirit of "progress, not perfection," I've missed the last few days of this blog. The combination of the end of the semester (madness, I tell you!) and an out-of-town visit to do some Grown-Up Stuff will have that effect and I'm rather proud of myself for not getting all "tore out of frame," … Continue reading Advent – Catch Up!
I've written before about the pervasive need to be kind to yourself in stressful situations, in part to avoid behaving in a way that demands that you sheepishly apologize the following day. Well, some days are easier than others and, since the idea behind Advent Adventure is to live in the so-called Real World, I … Continue reading Advent 6 – When the Hard Days Come
After the first several days of this "Advent Adventure," I thought it might be easier if I returned to a variation of bullet journaling to quickly check in on my daily goals. I settled on nine categories (side note: to my Celtic forebears, nine is a mystical, powerful number, seeing as it's made up of … Continue reading Advent 5 – Be Positive, Not Perfect