Thursday 13: the Christmas Edition

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas....

.When you read this it will be Christmas Eve. I hope I will be able to drop in here and at some of your blogs over the next couple of days. I wish my heart sisters (and heart brothers) a blessed and grateful and abundant Holiday, where ever you are, whatever you do, with who ever you are with nor not with. Let's continue to hold each other's hands as we have this year.

. Here's a bit of what I've been up to this week:
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1. Look what showed up in my mailbox:

. If you can't read the fine print, the 'it' in question is a Marshmallow Shooter and a Marshmallow Blaster, a 'clever pump-action device that shoots marshmallows (and frozen Brussels sprouts) over 30 feet . It comes with an LED sight that projects a safe beam of red light to help locate a target for accuracy for fast non-stop action.

.I have solid evidence that Ms. Emily Rabbit was aided in this request by one Susan Morgan Rogers, an interesting impish woman who has officially become my friend, but who might have to pay for broken windows because she so inappropriately encouraging and abetting Emily.

2. This is the last of my 2009 Show Us Your Bra Calender. Every year in my town local artists paint, sculpt, and otherwise create bra art and all the proceeds support Breast Cancer Research.

Of course the anything-goes breasts from January through December now bring my heart sister and moon sister Renee to my mind, which is always welcomed, even when I worry .

3. HAHAHA! I made her while sitting at a small kitchen table with my 10 year old client, her mother, and two little boys, 6 and 3. I like them all. It's good when a family plays with clay and/or colors together and what am I going to do but encourage and then join them? Actually it's a great way to talk. I remember Bella Sinclair did a post on doodling and how research has proved that people listen and learn better when you doodle.

4. Honest to God, I think I'm the beneficiary of a true blue heart sister friend. I only have two others--Liz and Heather--and to have another good and kind and intelligent woman I can really truly be my own self with, who also makes me laugh and laughs in tune with me, and actually understands what's going on with me; well, how lucky is that? By the way, we met on the blogs just one year ago, and she has all but carried me back from a hard place. Her name is Lolo and I hope she doesn't mind that I am officially outing her as my dearest friend.

5. Near my mother's house and where I grew up is a specialty store named Russo's. Its specialities are fruit, vegetables, fresh flowers, homemade breads and pastries, plants, cheese, and FRESH! raviolis in three fillings. And the prices are cheap cheap. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the place. I bought some Italian cookies, a holiday bouquet of fresh greens for my Godmother, chocolate, local sausages, Cinnamon bread, apples, pears, did I say chocolate already?

And I bought this tin called Filice. The can said it was a mixture to make stove top old fashion chocolate pudding, but when I got it home and opened it, to my delight it also makes rich awesome hot chocolate. Plus I like the way the tin looks in the kitchen, on top of the Peets' coffee container, and behind the little fish that carry the Splenda.

6. JB writes messages on the back room chalkboard. Sometimes she just writes 'I love you' and sometimes I write back 'me too.' I like to cluster things together, can you tell?

7. I pulled off a really good Holiday weekend. JB and I went back to my Mother's house near Boston, thought more about how to get it ready to rent. We spent a good lunch and shopping around with our niece, took my 93 year old vibrant Godmother out for her choice of Mexican food, I spent some time with a couple of friends I don't see very often.
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I always feel my Father's presence in and around this Cape Cod style six room house he and my Grandfather built with their own hands. This picture of the substantial community of birds that live in my parents' front yard bushes looks darker and more ominous than it did when I took it. Sometimes I wonder if my Father came back right away as a bird or a flower.

8. I planted three paper white bulbs and they're blooming at the perfect time. I know the scent is not the greatest, but I find it so affirming to watch them grow.

9. The newest ornament on the tree: you can't see the glow green glitter than this girl came with.

She cost six dollars: one of those gifts to myself or others that make me feel like I just bought the bargain of the century. I love a good bargain.

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1o. This time of year I am buying groceries like there's no tomorrow. JB and I are cooking four meals for three sets of people over two days. The menu includes:

pineapple cheese and brie with crackers

cheese and meat/shrimp fondue

mixed greens salad

chocolate Christmas tree cakes

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coffee cake

Cinnamon bread

honey dew melon with strawberries

bacon

eggs (only if desired)

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chocolate cream pie

roast beef with roasted potatoes

mashed potatoes

green beans

candied carrots

butternut squash

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repeat breakfast

always coffee

The kitchen counters are jammed with food.

11. These are the hands across from me on a clear Wednesday afternoon, when I drove to Rhode Island to celebrate the holidays with two new and terrific friends. "Ah, they know me and like me anyway," I thought to myself. For some time, I had a friend--I dearly loved her--and we just couldn't get along, so to have easy old-shoe comfortable friendships is quite a blessing for me.

12. Deborah of Midlife Poet made this yummy Christmas ornament. The only reason anyone would resist eating it right up is because it would break your teeth in a flash. Thank you very much, Deborah. It will be on my tree for many years and I will always think of you.

13. And look again at what I get to do with some of my clients. I've used Magic Model here, which is so easy to work with and totally clean on your hands. Sometimes I wonder if I might buy some real clay and a couple of sculpting tools. Nothing to serious though! Nothing even too much in focus!!

13 A (hee hee) My friend Willa gave me these little reindeer candles for Christmas one year and I'm always glad to see them again. Willa was one of my best friends and she died a few years ago, not fair. Like Renee, Willa had a hundred best friends. When we all met each other we were shocked that so many people thought of themselves as Willa's best friend.

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I miss her even more this time of year. If she were alive, she would have taken me to heart healing workshops this past year. She would have read my tarot cards. She would have made better and higher sense of what seems like betrayal. She would be part of my healing.

Hey Willa! Are you up there! I need a couple of favors.

&heart;

Merry Merry Christmas.

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Happy Happy New Year.

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I hope some surprising warmth curls right up in your lap during the next few days, if only for a second or two, I hope it's obvious you are not alone and never could be.

Thank you for the best gift of all. There is nothing that comes even close to friendship, in its many forms.

P. S. It's late. I can't adequately proof for mistakes or better layout. It's more important that I get this posted. So if you happen to function as my faithful proofreader, please cut me a break on this one. Thank you.