Christmas

UNbalancing act

I am, by nature, an introvert. An extreme INFP. Every time. It is the day after Christmas and I am overwhelmed. 

I think it is too much of everything. Not the food and drink kind of everything but the stimulation and the newness of so many things in the last few weeks. Like the main character in my WIP I don’t do change well. I’m not talking about just big change like moving or changing jobs but even little changes like the icons on my desktop not being in the same place because Windows has decided to rearrange them for me without warning.

It is all the little things that have piled up to make me feel overwhelmed.

In the last week and a half I bought new glasses, a new camera and a new monitor. This is all good, I know. But it is hard for me.
 
The monitor went back (it was too big and it hurt my eyes) and I inheirted my husband’s old monitor and have had to deal with the fact that every time I plug the laptop into the monitor all the icons move. I also have a new keyboard tray, articulating, which is good, but it is different and I can’t get the monitor height right. In order to plug the monitor into the laptop I have to put the laptop on the opposite side of my desk than I used to. No big deal but something else to get used to.

I don’t have the new glasses yet – I pick them up tomorrow – but there will be much getting used to with them as they are not only different in style but are progressives as well.

The new camera is so different and the only thing I like better about it is the size. My husband likes it enough for us to keep it but when I look at it just bugs me for no reason. Or for stupid reasons because I can’t stand the adapter that plugs into the bottom of it so it can connect to the computer. It’s a dumb reason to not like something.

And now I have an iPod which I have avoided for a while because, okay, I am really weird on this, but having music pumped right into my ears is just too intense for me. It is too too much. I am hoping  I will get used to it or figure something out. But then it also means getting used to a different interface with iTunes. Argh.

I need a new cell phone because my old one is held together with tape but the thought of picking out a new one is again, too too much.

I find that right now my brain is exhausted from people and movies and music and so much more. 

How do the rest of you do it? How do you cope with so much newness in your life and the constant influx of stimulation?

When my kids were little and one of them would get hurt, like the time my son split his head open with an aluminum baseball bat, I was totally calm in the middle of the crisis. It was only later, after I had him safe at home again, tucked into his own little bed, then I would let myself fall apart.

That’s what I feel like now. And I feel so absolutely silly that I feel that way. Sigh.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007|Categories: Random|Tags: , |13 Comments
Read More

Christmas Day at our house

We had a lazy start to the morning, one advantage of the kids being raised and on their own. My husband and I opened our gifts here. I received some books, some music and a beautiful pair of earrings. 

We also got ourselves a new digital camera, a Sony CyberShot 8.1 mega pixels, but it is going back. The photos are very grainy except at the lowest setting. My old Minolata 3 mega pixels takes much better photos even though it is heavy and big. If anyone has a small digital that takes great pics, I’d love to hear recommendations. I don’t know that I need one with 8.1 mega pixels – might be overkill.

Late afternoon we went to my in-laws for a lovely dinner and a slow unwrapping of gifts. More books and jewelry and straight from my wish list, a Brother label maker that works on it’s own and plugs into your computer. No more writing labels that I can’t read because my handwriting is getting so bad.

Home again we watched a few episodes of Whose Line is it? and now I am ready to crash. 

It was a lovely day from start to finish. 

Tomorrow it’s time to write again.

I hope all of you had a day that was filled with love and laughter.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007|Categories: Random|Tags: |16 Comments
Read More

a few last Christmas pictures

Since this is our first Christmas in this house I am still figuring out how to decorate it – what to put where. Some friends thought the tree should be in the library because that’s where we spend all our time but the only place would have been to the left of the fireplace (my husband is in the chair to the right every night) and that’s where the dog sleeps. I couldn’t boot her out of her place so the tree went in the living room.

Instead I put my collection of Father Christmas figures in the library. The only other decorating in here were bows on my dog figurines. 
🙂

A close up of some of them.

In the living room I put out the collection of angels. Not all of them are mine. And there used to be many more than there are now. I started the collection for my daughter who is now 25. When she was first out on her own she asked for the angels but she wasn’t exactly stable so I only sent some. Over the last 10 years she has asked for them and each time I’ve sent a few of them. They are always lost or left behind when she has to move or worse. So the collection keeps getting smaller but I put them out and feel the hope that while she has the angels with her, life is perhaps a little bit smoother for her for a time.

However you celebrate the season, may your blessings be many.

Thank you, each of you, for the gift you give me with your words.

Monday, December 24, 2007|Categories: Random|Tags: |11 Comments
Read More

A bit of Christmas at our house

Here are some more pictures for 

[info]newport2newport

.

We almost didn’t decorate the house this year. I am fighting a cold and we were only having a few people over (as in the dinner last night) and I wanted to spend most of my break from the dayjob writing, not putting up decorations and then taking them down again. A lot of those thoughts were powered by the fact that we hadn’t had a tree for the last three years.

Anyway, we decided to go for it and of course, I am glad we did. 

This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations from my childhood. She’s actually a bell and it was in my grandmother’s house for as long as I remember. I used her in the centerpiece on the dining table.

 

This golden boot is also from my childhood. I remember putting it on the tree when my grandfather was still alive (and he died when I was 10). No story attached to it except that this year it made me cry.

When my children were little I had a tradition of putting together a little Christmas village that grew into a big Christmas town. It was an offshoot of my love of miniature collectibles. I had dozens of little houses and trees and many miniature characters. I would spend weeks setting it up (with a train, of course) and all the kids in the neighborhood would come to check it out. It was one of those things that made it feel like Christmas to me.

When I was divorced, my ex kept the train and I took my village. I carried it with me from California to Virigina to Louisiana and back to California again. I never unpacked it. First because there was no room. Then because there were no children’ to come see it. This year I decided to set up a small piece of it just to show my husband what I meant when I talked about my Christmas village. Alas, it did not inspire the oohs and ahhs from him that I had hoped so I’m not sure if I will be putting the big one together ever again. But I am glad of the memories it brings.

One thing I know for sure is that I need to start shopping for more decorations at all the after Christmas sales. This house is so big compared to others I’ve had that I don’t have enough decorations for it.

Hope you are all busy having a wonderful time with your loved ones.

Sunday, December 23, 2007|Categories: Random|Tags: |5 Comments
Read More