Of The Season and Tree by Konnie Enos

 

Monday, Jerry and I had reason to leave the house for a few hours. When we returned I walked up to our front door and noticed my wreath was out.

Now I had not noticed my wreath being on the front door before then, but we had already been decorating for Christmas. We did not have our tree up yet (still don’t) for various reasons. I had, however, managed to set up my Christmas village and Nativity. Which was a step in the right direction because we hadn’t been able to do that for a couple of years.

Anyway, I noticed the wreath and stepped into the house to both my kids in the living room sitting on the couch talking. I asked my daughter if she’d put it out while I was gone. I also noted that they’d removed some more things from the living room so we could put up the tree.

Both said they’d been working on clearing the necessary space for the tree.

So, I’d been right, the wreath hadn’t been up before I left that day.

Well, after Jerry and I had both gone to our bedroom, and changed our clothes, Jerry went to the front room and was talking to our kids. Apparently, he noticed and asked when our son’s desk had been cleaned off. (It’s in the living room.)

Mind you, I had looked in that direction. I had seen something moved from the general area where the tree will go to the area by the desk. However, I hadn’t registered that the desk was no longer piled high with my son’s stuff to the point that the drawers couldn’t close.

I saw it, but I hadn’t registered that it was a change.

My kids laughed and teased me about it because they had assumed that I would notice but Jerry would not.

We then discussed what still needed to be done in the living room so that we could, finally, after several years of not being able to put up our tree. Which was clear out all the boxes stored in the corner. Boxes that had ended up there because the house and garage were full of people and things.

But, in the last year, our older son and his friend moved out, while my youngest son moved into the front bedroom.

We’d also had that catastrophe in the garage which not only forced us to clean it out but forced us to throw away a bunch of stuff that were ruined by the water.

We were able to get rid of enough to make more room in the garage. Not to mention that my daughter is determined to sort through what’s left and get rid of everything we absolutely don’t need anymore. She’s already started two piles. One for stuff we are keeping. The other for stuff we can throw or give away.

All this cleaning up not only means we have room to put up our tree, but my kids were sure they could find it. Something they dove into do yesterday after the living room floor was completely cleaned.

Yes, they found the tree, or at least most of the parts.

The tree is no longer usable.

They couldn’t find the stand. The attached lights no longer work. And it’s shedding, which is a clear indication it’s too old.

So, the kids and I spent some time discussing the benefits of a pre-lit tree over one that doesn’t have lights and looking up the cost of both. We eventually discarded the idea of a pre-lit tree and only partly because of the issues we’d had with an entire section of our old tree going out years ago and we couldn’t fix it. The main reason we didn’t do pre-lit is because all the pre-lit trees we found were all only in white lights. We want multicolored.

So, we ordered a new tree and are going to buy new lights this week. We should have our tree up finally next week.

And before you ask, use fake Christmas tree for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, for many years, while the kids were young, we had to fight Jerry to wait until after Halloween to put the tree up and it never came down until well after the new year. Two and half, to three months is way too long for a now dead tree to be in your living room.

Second, we have family members allergic to pine, and I apparently react to at least fir. (It aggravates my asthma.) So, fake trees it is.

Next we have to dig out the Christmas socks and hang them up. And wrap some presents, which I haven’t finished doing yet.

Anyway, enjoy the season.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

Of Colds and Seasonal Thoughts by Konnie Enos

Since it is Bonnie’s turn to post this week, I had not been thinking about what I would write so I spend most of last night, after she told me she was sick, trying to come up with an inkling of an idea.

What I kept coming back to is that’s it’s December.

The time of the year when people stress themselves out by focusing on things, to-do lists, and what they don’t have. How their life isn’t the picture-perfect life. Or they focus on the commercialistic standard that has prevailed in our society for too long.

But maybe that’s beginning to shift.

I have noticed a change in our collective focus since 2020. I’m not seeing the ads about all the things individuals should ask for this year, but I have seen ads about family, togetherness, and helping others.

I will admit that I don’t watch TV, and I can’t remember the last time I listened to the radio, but I’m still on the internet daily. I’ve seen some ads. All about family or giving.

This is a positive change, and we need to help keep our focus on what really matters.

Family, friends, love, acceptance, and the true sense of connection and community you get when you help others.

So, in this season of giving, think about all the ways you can build community.

Find an Angel Tree, a Giving Machine, or a charity close to your heart where you can give not only money, but time to something that you believe in. Contribute and connect with your community in positive ways.

Not just volunteering for important causes, but in your everyday words and actions. When posting on social media or talking to people around you be mindful of the impact of your words. Try to be upbeat and positive.

Spread cheer. Spread love and acceptance. Call family and friends just to express your love. Think about your friends and neighbors who are chronically ill and could use a friendly face. A helping hand. Or a pot of chicken noddle soup.

When you are out and about, smile. Be open and friendly. Help strangers when you see they have a need.

But most of all, fight the negative thoughts, and judgmental attitudes that help no one, especially yourself. We are all human beings, and we all deserve understanding, acceptance and love.

So, in this season, I want you to think of just one thing. Think about what you can do to have a positive impact in your community. How can you spread love, acceptance, and cheer?

I’ll leave you to think about it.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

 

Seasons Greetings by Konnie Enos

 

Tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I’m assuming everyone is as busy as I am either preparing to cook this big meal or preparing for all the friends and family they well be seeing.

So, Happy Thanksgiving one and all. And Ben, happy birthday (of course, we’re not going to forget you). I hope you get to spend the day with as much family as possible.

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.

The Subtleness of Verbiage by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

The other day, I was watching videos online and came across one in which a father talked about his daughter having had a math test that day at school.

Apparently, her teacher had told the class if they could answer just one question correctly, they would get an A without taking the test. Everyone wrote their answers down, folded the paper, and handed it in.

The father’s daughter did not answer the question correctly, so she asked him if he could. Then, she reiterated the question in more detail than given here, but it starts with a butcher with two kids and a wife and then goes into the weight of his family members. It ends with the question, “Now what does the butcher weigh?”

The father in the video looks at the screen, his expression seems to say, “How should I know!”

Without thinking, I responded, “Meat.”

Now hear me out if you don’t believe me that I am right. The question wasn’t, “How much does the butcher weigh?” but rather, “What does the butcher weigh?”

This is a bit ambiguous, but I was sure the story before the question was more a misdirect than a clue. Ergo, the butcher weighs meat.

And in a way, I am surprised I got it. I have never considered myself as clever as say, Hermione Granger, who figured out Snape’s riddle about which bottle contains what. I found that confusing as all get out. And hats off to J.K. Rowling for producing that.

Though wording does matter. It can make a huge difference. Understanding the subtleness of verbiage teaches you that wording changes everything.

Case in point, when someone prefaces a request with the words, “Would you mind,” in general most people will respond, “Yes,” when they in fact will grant the favor asked, but if you look at the phrasing of the request, and really think about it. It is clear the correct favorable answer would be, “No.”

A fact I have used against people on several occasions, twice this last week.

The first time I asked a young lady helping me clean my house, to get me a refill of water, using the aforementioned phrase.

Her response was of course the standard, “Yes.”

I responded, “You would!” with as shocked an expression as I could muster. She didn’t seem to understand what I was saying and just took my mug to refill it.

Now, Monday night, my cousin Steve was over to visit, and I’d received a rather heavy package at some point during the day and I asked him if he would mind bringing it in for me.

He did respond with the standard, “yes,” but when I retorted with my shocked, “You would!” he chuckled and said, “Okay, you got me there!”

He is the first person to ever respond that way when I’ve done it, and I’ve done it a lot.

I am also correct. If you would not mind doing the favor, the correct response is no, not yes.

That is the subtleness of wording, which is what makes writing so hard. Ambiguous wording makes the text stronger or the mystery deeper, but it could also lead the reader astray. Finding just the right word can be extremely difficult. Especially if you have innate issues with spelling.

In point of fact, I spent several minutes trying to figure out the correct spelling of “subtle.” I knew it was the root of the word I needed, but I didn’t know how to spell it!

Most of the time when this happens, I can think of another word that means the same thing and find the word I am trying to use via the thesaurus on my computer. However, that doesn’t always work. Sometimes because there is no other word or because, I picked a word for which that similar meaning is obscure and not in the thesaurus, making me doubt what I remember of etymology.

And for those of you who don’t know, etymology is the history of a word. It is its root, origin, and current and original meanings.

Etymology is why I excelled in my college class, “Concise Business Writing.”

Something I think I have mentioned before. It was in that class that the professor asked us to reduce a Cossel quote to as few words as possible. I did not use my Etymological dictionary for that assignment. I didn’t need it.

However, I admit it wasn’t because I knew the etymology of all those words in the quote. It was because of an earlier incident involving our big sister, nicknamed Dictionary.

But anyway, I aced the assignment!

Happy writing everyone!