Changing Traditions

When my twenty-four-year-old son recently said, “This doesn’t feel like Christmas,” the title of a book by Thomas Wolfe, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” popped into my head. Although we did some decorating as well as some gift shopping and wrapping, the meager group of presents under the tree didn’t look like the gift pile of past Christmases.

“Welcome to Grown-Up-Land,” I replied. When the kids were little it took very few dollars to fill the space under the Christmas tree. Now that they’re grown and half of them have moved out, we have scaled way back and limit the presents to one per person. This benefits me the most, since the majority of the baking, decorating, shopping, and wrapping, always fell to me. Now I have a lot less stress during the holiday season!

With changing family dynamics comes a change in traditions. We got our tree up this year. It is pre-lit and there’s an angel at the top. In addition, there are three candy canes on the tree. Two of them look like mice. The rest of the decorations sat in a box at the foot of the tree until Christmas Eve. We (my husband Denis and I) just couldn’t figure out when to decorate the tree.

Back when our children were young, we decorated as a family. Denis strung the lights and then we hung our favorite ornaments. Finally we added the silver glass spherical ornaments. They really reflected a lot of light. All this while munching on homemade caramel corn; my grandmother’s recipe.

This year I wasn’t in the mood to make caramel corn for just the two of us. I can’t handle that much sugar. Neither of us need the calories. But it was more than that. It just didn’t feel right. So, we never really decorated the tree.

So it’s time to create some new traditions. Traditions for two. For now. Until, perhaps, when the time comes that our family dynamics change once again?

Have your traditions changed? How did you handle it? What did you do? Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

‘Tis the Season of Gratitude

Is it just me or is our society getting ruder? Please and thank you are so underrated and underused lately, in my opinion. When I worked at a fast food restaurant, my first “real job” back in the 70s, we were taught to give the customer their change and/or food, look them in the eye, and say, “Thank you, come again.” We even added a “Have a nice day.” With a smile.

My recent shopping experiences have concluded with me being handed my change and/or purchases and told, “Here you go.” To which I reply, “Yes, here I go.” The look on the clerk’s face is priceless and clueless. I don’t blame them. I blame their management, the people training them in customer service. Or not training them, apparently.

I feel that in this tight economy, retailers should be grateful for any business that comes their way. Showing gratitude to their customers through interactions with their employees is a place to start.

So now my fun shopping game is to look the clerk in the eye as I get ready to “go” and say, with a smile, “You’re welcome. Enjoy your day.” The blank, confused look is priceless. I’m sure they just think I’m insane. Perhaps, but at least I’m grateful.

What do you think?  Do you think manners are important to a positive shopping experience?  Leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear from you!

NaNoWriMo

“Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year?” I heard some people asking each other in my writing class a few years ago. I had no clue what they were talking about so I eavesdropped so more. I soon learned that NaNoWriMo stood for National Novel Writing Month which happens to be November. It sounded insane to me—write a novel in a month.

Write a novel in a month? Fifty thousand words, to be exact. (1,666 words per day) As a true procrastinator I’ve never even written a novel in a year or make that all of my 51 years. I was always afraid to start one because it might not be perfect and I probably wouldn’t finish it anyway.

So this year I signed up for NaNoWriMo. (I even gave a modest donation to help this nonprofit that promotes writing.) And on November 1, 2011, I started to write.

I wrote and I wrote. I didn’t make the daily word goal every day but I didn’t give up. I wrote before and after school daily and for hours on the weekends. Unfortunately I “lost” some writing days due to Thanksgiving but it was worth it, the feasting was delicious!

Some days the story just flowed from my fingertips to my keyboard. Other days I struggled. Those were the times that my main character got hit by a car, was sickened with food poisoning, and got the flu. I laughed as I typed and I cried. It was amazing how emotionally involved I got with my characters. I imagined my fourth graders reading my words. I kept it clean—rated a mild PG. There’s no bad language or nudity, but it is a bit scary and sad due to the ghosts and orphans.

Now that November has ended in one big flurry of typing, I have a 50,013 word manuscript to work with. It’s not great, but I did it. It was painful at times. Especially the day I typed 8,000 words. My teddy bear shaped ice packs came in real handy that day.

I’m letting my manuscript “rest” for a while. I’ll probably start editing it in January. I know it will be a lot of work but I actually can’t wait! I’m so proud of what I accomplished so far.

The bottom line? Even when you think you can’t do something, just do it. You might just surprise yourself.



Have you ever done something you thought you couldn’t do but did? Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

NaNoWriMo 2011

Hi Everybody!
I just finished my first draft of my first novel ever!  I'll be back next week to tell you all about!  I'm all typed out.
Yours truly,
Peppermint Patti P.E.

The Halloween That Wasn't

This year Halloween didn’t happen. At least, not in the traditional sense.  We had a big nor’easter a few days before that wreaked havoc on trees that had not yet shed their leaves.  Thousands of people were without electricity.  Streets were dark and littered with downed branches and wires.  We went into survival, not haunting mode.

While some people got their power back within 24 hours, for many it took more than a week!  Communities sent out robo-calls updating the status of the power companies’ progress as well as-gasp-to cancel Halloween!  It just wasn’t safe.  I didn’t even walk the dog—I hibernated—and gained five pounds!  And no, those five pounds weren’t from the leftover Halloween candy.  I sent that to my son’s girlfriend’s house. 

We didn’t have much food in our refrigerator/freezer upstairs nor our chest freezer in the cellar, yet we didn’t want to lose what we did have so we packed coolers with snow and started cooking.  Because we have a gas stove we still could use the burners if we lit them manually.  We ate and ate. 

Hanging out at local warming centers during the day gave me a glimpse into my future.  The Senior Center in Agawam still had internet!  It was fun sitting in the computer room with the older folks as they checked their email and watched their soap operas.  It just wasn’t comfortable sitting home trying to stay warm with no source of heat.  Our oil burner uses electricity so we had no heat or hot water.  By boiling water on the stove, solar gain during the day, and candles at night we could get the house temperature up to a roaring 58^o F.

We were lucky, we survived the week.  Friends and family offered hot meals and showers.  Many people also showered at the YMCA.  I missed the coffee maker most of all. Coffee was percolated four cups at a time on the stove.  The quality was inconsistent—too weak, too strong, burned, etc.  It’s too bad we’re so dependent on these modern conveniences. 

Above all this week gave me a greater appreciation of our forebears who endured much bigger inconveniences to get us to where we are today.  

Jaywalking is NOT Cool

Chickens aren’t the only ones who cross the road. We all have to get to the other side eventually. The safest and smartest way to do that is to not only look both ways but also obey the pedestrian laws.

The other day I saw three young, probably pre to early teen, boys cross the street. Not just any street, a four lane state highway that runs through my town. Granted, the top speed for that stretch of the road is 30 miles per hour, but we all know that drivers often exceed the speed limits.

Anyway, not only were these boys sauntering across the road during rush hour traffic, they were about 20 feet outside of the crosswalk. Oh, and did I mention this crosswalk has a pushbutton to change the lights at the intersection so pedestrians can cross safely? It gets better: they crossed right in front of a police car that was traveling at a high rate of speed with the blue lights blazing.

Newsflash—cars can’t stop on a dime! At 30 mph with dry road conditions, it takes about 90 feet for a car to stop.

As a driver I make sure I stop for pedestrians. Not only is it the law, I would be devastated if I ever hurt or killed anyone. But pedestrians have to do their part, too. Cross in the crosswalks! If you push the crosswalk button, wait for the light!!! The rules vary from town to town. Obeying the traffic rules not only prevents you from getting a ticket, it can save your life.

Manners--A Thing of the Past?

The teenagers in my neighborhood don’t know it but they’re participating in a little experiment of mine. When I’m out walking Benny the Wonder Dog before school in the mornings the high schoolers are waiting for their buses. I don’t want to walk rudely by them so I say “Good morning” or “Hello.” The first time this happened not one of them responded to me. I thought they didn’t hear me. But when it happened the second time I realized they didn’t know that when someone says “Good morning” to you it is good manners to say “Good morning” right back.

So that’s when I decided to start my experiment. What would it take to get a teenager to say good morning to a middle aged lady walking a semi-neurotic dog?  (Or is it a middle aged dog walking a semi-neurotic lady?)

The next day I made a bit of a ruckus as I approached those three young ladies at their bus stop. They had their backs to me and as Benny and I got closer, two of them turned around. I greeted them with my usual cheery, “Good morning.” One girl responded with a polite, “Good morning,” one girl kept her back to me and the other one just turned back around. Progress, I thought.

The next day I upped the ante. Not only did I say, “Good morning,” I also said, “Have a nice day.” “You, too,” responded the spokesperson of the group. She smiled. I smiled. It was a good start to the day.

Manners make the world a better place. Let’s be a littler nicer to each other. We’re all in this together.

What do you think? Please me a comment. I’d love to hear from you!