Christmas Around the World...Well Mostly the USA

     Last night was tree decorating time.  Because we have a ton of ornaments, I seldom get much help.  Well that's probably not the real reason, but that's ok.  I absolutely love decorating the tree!  And this year I shaved 2 hours off my time from last year with having the tree complete in just 5 hours, lights to tree topper.  (Guess this exercising and eating right helps in tree decorating too!)
     I know some people have 'themed' trees.  Some have white lights, some colored lights, stay on lights or blinking lights.  We have white lights that stay on and colored lights that slowly alternate on and off with other white lights.  It's covered in gold ribbons, bows and icicles.  But my favorite--the ornaments.
     Each year I take out the special ornaments and think about the first year I hung them or the occasion that brought them into our home.  This year one of the first ornaments I placed on the tree was an angel frame with a picture of our precious dog Mercy in it.  Tears started flowing immediately....which made the lights look pretty but my heart sad.  It has been 7 months and we still miss her terribly.  The ornament took a prominent place on the tree and started me thinking even more about each ornament that followed.
     There's the ornament from our first married Christmas.  A couple caroling.  Appropriate since we both loved to sing.  And each child has a special ornament.  The one that was created especially for that first Christmas but somehow found it's way into the baby's teething mouth before it ever got hung on the tree 22 years ago. It still has those teeth marks.  The fire department themed ones for baby boys' first Christmases.  And finally a beautiful little pink Precious Moments one when we completed our family with a baby girl.  Oh!  And we can't leave out the Elvis ornament of course!  Could any tree be complete without one???? The Peanuts gang and I Love Lucy can't be left out either.  Plus many Nativities of varies shapes and sizes.
     Our tree also has ornaments that I made my first Christmas away from home 31 years ago.  I can't believe they have survived this long!  We have ornaments made by kids in Sunday School.  There's the ornament made by the wife of a special employee years ago.  And the one my husband was given not long after we married.  It's a white snowflake.  He told me the night he brought it home how the lady who made it asked him about my favorite color.  Since he couldn't remember, she gave him the white snowflake.  The funny thing....at that time my favorite color was peach and everything from the wallpaper to the comforter in that room was peach but when I covered his eyes and asked him what color the room was, his guess was blue!  Oh well......
     Some of the most interesting ornaments are ones we have collected while on vacation.  Any time someone in our family goes on a trip they either bring me sea shells or a Christmas ornament. As I hang the ornaments, I get to remember trips to Washington DC, San Antonio, Gettysburg, Chocolate World, Harpers Ferry and Philadelphia. My kids have brought me ornaments from the Empire State Building and Boston.  This year we have lots of new ornaments on our tree.  Ones from a Colorado ski trip and a choir trip to St Louis now have their places on our tree.  We also have a cute little Coke bottle ornament from Coke World in Atlanta and a sea shell angel from the Bahamas.  The winner of the farthest traveled ornament is a cute little Buckingham Palace Guard our son brought back from London. So our tree now represents Christmas Around the World.  Well kinda.
     I absolutely love my ornament collection.  I love the memories each one brings.  I think that mostly though I love the fact that my family thinks of me while away from home and spends time looking for just the right ornament to bring me.  Yep.  The love of my family.  That's the best part.

Intentionally Naturally Blonde

   9 1/2 NB (Natural Blonde).  That's what it says on the box.  So yes.  In that respect I am a natural blonde.  And over the last few years, more and more people have come to describe me as a blonde....for more than just my hair color I'm afraid.
     Over the years my hair has been just about every possible color that I could get by with and still be considered a soccer mom and banker.  And the lady with short red hair on my drivers license, well I'm not sure I even know her anymore!  When I announced a few years ago that I was going to just let it go gray, my youngest son told me I had to go blonde first to make the transition to gray easier.  So becoming blonde was originally the avenue I was going to take to become a gray haired middle aged woman.
     Like many women in their 40s, I had concluded that my best years were behind me.  That I would always be a bit overweight and it was time to dress the part of a grandmother, even though I am still not even today a grandmother at 52.  I had also bought into the idea that women past a certain age must always keep their hair short because having long hair made them look older.  So when I began my transformation into blonde-hood, my new look got lots of attention.
     Because my desk is in an area that is seen by pretty much everyone who enters our office, a good number of our customers know me.  Actually, I love my customers!  We tease, we talk, we pray for each other.  I guess our familiarity is why they felt comfortable commenting on the new me.  A co-worker, who started to work after my transformation began, asked one day "What is it about your hair?  Someone mentions it at least once a day!"  I showed her my drivers license.  "OOHHH!!!!"
     I still laugh when I hear someone refer to me as "that blonde at the desk" or "that hot blonde".  Now that one is REALLY funny!!!!!!!  While I have lost weight and gotten into shape, I can't help but wonder, if I didn't have long blonde hair would I be referred to as "hot"?  I kinda doubt it.
     Being blonde has it's advantages in many ways though.  I really do have more fun!  Maybe it's party my age.  Maybe it's my stage in life.  Maybe when I color my hair every 4 to 6 weeks the chemicals soak thru to my brain.  Or maybe there really is just something about being blonde.  Whatever the reason, I highly recommend it. 

Elvis........

     Ok.  Seriously.  I am not now, nor have I ever been, an Elvis fanatic.  But with the purchase of our new car a month ago came a 90 day free subscription to SiriusXM Radio.  While trying to figure out how it worked I came across the Elvis channel.  I soon found myself singing "Jailhouse Rock" at the top of my lungs and waving my arms around like an idiot while driving down the street.  (I could behave that way in my previous car because it had very dark tint on the windows and I couldn't be seen.  Not so with this one.  Everyone around gets to experience my joy along with me!) 
     So in the last few weeks I've learned that Elvis' jet had 50 speakers, that the gates of Graceland open at around 8am, that people everywhere have Elvis stories.  Which reminds me of something that happened almost 30 years ago.  I had just moved to the town where I currently live and was attending Sunday morning services at a recommended church for the first time.  The speaker walked up and said "Everywhere I go I meet experts on the life of Elvis Presley".  What on earth was this guy talking about!!!!!!  My mind ran in several directions trying to figure out where he was going with this.  I looked in the church bulletin and saw that the speaker's name was Rick Stanley.  Meant nothing to me.  But he began to talk.....about his big brother.  Rick Stanley was Elvis Presley's step-brother.  And what an amazing testimony he had!  God had protected him thru extreme situations and placed people in his life who told him about Jesus.  Rick's book, "A Touch of Two Kings" tells about his life before, during and after Elvis.
     A few years later, Rick Stanley came back to our church for another revival.  This time a special night was planned for a group of us at a local restaurant after the service. I had taken a neighbor to church that night and we headed straight to the restaurant right after the service so we could get a good seat.  Strangely, no one else in the group showed up, just Rick Stanley and his father-in-law.  We felt badly that no one else was there but we had a very interesting time learning things like how Priscilla would drive around Memphis with the top open on her car while her great danes where sticking there heads out the roof. We later found out the rest of our group went to a different restaurant.  Their loss!  :)
     Not sure why, but one of our son's chose Elvis (or Elbus as he would say) as his hero at an early age.  We have such a cute video of him in his footie pajamas in front of the Christmas tree, grinning from ear to ear and singing along with 'Elbus'.  He even got an Elvis action figure for Christmas one year!  I believe he has outgrown his 'Elbus' phase and I know he's outgrown the pjs!
     At dinner this week one of the kids mentioned the Gates.  Of course the Bill Gates family was the intent.  But suddenly it reminded me and I started off on a 'did you know' session about my favorite Elvis movie "Blue Hawaii".  Did you know that Elvis' last name in "Blue Hawaii" was Gates?  Did you know his girlfriend's name was Maile?  (To which I was challenged.  The question...what was her last name?  Duval of course!)  Did you know that his dad ran a pineapple plantation?  Did you know that Elvis wanted to open a tour guide business and name it "Gates of Hawaii" and that when he announced it he also proposed to Maile?  Did you know that Elvis' name in the movie was Chad and that's where I got the name for (the son seated to my right).  Well, actually I didn't.  Not consciously anyway. 
     This summer we took a vacation that began with driving across several states.  We stopped by Graceland in Memphis and Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo.  Our youngest son insisted on taking pictures of me at various Elvis sights.  Was a blast!  Wish we had had Elvis Radio back then!
     When I was a kid, I remember my mom wanting to watch an Elvis movie. (I believe the movie was "Jailhouse Rock" and was on TV.)  My dad made the statement that Elvis had a hole in his head.  I was so worried about Elvis!  I looked and looked for that hole!  Of course I later realized my dad, like many men, was a bit jealous and was just trying to find a way to put down Elvis.  He tried to make amends several years later when he 'borrowed' my cassette recorder to record the audio portion of an Elvis concert on TV.  It was a sweet gesture even if he did record over Donny Osmond!
     When one of our sons was due to be born in January 19 years ago, I was hoping he would be born on Elvis' birthday.  We missed it by 8 days.  Oh well.
     Seriously.  I'm NOT an Elvis fanatic.  I do believe his birthday should be a national holiday though.  And, at this very minute, I am watching "Blue Hawaii".  :)