Another year.

Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years.  They blend together and pass so very quickly and before you realize it, a decade has passed.

It is all moving so fast. Too fast.

I was 21 just a few years ago, so it seems.  40 was just 'awhile ago.'  The 50's were 'yesterday'.  Where did it all go?

I was a young girl with hopes and dreams for the longest time.

Then, I was a young mother of two, then four.

I became a grandmother before my mind was ready to be.

Then, somewhere along the line of days, I passed the milestone of age 50.

A decade later....I wonder, "What happened?  Where did my time go?"

I want it back.  I missed too much.

I gave and I took. I gained and I lost. I still want and still need.

How did I come this far without knowing all there is to know?

I need another 50 years.

I want....my young girl dreams.

ConLyn

Enjoy your time...........

In years past, Christmas used to be a BIG holiday which lasted for weeks if not longer. It started around the first of the month preparing for it; decorating the house, buying a tree, making cookies, meals, and gifts buying galore, fighting about when to put the tree up. Christmas morning was for the kids and evening at my parents was for all. We would squeeze 50 plus people into that small house and it was literally elbow to elbow with food flowing, gifts wrap all over, glitter sticking to people's faces, drinking being passed and chatter from every nook and cranny. It was crazy and I loved it! In truth, I miss it.

Things would calm down around 2 a.m. Usually the snow would have piled up outside during our time of fun and always someone’s car would be stuck and we would have to go outside to push them out of the driveway to head home.

Then, the next day my kids would play happily with the new toys and by evening, it would be a trip to visit one of my siblings house to see their tree....this went on every night for a week or two, until all siblings homes had been visited by all siblings and our parents. It was a busy hectic time.

Then one of the nicer days, we all gather back at Mom's so the kids could go sledding down the hill in her yard, while the mom’s cooked. There might be chili, soup or spaghetti (my Dad's favorite). We chatted with one another, never getting bored with our time together. After awhile, a kid would come in for dry mittens, then another, and then another. All the wet mittens that we accumulated were laid over the registers to dry. Every register was full of mittens and we would have to turn them every once in awhile so they wouldn't burn on one side over the hot coal fire of my parents house; and we would be in a hurry to dry them fast before a kid needed dry ones. Before long, they would come in hungry, cold, and happy. We fed them; they played inside, warming up while we parents dried their snowsuits on the clothes bars. And after awhile they donned their outerwear and back out they went to play in the dark.

We parents would treat ourselves to a slice of pie or some other goody not realizing that time was ticking away from us. We all pitched in to clean up the kitchen and if we were lucky before any of the kids came back inside, so we had a few moments to sit in the living room where the Christmas tree lights refreshed us. It was a good time back then....Christmas at Mom's lasted over a month. The tree stood for about 6 weeks or so. Long after everyone else had packed their things away, you could still go to my parents and enjoy Christmas all over again. The ambiance hung in the air.

These days, Christmas day..........is........well, it just is not the same. I am happy to go to work after Christmas day; otherwise I sit home in the silence remembering.

What was...cannot be re-created. Those were the glory days.

This year, with Christmas days away, I don't even have a tree yet. I am a terrible cook so no good smells in my house and baking is just as bad for me. I pulled out some non-breakable decorations to put in the living room for when the two little ones come, and I did buy gifts to hand out Christmas Eve to my loved ones. That is the extent of my Christmas doings.

I still cherish Christmas, thankful for the many, many, many years, of joy it brought me. And, I make the best of how it has changed.

Before, there wasn't enough time to do it all.

Now, all I have is time.

Clean house

It will take more than a miracle to set things right with our nation. If….if that can ever be.

My sadness is for our children and grandchildren. They are the ones that will be most affected by it all. I believe my generation is on the cusp of it…in-between the way of life as we have known it…and the change is that forthcoming. We will miss the worse of it, I imagine. They will be the ones at war as our nation falls further into dismay.

But, I believe in America. Parents and schools need to teach patriotism so they will have the pride to fight for it. They should recite the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, study the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and what once made our country great. In the past, 'we' owned America. We need to win her back.

This will be a war within.

Somewhere along the line, people sold out America due to greed and self-advancement.

We need to close our 'doors' and clean house.

Why should our children suffer due to the deeds set forth from their past.

Holiday Spirit Returns

Each December the holiday spirit returns. I am finding mine later than normal but it came. Tonight, I decorated my tree and hung a few decorations around the house. It turned out to be quite a chore, worth every minute.

To add the the festivity, it happened to be snowing heavy here in upstate NY. So everything was covered with the white stuff. It transforms a landscape into a wonderland. The first month of snow everyone loves it, the second month we tolerate, by the third month people start getting testy and if it snows beyond that....LOOK OUT!

It was my daughter's birthday. I called her to say Happy Birthday!! She told me that is was a miserable day outside. I could not believe my ears, "How can you say that?" I asked. "Why it is a beautiful winter day! Just like when you were born. I know because I was there."

She did not appreciate my sense of humor. I wish she was two or three years old again, she believed everything I said back then.