Lah Dee Dah Soaps

Can't take credit for this one, but it made me laugh my butt off, so I had to share it with you!

Lee over at Headaches, Hot Flashes and Hormones has issued a challenge to make a commercial about her soaps. Here's one of the entries. Heh heh heh...

Year in Review

Ten years ago, I was planning to spend New Year's Eve in some freezing computer room making sure the Y2K madness didn't swallow all our technology and all our clients' money along with it.

TEN. YEARS.

Where did those years go? Can it really be ten whole years since then?

I'm happy to say that in those years I paid my dues. I don't find myself planning to be away from the fam this December 31st. But I have found myself thinking though. About the passage of time and the milestones that mark this past decade.

And the 8 years since I met my firstborn.

And the 6 years since I met Son the Younger.

And the past year since the Diva has come to join us.

I find myself chuckling like an old woman reminiscing. It's been a full and happy decade, for the most part. There's been too much drama for my liking, but that's all part of the journey, right?

I choose to focus on the good memories.

I'm so glad I started blogging, because now my memories are right here for me to look back on. And for my extended family and friends and kids to look back on.

Inspired by Scary Mommy, I've decided to make a list of a post each month where the words formed themselves - sometimes through tears, sometimes through laughter - to capture the state of my soul at that point in time.

August: Carefree Abandon
A promise to my children


September: Small victory
Losing my job. And finding my peace.


October: Confessions
The post I wrote because I knew I couldn't face my son's pediatrician and raise my doubts out loud 


November: Momma always said....
The "punishment" that is growing up and having kids of my own


December: On swimming... and being washed up on the shore
The lessons that guide and inspire me


To 2010 and making more memories.

Cheers!

Santa love...

Found this under the tree sometime BEFORE  presents were opened on Christmas morning

Yes kiddo, there is a Santa Claus

I had a long talk with my eldest in the wee hours of this morning.

He kept me company as I sat feeding his sister while the rest of the household slept. He looked like he was turning something over in his mind, some puzzle he was trying to figure out on his own.

Mom. I want to believe in Santa Claus, but Daddy is making me feel like maybe... He's confusing me! He tells me he exists, the he says things to make me think maybe he doesn't exist!

My husband, as it turns out, isn't very good at keeping his story straight. Clearly there must be some kind of coordination between Santa and the 'rents, but it seems the Santa-Parents connection has been less than consistent of late, leaving my son to wonder if he's being "led down the primrose path". Did I get that Polar Express reference right?

Just like the little boy in the Polar Express, my son is at the age where the magic could be at an end. We've known this day was coming, and while we have no intention of fooling our son... how can I tell him Santa doesn't exist?

I can't take that magic away from him when I... I still believe in the magic.

That's right. There's a part of this grown-up that still believes in Santa Claus.

The way I look at it (and the way I explained it to my son) what's Santa about?

• Generosity of spirit
• Justice
• Hope
• Sharing
• Community
• Love
• with a dash of Miracle

If that's what Santa represents, I don't see any harm in keeping the faith alive in a little corner of my heart.

I mean we all know the media can blow things out of proportion, don't we? Stories take on a momentum of their own and details get fuzzy... distorted... blown out of proportion.

Maybe instead of travelling the world, Santa only travels a small portion of the world and hopes to inspire by example.

Maybe he isn't around in flesh and blood anymore. But who's to tell me that I can't take comfort in knowing that somewhere, in some time, Santa exists.

Nobody. That's who! Because I know for sure he exists. And I hope he always lives right here in my heart.

Awards - Day 2

The Circle of Friends Award

or

5 Things I Love to Do: (courtesy of Mothers Always, Marlie and Me and 38 and Growing)
Thanks BM, Teresha and Traci!

1. Take weekend-long trips to the beach with the fam.
2. Laugh. I surround myself with people who make me laugh.
3. Listen to music. They say music tames the savage beast, and it is indeed a powerful thing. When I listen to something particularly beautiful I will tear up (dunno why! can be very embarrassing.)
4. Be crafty. I love making stuff, and I love being challenged to be inventive and turn flaws into features! 
5. Have long conversations with my girl friends. Unfortunately most of my BFFs live overseas (miss yall!) so we don't get to do it as often as I'd like. But we seriously could talk for days. 

Here are the Circle of Friends Award rules
Grab the award, post it on your blog along with 5 things you love to do and 5 others you want to recognize.

So here are my picks of blogs to pass this on to:
Lee at Headaches, Hormones and Hot Flashes
Outnumbered
That Girl Blogs
Theta Mom
Parenting by Dummies

I'm really bad at doing these, so I'm not going to look down on you if you don't pass them back out!

Awards

Okay I'm starting off a week of awards, cos I have too many to do all at once.
But I really hate disappointing the people who DID give me awards, so here we go...

The Kreative Blogger Award

or

7 Things you didn't know about me: (courtesy of Serenityville)

1. I used to be a teacher. Yep, for one school year when I was 20. I taught math, and I did morning music sessions with the little kids.
2. I play the guitar - hence #1. Acoustic, nylon-strings (not electric). I have played for weddings, and concerts. I also provided the accompaniment for our church services every weekend for many years.
3. I made my peace with the fact that I'm the audience, not the comedienne. I love to laugh but I don't tell jokes, usually cos I think someone else can do it better!
4. My mother's family hails from Venezuela and speak both Spanish and English. We converse in English, and I read Spanish way better than I speak it. That doesn't mean I read it well! Just that I read it better than I speak it.
5. My major in college was originally Psychology. By the end of freshman year I was always figuring out what was wrong with my friend's computers, so I decided I was in the wrong field and switched to Computer Science.
6. I love to swim, and I love to swim in the open sea, yet I'm terrified of "things" lurking under the surface of the water. I know it's an unfounded fear, and if I'm in a group of people I'm fine. As the group thins out, my panic grows and I consciously have to tune out the panic.
7. I used to be so skinny in college I deliberately had to try to put on weight so I could tolerate the winters. I ate steak and cheese sandwiches and lots of fattening things every day and slooowly put on the weight. Flash forward a few years and now I can't lose the weight no matter what! 

Here are the Kreative Blogger Award rules
            * Share 7 things that people don't already know about you
            * Name 7 other blogs to receive this award
            * Leave a comment on each of the blogs I nominated and let them know how you found them
            * Thank the person who gave you the award (duh, right?)

So here are my picks of blogs to pass this on to:
Home Cooking with Sonya
Masala Chica
Marlie and Mommy
How to become a Cat Lady... without the Cats
lemonologie
Coach Chelle
Dakermom

One down.... so many more to go!

First Christmas

This is my first Christmas in Blogland, and I've spent a lot of it writing about the local customs and family traditions that mark the season here at home.

I've always loved experiencing Christmas here, and there's a part of me that believes that is because of the pride I have in my country. There's another part of me that says that there's just so much to enjoy and participate in at this time of the year, that it is just a great experience for visitors and locals alike.

As I reflect on what Christmas in Trinidad means, it strikes me that it's changing.

There's a lot more focus on the toys and gifts, and there's also an increasing focus on the parties and clubs. But the traditional festivities like the annual Parang festival are struggling to keep going. More and more people are buying their pastelles and black cake at the grocery, instead of making them at home.

I totally get it - we're living busy lives and so the services are focusing more on selling convenience and escape. This year, for the first time in this house, we didn't buy fresh sorrel but opted instead for the packaged pre-cut dried kind. But there's something to be said for taking the time to make your sorrel, or your pastelles.

The holiday food preparations have always been family-focused. Family members pitched in, young and old, and many hands made the work light. There is laughter and sharing and connection in those times. And these are the experiences that make the season. I can't say that I can make pastelles from scratch. But at a friend's house, in the assembly-line and over lots of laughter, man I can scoop filling like nobody's business!

The food can be had at anytime, anywhere, but if you remove the community, you remove the stuff of memories. When people miss Christmas in Trinidad, the food is a small component of what they miss. What they miss is what happens around the food. What happens during the parang. What happens when we "movin from house to house" (notice the paranderos in the first clip above would stop and sing at one spot and then move along to the next).

That open-hearted spirit is what makes us who we are, and shapes who we become. We are known to be warm and friendly. We are known to be welcoming and kind. We are known to be extremely creative. Because when you have to feed 10 more people than you expected on short notice, with grace, you learn to be creative! When the lime (party) turns good, and the parang touches your soul, musical instruments are made from "bottle and spoon" and a box with string... We are masters of invention.

What is going to feed the creative soul if we look only to convenience? What will the next generation produce?

***********

The beautiful and talented Trinidadian Heather Headley on stage with the great Andrea Bocelli.