Christmastide 2008 Night #7...

Whew, what a day...there's a few lines from tonight's Christmastide movie that sums this day up pretty well:

There's magic in the air this evening Magic in the air The world is at her best, you know When people love and care The promise of excitement is one the night will keep There's something in the wind today That's good for everyone Yes, faith is in our hearts today We're shining like the sun And everyone can feel it, the feeling's running deep

My roommate got married this morning...one of the caterers said it best when he said: "We do a lot of weddings and this one was by far the most sincere that I have ever seen." It really was an incredible ceremony from start to finish! The above words from One More Sleep 'Til Christmas are a perfect way to describe the infectious spirit that was present to all before, during, and after this wedding.

I also must admit it was nice to have the extra vacation day from work so that I could take time away to enjoy the wedding and be there to support my friends and not have to worry about how poor I currently am...due to losing a roommate to marriage! With everything going on tonight it was most fitting that tonight's movie should be The Muppet Christmas Carol...

I know I will step on a few toes by saying this, but of all the Christmas Carol movies this one is far and above my favorite...Jim Henson really was a genius and this movie was an excellent tribute made by his son Brian following Jim's death.

I think my feelings, thoughts, prayers, and any other words I might have are pretty much summed up in this clip from the movie:

Christmastide 2008 Night #6...

Well it is the officially the Fifth Day of Christmas...although, unfortunately I did not have the pleasure of waking up to five golden rings waiting for me!

No, today consisted mostly of searching out a second job and a new roommate. For you see, tomorrow on the Sixth Day of Christmas my work buddy and former roommate, Jeffrey and his lovely fiance will be wed. This leaves me now with a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo that I cannot afford on my current salary...well, I mean I am paid up through January already but I have no money to my name because of that. Turns out my lease doesn't end like I thought it did...apparently in the fine print it says you must give 60 days notice before the lease is up otherwise it automatically renews itself. Which is probably a good thing since I am getting denied housing left and right all over town here. So, today I re-posted some ads with some roommate services and whatnot online as well as applied for a couple more evening customer service positions. Overall, not really an exciting day.

I did keep up my new tradition however by watching movie #9 of Christmastide 2008: The Nightmare Before Christmas. What an amazing feat of a film...from concept to finished product. True it isn't a story that would pop out to you as a Christmas tale on the first pitch of the idea...but it is a great story.

A story of staying true to yourself and who you are and meant to be. It is also a story of being content in the very place you are...the lessons of this story are exactly what I have been struggling with the most. I sometimes fail to appreciate where I currently am in life: physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc, because I want more. However, by always wanting more or something else...I lose the ability to fully appreciate today and right now.

I am not going to lie, in almost a year I have still yet to adjust to the place I am now. Most days I would give anything to go back to Bend, go back to my old church, my old friends, and my old job. Hey, sure I wasn't always happy in that place, but it sure felt a lot happier there. But a part of me also knows that were I to leave this place and go somewhere else I would probably be looking back saying I wish I was back here for some reason. Although at this present moment I am not sure what that reason would be.

I just have to continue to trust God that there is a reason why He has me here now...a reason I may never know and must be okay with...and while I want more out of life and relationships with others, like a previous times in my life...I must remind myself...just like Jack the Pumpkin King...I must find ways to be content in the place I am in and not seek out some mythical "better place, somewhere out there"

First step...enjoy each day I am given to its fullest potential no matter where I am at. And tomorrow I plan on fully enjoying being present for Jeff and Alli's nuptials...oh, and rumor has it Alli's best friend has been living in Portland, Oregon this past year so if nothing else I will have someone from the PNW to talk to tomorrow, guaranteed!

Christmastide 2008 Nights #3-5....

I feel like I have some 'splaining to do...I got a little off track with the whole Christmastide routine and keeping these posts up, so here we go....

Friday was St. Stephen's Day and the Second Day of Christmas, after work instead of coming straight home to celebrate I met up with a fellow Hoffman Institute classmate/graduate and her three lovely daughters (two of which are also Hoffman grads). We all enjoyed an entertaining night at both Campbell's and Chowning's Taverns...after which I did come home to watch Bad Santa.

Okay, so Bad Santa isn't necessarily one of the greatest movies or anything, but it was fun to see my hometown Pendleton, Oregon's own Sherriff John Bunnell and the late greats Bernie Mac and John Ritter in action.

Plus it is always entertaining watching some lovable loser find a way to redeem himself. Once the movie was over I was pretty much spent for the day and decided to go to bed without watching the planned second feature of the night.

Saturday was St. John's Day...it was a long full day of work, it was fun having my classmate and all three of her daughters during the day to see a portion of our Revolutionary City program...then that night I was scheduled to work an evening program. One of the daughters had to return home, so my four person fan club was reduced to a three person fan club for the evening show and three hours later I was finally done working for the day. We decided to have our own little pizza party back at the hotel and after some delicious pizza and much laughter I decided to call it a night without watching any movies.

Today marked the Fourth Day of Christmas. I spent the morning at church and then the park with Portia. After which I met up with my fan club for lunch before they all had to leave town. It was sad to see them go, and I felt bad that I hadn't had more time to spend with them, but it was great having them here all the same.

Portia and I came home and I decided to try and get back on track with Christmastide 2008, so I popped in Love Actually. I honestly had forgotten how much I liked this movie. It was a great reminder that no matter how bad things get in the world we need look no further than the important people in our lives for hope and inspiration. Which I think is something we can all afford to be reminded of from time to time.

I followed up this movie with a showing of Elf which was absolutely hilarious! I mean how can you not get into the Christmas spirit when Buddy the elf is around! "I like smiling, its my favorite!"

I think this movie could fill any old Scrooge up with Christmas spirit!

During the movie I had a friend here in the neighborhood get a hold of me and wanted to watch a movie, so I went over and took Serendipity with me for us to watch. I know that for some people considering Serendipity a Christmas movie is a stretch...but for me I have always considered this movie as such.

It is a wonderful movie about living your life to the fullest. My favorite moment in the movie comes when Dean, the obituary writer for the NY Times says to his friend Jonathan (the main character): "You know the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: "Did he have passion?""

I know that I personally hope that when my life is over the answer to that question, should anyone ask, would be "Absolutely!"

It was a refreshing reminder of how I should be and want to live my life...plus it was really nice watching it with a good friend who could appreciate the movie as much as I do!

I returned home after the movie to play around with Portia. I decided to finish the night as I had originally intended on spending this Fourth Day of Christmas by watching Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Yes, yes I know...it's not as good as the original cartoon version and that most people complain that it has Jim Carrey in it. I personally like this version and it contains what I maintain is a great Christmas time song Where Are You Christmas?, of course, I personally prefer the Faith Hill rendition of this song that is included at the end as the credits rollout.

So now I am back on track with my Christmastide 2008 schedule...it only took a minor detour was all! Tomorrow (yes I know the timestamp says it is the 29th already but I haven't gone to bed yet so it's still tomorrow as far as I am concerned) marks the Fifth Day of Christmas and the second to the last day of the year 2008.

It is amazing to me how far I have come in one year's time for very nearly a year I have been here in Viriginia, a world away from my true home of Oregon and all my dear friends and family still out in the Pacific Northwest. I must say I know you all are sick of the snow but I would gladly trade you my 60-70 degree weather for some snow to snowboard in or build an igloo or have a snowball fight in...seriously if it weren't for the movies I have been watching this week I would have never known it was Christmas cause it surely doesn't feel like it around here!

Christmastide 2008 Night #2...

Tonight was evening number two of my Christmastide 2008 venture, however, today marks the traditional First Day of Christmas as well. After work and walk with Portia I came home and had a quick meal of leftover Krab Salad and crackers...Eventually, I was able to get around to watching movie #3 Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) this 2005 foreign film was inspired by the Christmas Eve 1914 front-line soldiers of the German, French, and English lines who met in "No Man's Land" on the battlefield and observed a Christmas ceasefire that was only observed by those soldiers in those locations...unbeknownst to their superiors, who would eventually come down very hard on these soldiers once their actions became known....

I must admit that I am not usually a big fan of foreign films, but this movie is incredible...truly. There is very little I can say about it other than that. If you have not seen it...go find a copy and watch it as soon as you can. This is an excellent movie for all seasons, but especially on Christmas Day. It has been hard for me these last few days to be so far from friends and family, spending the holidays working, making memories on my own...but watching this film tonight was a real blessing to me if for no other it showed you can make your own holiday in any condition and enviroment and it included an amazing song, Hymne des Fraternises. What an incredibly powerful song. I have decided to end tonight's blog by posted the words as well as a video of this song:

"I hear the mountain birds
The sound of rivers singing
A song I've often heard
It flows through me now
So clear and so loud
I stand where I am
And forever I'm dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I'm dreaming of home

It's carried in the air
The breeze of early morning
I see the land so fair
My heart opens wide
There's sadness inside
I stand where I am
And forever I'm dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I'm dreaming of home

This is no foreign sky
I see no foreign light
But far away am I
From some peaceful land
I'm longing to stand
A hand in my hand
...forever I'm dreaming of home
I feel so alone, I'm dreaming of home"

Christmastide 2008 Night #1...

Tonight was the kickoff for my inaugural Christmastide Tradition...and although tonight was a very busy night it was a lot of fun too. Here's the recap....

After work and attending the candlelight ceremony at church, I came home to walk Portia and kickoff the Christmastide Season. While I am no Chef Ramsey or Bourdain, I did my best to make a delicious traditional seafood Christmas Eve meal that included a Krab (yes used the fake stuff) Salad and a Salmon and rice dinner (as pictured)...traditionally I found out that Christmas Eve is known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes...maybe when I have more bellies than mine and Portia's I will cook a seven fish dinner!

Dinner was followed by the first movie of the Christmastide Season A Colbert Christmas. Must say that this ridiculous and humorous Christmas special was a perfect way to enjoy the evening as I prepared my sugar cookie dough and icing for use later in the night. Stephen had guest such as Toby Keith, John Legend, Jon Stewart, and Elvis Costello. Once I had finished preparing the dough for the cookies I popped it into the freezer and started putting together my Christmas Wreath.

Another tradtion that I have learned about these past few weeks is that the Christmas Wreath would be put together on Christmas Eve and then hung that night for the remainder of the Christmastide Season. Over the last couple nights I took the time to prepare a couple things to add to my wreath...

My Attempt at the Heart In Oregon Logo

Classic Oregon State University Mascot, Benny The Beaver

1970's Boston Red Sox Logo

And before A Colbert Christmas was over I had my 2008 Christmastide Wreath completed...I even used holly from the holly tree outside my condo. Here's what the finish product looks like hanging on my front door....

Once the wreath was hung, I took the time to roll out, bake, and decorate the sugar cookies...thank you to my sisters who helped in figuring out the best icing recipes to use!


Then came time for the second movie of tonight's double feature...Fred Claus...I even got Portia to pose for a couple pictures with me during the movie, I decided to post the picture where it looks like she is laughing (actually I think I just caught her in mid-yawn is all)...I must admit though watching this movie it did bring back some memories from last year's holiday season as my father took me to see this movie last year. I definitely miss my family and friends back home in Oregon...and not too mention all the snow they are enjoying for their White Christmas.

I had a lot of fun tonight...it will be nice to have Christmas cookies around the house over the Christmastide Season and as I opted not to do the whole Christmas Tree thing this year it will also be nice to come home to the wreath on the front door. I am honestly looking forward to the rest of this Christmastide venture I have set out on. I think overall it will be a nice tradition to keep up for myself.

So as it is getting late here and I really should head off to bed as I do have to work tomorrow allow me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year...to all my friends and family out there I love and miss each and every one of you very dearly...Portia and I wish and hope to spend some quality holiday time with you all soon....

Oh, and before I go let me send a special thank you and I love you shout out to Ashley and Zack, Sarah and Daren, and Mark...thanks to you all I get to rip into all this tomorrow morning...

Christmastide 2008 So Far (Or The Scheduled Shows & Showtimes)...

I am still sorting out the dinner plans for my Christmastide 2008 inaugural grown-up Christmas time tradition...but what I have completed is the official list of movies and nights they are to be watched.

I have chosen some of my personal favorite Christmas time movies and then arranged them according to their original theatrical (or TV in some cases) release dates. This year I have chosen to watch the movies in reverse chronological order so that I will go back in time over the Christmastide season...the first movie will be from 2008 and the last movie will be from 1942.

Here is the schedule for my Christmastide 2008 Movie Nights...each movie will be proceeded by that night's meal that are still in the works:

Day 1December 24th

A Colbert Christmas – November 23, 2008

Fred Claus – November 9, 2007

Day 2 December 25th 1^st Day of Christmas

Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) – November 9, 2005

Day 3 December 26th 2^nd Day of Christmas

Badder Santa – November 26, 2003

Love Actually – November 14, 2003

Day 4 December 27th 3^rd Day of Christmas

Elf – November 7, 2003

Serendipity – October 5, 2001

Day 5 December 28th 4^th Day of Christmas

Dr. Suess How the Grinch Stole Christmas – November 17, 2000

Day 6 December 29th 5^th Day of Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas – October 29, 1993

Day 7 December 30th 6^th Day of Christmas

The Muppet Christmas Carol – December 11, 1992

Day 8 December 31st 7th Day of Christmas

A Muppet Family Christmas – December 25, 1989

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – December 1, 1989

Day 9 January 1st 8th Day of Christmas

A Christmas Story – November 18, 1983

Day 10 January 2nd 9^th Day of Christmas

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas – 1977

Charlie Brown Christmas – December 9, 1965

Day 11 January 3rd 10^th Day of Christmas

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas – October 14, 1954

Day 12 January 4th 11^th Day of Christmas

Miracle on 34^th Street – May 2, 1947

Day 13 January 5th 12^th Day of Christmas

It’s A Wonderful Life – December 20, 1946

Day 14 January 6th

Holiday Inn – August 4, 1942

If you end up anywhere near me on these nights and care to join in the Christmastide 2008 Inaugural Tradition just let me know!!

Treading Water...

It's probably a phase or something...maybe it's the holidays...maybe it's the fact that I have had a killer cold/headache for the past three days...who knows. But I am honestly having a hard time lately. I am struggling living so far away from all the people that truly care about me, the people I want to be surround by and spend quality time with. It's hard for me to live in a place where I feel so isolated...I haven't always been this way...as a matter of fact a little more than a year ago I would have been just fine living a life holed up in my bedroom somewhere away from it all, completely isolated. Last winter I went through an extremely hard time in my life and then right through an amazing time shortly thereafter...long story and I may tell it to you one day if you don't already know...don't feel much like getting into all that tonight. I just had to put it out there that I really feel like I am treading water out in the middle of the ocean with crashing waves and waterspouts all around me. Oh sure I know I will get through all this...I mean I always do somehow...but do I have to pretend that I'm not struggling to get through it? I think not. I love my job...but I really hate my job environment...I really love and miss all my close friends and family, but most of them are 3000 miles away enjoying the snow right now (or not enjoying it in some cases to which I would gladly trade them places so they can have the rain here right now and Portia and I will take full advantage of the snow!!) The trouble is it comes down to what makes you happy and who can you trust...right now, in this moment, I am not happy with the way things are going and I don't have anyone around me I can trust....save for the people on the opposite side of the country from me. I am trying not to bitch here...it's just the way it is right now....things will change...I know that...the only constant in life is change....well that's all for now...like I said, just putting it out there...get it off my chest so to speak....a little venting via blog...

I Am Second...

Have you seen this new campaign yet? These testimonies are pretty incredible...people from every walk of life all with One thing in common...

(If you click on the picture above it will take you to the website)

The Christmastide Conundrum...

So my job maybe affecting him more than I would like to admit, or it may be that with this post I will be revealing my geekside just a little too much...but I have a bit of a problem I am wrestling with currently...starting my own Christmas tradition.

For a good portion of my life, at least the adult portion, I have worked on the holidays and this year is no exception as my place of work prides itself on the fact that we are open every single day of the year. Well, I started thinking that I would like to start a tradition of celebrating the holiday season in a way that would allow me to celebrate despite my work schedule every year.

Now for the geek part: I am now toying with the idea of celebrating the season in the traditional 18th Century manner known as Christmastide...some of you may know it as the 12 Days of Christmas or the Twelfth Night Traditions. Contrary to the modern custom, Christmastide begins on Christmas Eve and ends 12 nights later on January 5th, the eve before the day of Epiphany...although some celebrate it from Christmas Day to January 6th (day of Epiphany).

Traditional a wreath would be prepared and made on Christmas Eve and then would be hung on the door of your home until after the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th. Over the course of the 12 nights there would be feasts each night, of course these feasts would vary dependent upon the income and wealth of the homes that were celebrating. On the final day of Christmas tide there would be a meal followed by the King Cake, a cake made famous by the French and our fellow Americans in Louisiana.

Anyway, my trouble now is trying to decide how to observe this tradition on such short notice and on a limited budget...of course, the true problem is figuring out what to make each day for that evening's feast. Aside from the tradition of serving some sort of seafood on Christmas Eve and then finishing with a King Cake on January 6th I am coming up short with ideas for the meals in between.

My idea is to have 12 mini-feasts over the course of Christmastide, invite a small group of people over each night to celebrate with a meal and perhaps a Christmas movie as I have quite a few of those. So what I need from you all are ideas for dinners...not major meals, just simple one/two course holiday meal ideas that I can break down into 12 different days...so fire away and I'll let you all know what I end up doing...and maybe one year we can all get together and celebrate!

Merry Christmas To The United States Armed Forces...

Let's all be sure to say an extra prayer for all the members of the United States Armed Forces and their families this holiday season no matter where in the world they are stationed right now...may you all have a blessed Christmas this year and may each of you make it home soon!

Fighting The War On Christmas...

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Toby Keith Sings

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

A Salute From The American Flag...

I wanted to post this humorous video as a tribute to all our American Veterans who have kept our flag flying high at every "dawn's early light"...please enjoy the video and as you go about your day tomorrow be sure to thank all the Veterans in your life for their service...and if you know any WWII Vets seek them out and tell them how grateful you are for them, tomorrow is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day for all those who don't know or didn't remember...enjoy the video!