Happy Holidays!

Tomorrow morning, John & I will be flying to Toronto for Christmas. I'm so excited! The anticipation has been building all month...I'm so glad it's finally here! We haven't been back to Oakville since May of 2006 and I can't wait to see everyone.

Our flight is an early one, so I'm off to bed. I wish you the Merriest of Christmases & the Happiest of New Years. I have a feeling 2008 is going to be a good year!

Joyously,
PortlandGirl

Birthday Retrospective

Today is December 7th. A date which has lived in infamy since 1941. Today also happens to be my birthday & I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank my parents for not naming me Pearl.

I was born on the 30th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which makes me 36 years old today. I'm feeling pretty good about being 36. Last year was harder b/c 35 was my "scary age". The age at which I started to feel my years (note I said "feel", not "act"). The age where, for the first time in my life, I suddenly felt closer to 40 than 20. The age that technically makes me (gasp!) middle-aged. Middle-aged?! I can't be! I'm only little.

So this past year has really been one of learning for me - about how to get past all of those stereotypes & negative feelings about aging. Focusing on the experiences & people in my daily life rather than obsessing over whether or not my hair (or my weight!) is having a good day or a bad day. And I feel like I'm in a better headspace about it now. I am by no means over all of my body hang-ups or various other obsessive-compulsive tendencies, but I think I might be over that first hill & coasting down the opposite side. Coasting is nice.

And considering the fact that I got animal-shaped rubber bands & crayons for my birthday, I may actually be closer to 10 than 40.

Thirty-sixerly,
PortlandGirl

p.s. Special birthday wishes go to everyone's friend Chris Burke & my grade school birthday twin, Heidi Sopinka.

It's Christmas Charlie Brown

Even though I've still got leftover Thanksgiving turkey in the fridge (which, come to think of it, probably needs to go in the garbage), the Christmas season has arrived in full swing. How do I know this to be true? Because of two very important "holiday markers" I observe each year...

1) I heard "Do They Know it's Christmas?" on the radio two days ago. This song brings back memories of the Grove's annual Christmas morning party; specifically, the one in 1984. This is when all the kids at the party thought it would be a good idea to play the song over & over again so we could sing along & pretend we were in the video. We had the full-on, one-hand-over-the-ear technique (b/c that's how you make it look like you're wearing headphones don't'cha know) & it never seemed to get old. I'm sure it did to the adults though. Especially when the song started on full blast for the 20th time.

2) I've started counting the number of houses with Christmas lights on them. This is a tradition that dates back to the 80s when Marn & I would get excited about all of the colorful lights & decorations we'd see at night on our way to & from dancing class. (Actually, I think this practice was a carry-over from the 70s when we used to see how many people's fur coats we could touch without them noticing during Blades games at Oakville Arena.)

So, clearly it's time to pull out the Christmas decorations, whip up a mug of hot chocolate & watch some of the old (& new) holiday classics. "It's a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Story", "Love Actually" & "The Holiday" are a few of my faves. Hope you've got some of your own!

Joyfully,
PortlandGirl