A Southern Rehabilitation

This is actually the second year in a row for me "choosing a word." The idea is to choose a word for the new year. I'm sure you've heard about it. It's all the rage these days. It is supposed to be a word that challenges you; a word to adopt and put into practice for the coming year. I heard about this in 2016, but I'm sure it has been a "hot" thing to do for longer than two years. It only came to MY attention sometime in 2016 when I started seeing Facebook ads for bracelets, necklaces ( The Giving Keys ); talk shows were talking about "Word for the Year." Then my daughter received a necklace from one of her best friends. It was a "Giving Keys" necklace. Her friend had asked her to think of a word that would be "her word" for the 2017 year. Katelyn chose "JOY" and Lindsey had the word JOY engraved on the necklace and gave it to her for Christmas. I thought it was a fantastic idea and decided I needed to choose ...

Today was our first snow day of the year and let me tell you, all of NC is super pumped about it. (Ok, I can't speak for every person, but I know A LOT of happy folks today!) Winston-Salem got more snow than was predicted and it looks beautiful. Sooo beautiful. After the snow finally stopped, I would calculate 6-8 inches of glorious white snow for our area. You Northerners may think 6-8 inches is nothing, but down here in the South, it's enough for the governor to call a State of Emergency! School will probably be out for the rest of the week, so that makes three snow days for us. I am loving it right now, but you can bet I'll (all teachers) will be whining up a storm when we have to make up these days. I'm really going to try and remember this exultation today and NOT complain when we are going longer in June than we should be. I woke up at 5:45 this morning, looked out the window and there was basically a ground covering of snow so I went back to bed with high hopes...

I was going through the "not done" posts on my blog and came across this one from last Christmas. I never finished it. :( I'm going to finish and post it because there are some things on here worth remembering, foremost for me. It won't be a long post but that's OK. I started this blog in 2013 for the sole purpose of surviving the days without drugs or therapists or one continuous blackout. Starting this blog was therapy for me--IS therapy for me. It started as a way to work through a devastation. An ending. A crushing heartbreak. Now I think it is more of a chronicling of my life; a way to express my feelings and share my thoughts. It is a way for me to remember my life's events and happenings. What I'm going through or thinking about or feeling. I talk about what is important to me, who is important to me. Basically, I let the world into my mind, my heart and sometimes my soul. So, on to this "old" story... Christmas 2016... Every Christmas...

Christmas is without a doubt my most favorite holiday. It always has been. Christmas is just so beautiful in every way. (to me) Even the word Christmas has a song like quality. I have so many favorites at this time of year... Christmas books: The Night Before Christmas, The Polar Express, The Littlest Christmas Tree, all of the Gingerbread Man books... then there's the Christmas music that I start playing at the end (ish) of October; I just can't help myself. I discovered a new Christmas album this year and you have to get it if you are a Christmas music lover. It's Leslie Odom Jr.'s Simply Christmas Deluxe Edition --Wowzers! I love it. The Glee Christmas CD, Sugarland, Pentatonix, Blake Shelton, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, James Taylor, the list goes on and on. I have so many Christmas CDs! Christmas decorations, yes, please!! By the time I'm finished, my house looks amazing. It feels so cozy, so comfy, so Christmasy. It's my favori...