Tag Archives: celebration

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

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This is a wreath I made years ago when we lived in Palm Springs. It’s on our front gate. This week, I’m decorating my tree, hanging wreaths and having fun getting ready for my kids and DIL’s visit.

The wreath was placed on our big wooden gates when we lived in Palm Springs.

I noticed a few decorations on my daily walk. Here they are:

I’m not sure if these are mice or polar bears. Any guesses?

I love saguaros with Santa hats.

They look good on Beavergtail cacti too.

I got this Rockin’ Santa from Target in 1999. He’s a joy to bring out each Christmas season. He dances to Brenda Lee’s “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.”

Our first Christmas in Arizona was about a week after we moved. I didn’t decorate. The next year we rented a house in Santa Barbara for our family. The year after that, we stayed in our old Palm Springs neighborhood. Needless to say, I didn’t put up a tree at home. My Rockin’ Santa was the extent of my decorations, plus the wreath on the gate.

I decided to put up the tree this year because the kids are coming. But I couldn’t find my Christmas box containing our married life of ornaments. I looked high and low. I emptied out the guest room closet. I searched the garage which has nice storage cupboards. I looked everywhere.

It hurt my heart that I no longer had our eclectic collection of ornaments that included ones made by my kids in second, third and fourth grades. I had ornaments given as gifts through the decades from my mom and friends. Nothing matched but it all worked and was special to us.

I was relieved to find our Christmas stockings safely tucked away in my bin of gift wrap. My friend in Santa Barbara made them for us, plus I still have the stocking my grandmother knitted for my first Christmas!

Somehow our Christmas ornaments didn’t make the move from Palm Springs to Arizona. The wreaths were stored in the same spot as the Christmas box, which is odd.

A strange thing happened during our move. The movers’ truck wasn’t big enough. They had to rent a separate U-Haul and the nearest one available was in San Diego. That was due to everyone moving out of California during COVID. People were not moving into the state, so U-Hauls were in short supply.

We left for Arizona and the movers promised to catch up with us the next day. We left before the movers had everything packed. Good thing we bought all the furniture in the casita — so we didn’t have to sleep on the floor!

Do you decorate for holidays? Do you keep it to a minimum or do you go all out?

Happy Fourth!

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We went to a Fourth of July pool party on Sunday, so today will be a quiet day, me and hubby, going for a walk and grilling burgers.

I spotted two interesting sights during my last walk.

First was this lovely pink blossom in one of our pots in our courtyard. Because our temperatures are well over 100 degrees, most of the blooms have faded away.

Then I saw two desert kingsnakes. They aren’t venomous and they eat rattlesnakes, so I guess that’s a good thing they’re hanging around our neighborhood.

I hope you all have a Happy Fourth of July!

What are your plans today?

Are We Suffering from Too Much Graduation Glory?

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csfI think we’re getting carried away with end-of-the year activities.

My daughter graduates high school in 14 days. Between graduation and today, we have no less than 8 events on the calendar to celebrate high school graduation. There is Baccalaureate, Senior Brunch, Senior Presents, Latin Awards, Swim Banquet, California Scholarship Banquet, etc., etc. You get the picture. Before this week, we had Senior Awards, Grad Night, ad nausea.

Am I missing something? Aren’t we overdoing this a tad bit? It is just high school, after all.

Back in the day — the late 70s — we had graduation followed by a party. Period. And our party was held at the local Grange.  

imgresWhat’s a Grange you ask? Here’s the definition. It’s a hall out in the middle of nowhere.

On the phone with my aunt last night, I was telling her how busy and crazy the next two weeks are with graduation activities. 

“Her life is just one big celebration,” my aunt said.

prom2

Yep. One big celebration. We started this road with graduation ceremonies from preschool, kindergarten and 8th grade. My son’s 8th grade class of 25 students at a Catholic school spent more than $25,000 for grad night at the local Hilton. It looked more like a wedding reception than graduation with sash covered tables, roses for each woman, photographer, magician and DJ. 

robertk
Exactly who was this night for? The 13 year-olds with pimples? Or the moms?

katprek
We had a class vote and the kids wanted a pool party or a picnic outdoors. But the moms won and we had the 8th grade grande graduation gala — plus the pool party and picnic.

kindergrads

I’m curious what will become of these kids that are used to glory at every turn — from a trophy for every little leaguer — to a ribbon for each kid in the spelling bee. I have a sinking feeling it won’t be good.

Lizgrad
Photos from top: My son’s CSF banquet with friends. A Grange. My daughter’s Senior Prom. Kindergarten Graduation. Pre-K Graduationn. Kindergarten Graduation. And Me — graduating.