Short & Sweet – My Wish for 2013

I’m not going to lie. I have not been inspired to write for a while now.  One of my new year’s resolutions is to get back on my writing game because when I write, I feel sharper. 

Here are my wishes:

Dazzling Christmas Lights

When I was a kid, I celebrated Christmas week in the rural midwest with my maternal grandparents and family. Christmas Eve was spent diving in gifts and wrapping paper in my grandparents’ living room. Afterwards, I had the option of doing the dishes or going to church.

On Christmas Day, my family and I would drive three blocks (still kind of crazy that we drove) to see my eccentric great-aunt and gentle great-uncle, “the engineer” with a hard g. He was from Sweden and had really pretty eyes but when he spoke, it sounded like svenska gibberish, and I had no idea what he was saying most of the time.

When we arrived to the house, cousin Muggsy, an obnoxious Boston Terrier, would  eagerly greet us by slobbering all over our legs, biting holes in nylons and causing overall chaos until he was gently directed to the basement. Muggsy morphed into Muggsy 2 and the trilogy ended  with naming her last dog Hercules.  Hercules made the previous Boston Terriers looks like stuffed animals.

As an adult, I stopped traveling north for Christmas but since Thanksgiving, I have been taking long walks after dinner to admire the Christmas lights. Ironically, we have had no snow on the ground, until today.  Here are some photos of treasures taken on my walks.

Reindeer Cookies – Cookie Karma

Last year, my spirited colleague, Aimless, coerced me into participating in the cookie exchange at work.

For a review as to what happened last year, take a moment to relive the excitement cookie exchange chaos.  I still think my Candy Cane Brownies were pretty good, given they came from me. But, then again, I didn’t really have much contact with them since my friends at work kind of took over while I sipped some wine and ate some chips with guacamole, but I digress.