Tagged: holidays

Dec 21

The Giving Fun

My two favorite holidays are Christmas and the 4th of July – I think it has to do with both of those holidays being HUGE in my hometown; For the 4th of July, Prescott has the “The World’s Oldest Rodeo” claims along with week-long (or more) run of 4th festivities, and for Christmas, we earned the title of “Arizona’s Christmas City” when I was in grade school (I think it was grade school time anyway) – We haven’t let go of that title since.

I think both of these hugely celebrated events also appealed to my cooky family, which made them all the more fun – we get to hang out a lot when there are so many reasons to skip work, play, and eat in celebration.

In any case, Christmas is fast approaching (like, super fast!) and I’m just not completely feeling its presence yet.  Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been going like a freight train myself the past couple months and haven’t had time to “feel” Christmas approach… or maybe it’s because although the tree is up and stockings are hung, my empty bank account has limited how much cheer I can give away this year.

I don’t know.

But I am happy to say that (although on a budget) I am done with my Christmas Shopping – and I’m SUPER happy to say that I can’t wait for everyone to open their gifts because I had so much fun picking them out.

I have always loved buying gifts for everyone – sometimes I’m so excited about a found gift that I want to give it to the recipient early (I’m usually more excited than they are.)  Which is fun, because at my house it’s never about “What am I going to get?!” but rather, “How can I disguise this super-awesome gift” …

Because Antone Family tradition is you have to guess what’s inside the box before you can open it!

I think my parents started this ‘game’ because as kids, Christmas was always over so fast… sitting around the fireplace, taking turns guessing what’s in each package turns the whole event into a group experience, makes it last a looooong time, and gaurantees lots of laughter and grinning cheeks.

It also ensure creative and sneaky wrapping to try and fool one another.

So, as I sit prepare my gifts to wrap, I will also be raiding the cupboards for soup cans and pasta boxes to add weight and mystery to some of these things, scouring the garage for unusual boxes and bubble wrap, and otherwise scheming away (See, the pre-game part is even fun!)

And for any of you who want to try it out  - the “Guess” has to be whether you think the item is something you’re going to wear, eat, play with, look at, etc… not exactly the item – unless you’re my dad, who somehow seems to know which box contains jeans, books on motorcycles, or whatever insane unknowable item you would never imagine he’d be able to guess but guesses anyway.

Yes, I’m excited.  May you each enjoy your own Christmas/Hanukkah/and more traditions this year as well :)

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Nov 28

10 days OFF!

Ooooh, I don’t want to get up and go to work tomorrow!  I’ve had a DELICIOUS 10 days off… and I packed ‘em full of fun.  I can’t believe it was only last weekend that I was in LA (!) and now, here I sit, post-Thanksgiving, and I am feeling very full and very happy.

I love Thanksgiving.  I think it’s because it’s whole purpose is to bring family and friends together to eat and give thanks – how beautiful is that?!  And I am so very thankful for my family and friends!

But now… things are winding down (for a bit at least, before they get all wound up again for Christmas) and I have to go back to work.

I. Have. To. Go. Back. To. Work.

A year ago I couldn’t have said that…

A year ago I would have loved to be able to claim such a job as this…

Which is why (even though at the moment I’d like nothing more than a bonus sleep-in day for tomorrow) I am thankful that I have this job to go to.

But it’s also why this post is wrapping up and I’m going to bed now.

I hope you all had a GLORIOUS Thanksgiving :)

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Jan 01

My Dancing Shoes

I forgot how much I love to dance until we rang in the New Year with some much needed boogie-ing.  Happy New Year indeed!

Sometimes, because I have such a tendancy to sweat the small and large stuff, I get bogged down in not-necessarily-making-the-most-of-life… or in other words, I spend too much time at my apartment, attached to my computer, and day-dreaming the day away with new worlds and imaginary characters intended to wow audiences and pay my bills in the process.

I forget to dance.

So last night as I toasted 2010′s arrival with friends, I made every effort to rally them on down the block a ways to the music pulsing bar across the street.   I’m so very glad they joined in the cause, because we danced in the new year, and I went to sleep feeling so very happy- happy to have 2009 FINALLY done with, and so very happy to have begun 2010 with good friends, fun music, and that slight sheen of sweat trickling down the small of my back from a happily piqued dancing fever.

May 2010 be full of many more such lovely moments of revelry in which I remember to celebrate this life and all it’s joys.

After all, it’s the joys that make all those challenges worth the effort.

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Dec 31

The 2009 Wrap Up

Wow.  What a year.  Let’s recap:

January 2009:  Yay!  Hip, hip, hooray!  It’s 2009 and all is (record scratching)  What?  You’re laying me OFF?   Oh.  Fuck.

February:  Hmmm, If I have a job lined up for March 1st, does that mean I can take this month to write?  I think so… Hey, diddle, diddle dee, that’s a whole month of writing for me… Oh, what?  Valentines Day?  That’s for suckers… I mean, maybe I’m a bit of a sucker too… but I don’t have… I mean, I kind of had… Oops, no, no I don’t.  Shit.  (sigh) Stupid Cupid.

March:  Yay, Yay, I’m getting paid to make snacks for The Colony crew, and writing, and… trying not to loose my mind because I don’t know what I’m doing after this… GAH!!!  Wait, dad is sick again?  SHIT!  (Have complete mental breakdown pondering life, its fleeting nature, and how terrifying love can really be)

April:  Snack-time at The Colony is wrapping up… how many bags of ham and tortilla chips do you think I can sneak out of here with before anyone notices?   Well, if I bring some to my sick dad in San Diego is it alright?  No?  Jeez, Scrooges!  (sigh)  At least he’s getting better.  And I didn’t have to buy groceries for two months.

May:  Umm, so, hey, CA EDD, can I get back on the unemployment?

June:  Going to be working in a few weeks.  If. I. Can. Just. Keep. It. Together…

July:  Teaching at UCLA performing arts institute!  Best Job EVER!  Love the kids, love the classes, love the paycheck!   Love it, love it, love it!  This is what I’m supposed to be doing (in addition to writing)  I am so happeeeeeeeeeee… wait a minute… It’s only for a month?!  (sigh)  Shit!

August:  I’m going to D.C. with my play!  It’s gonna’ be at the Kennedy Center!  Yay!  Big time, yippee!  I feel like a playwright, I am a playwright … I am a playwright who can’t pay her bills because her unemployment just ran out… WTF?!

September:  Heartbreak.  HEARTBREAK.  Teaching Acting on Saturdays and working for the Rand Corp. between sob sessions.  Buy stock in Kleenex, make millions…

October:  Alright!  I’m turning 31, get rid of that nasty zero… that’s what 30 was, a zero year!  Ran down to the nub… 31 is gonna’ be better, I can feel it, I can feel….

November:  Oh, SHIT!  I’m so out of money I’m gonna’ have to move home… No more time to be depressed or heartbroken, I gotta find a way to EAT!   Wait, what?  You’re gonna’ pay me to write a screenplay for you?  Hell, yes I’m interested!  (disaster averted… for now)

December:  Writing, writing, writing!  And brushing up my bartending chops.  And heart is on the mend, even smiled at cute boy smiling at me over zuchini tray at grocery store.  Financially distressed, resorting to box-dye and personal bang-trimming in bathroom, instituted new “You bought it, you eat it ALL” policy for all items, including really old bread that hasn’t grown any mold but almost broke tooth, and fought off monster cold that threatened to turn me into giant, gooey, undateable, unhireable, blob from outer space.   Prayed to GOD, that 2010 is better.  Wrote this.  Got dressed for New Years Eve, hoping 2010 rushes in on the wings of love and prosperity.  Don’t feel selfish asking for the things I want/need/deserve.

Last words to messy ‘ol 2009?  You were a totally unbalanced, crazy, and painful little bitch, but I’m probably (however unwillingly) stronger for it, so, thanks for the good stuff, and get on out of my sight with the bad!

2010?  I hope you got your shit together, because you and me, baby, we’re gonna’ shine!

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Dec 28

The Chilly Willies

I’ve been complaining nigh on 11 years now about the dreariness of Los Angeles winters- it gets cooler, sometimes even downright cold, but those days are often cancelled out by days of innapropriate warmth sneaking in and mucking up the holiday clock… I mean, it’s just hard to feel like Christmas is a-coming when it’s 78 degrees outside and little squirrels are sunbathing on the rocks outside your window.

Which is why, oh reader dear, I’ve been so enjoying my little sojourn in the good ‘ol mountainous homeland.  I mean, it’s 34 degrees here today… that’s the HIGH!  Which is what it’s supposed to feel like in December.

And I know there are a lot of folks suffering through negative temperatures, insane wind-chills, and piles of snow, but I’ve got to say (as someone who gets a tad tired of LA’s perpetual disregard to the seasons) YAHOO to a bit of the chilly willies.

Granted, I’m not living in a climate that keeps the gauge so low for months on end… but I’ve got to say there is a joyfulness missing from the LA calendar- the joy of the first snowfall, the relief when the first flowers bloom and spring is once again upon you with her promise of sunshine kisses and soft rain, the bliss of hot summer days on the beach or at the pool, and the quiet rush of falling leaves in Autumn.

(sigh)

In LA it’s all one big warmish muddle.

Which is why I am enjoying my sweaters and coats and scarves and boots, my parent’s fireplace, and the snuggly comfort of hot cocoa…

I’ll return to awkward LA and it’s seasonally challenged dress-code soon enough.

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Dec 14

Ahhh, the cooties got me!

Well, I knew waking up on Saturday that continuing with the planned Holiday Fiesta was a risky move- I felt like crap and my voice was barely present… But I couldn’t muster the courage to cancel.  I wanted to see everybody, and I had already bought the turkey.  So I pressed on with my day- a day begun in Valencia with this “Miss Tiffany has a little voice today, so let’s everyone be on our best behavior so she doesn’t have to talk too loudly!”  to a room full of empathetic 4 yr. olds who quickly forgot about Miss Tiffany’s cold entirely and dissolved into their regular rambunctious behaviors.

(sigh)

So by the time I got back home for last minute decorations and turkey preparations (while I was certainly feeling festive) my voice-box was on it’s last little legs.

And I will say that I had a LOVELY time (and drank only hot tea), it was so nice to see everyone and the food was all delightful.  (we didn’t even wind up with a dozen pumpkin pies like last year, so yay!)  But when all was said and done, and the last reveler had gone, I was left to face the non-music… my voice was GONE, and the germs that conquered were setting up camp in my chest.

For the cold, thus left untended, had taken over.

So Sunday was spent abed, and acouch, and today I will spend a chunk of my time aKaiser…

The funny thing being (in all the coughing and whining) is that I knew I was pressing my luck, yet I forged ahead anyway.

And I wonder, if the wonders of modern medicine weren’t so readily available… if I wasn’t paying $160 a month for the “luxury” of a $30 co-pay to see Dr. Somebody-or-other, would I have been so lax on my own upkeep?  I mean, a hundred years ago, I might not have had such a cavalier attitude about these persistent germs… I might have been in bed, on a strict OJ and chicken soup diet… intimidated by the threat of leeches or other such unusual treatments.

Instead, living as we do now, I forged ahead with little worry as to how I would manage the consequences.

And in all honesty, while the party surely didn’t help matters, it wasn’t solely to blame; rather it became an accelerant- too much talking, laughing, and energy spending- thus I depleted my dwindling resources.

So today, I will celebrate in the marvels of modern medicine- I will rest up with more tv-watching and wii playing, and I will hope that my voice returns post haste.

And I will smile through the coughing as I think of all the fun I had celebrating the holidays with my very dear friends this season.

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Dec 12

The Holiday Letter

Now, I know there are countless numbers among you who have slaved over this time-honored tradition… some of you may have lost sleep, developed a nasty eye twitch, or even fallen asleep at the keys winding up with something akin Greetings from the HOFFENzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz only to wake up in a panic and churn out a substitute letter in half the time.

But I do not walk among you.

Oh, I’ve tried to be festive, sending out the holiday cheer… I even bought Christmas cards a few years ago.  Mhm, yes I did.  They’re sitting on the same shelf as the wrapping paper, and I reach past them every year with a slight ting of guilt because I have never sent them out.

I don’t have time.

Or, I have the time, but I have other things I’d like to do with it.

Like write this…

But really, until I have a family of my own to brag about (and let’s face it, when that happens, I’ll probably talk about them all the time right here anyway, making a holiday card mute… or akin to something like this – “Happy Holidays!  I’m not clogging up your mailbox with another Holiday Letter because you should be pretty much up-to-date per my fablous blog.  For you slackers out there, shame!  Santa be angry! Click here to catch up and we’ll call it even.”)  Wow, that was a long parenthetical!  The point being thus, I haven’t a lot to tell you that you shouldn’t already know.

But, I do enjoy receiving everyone else’s little cards, photos, and recaps.  I look at every single one of them, I get a bit jealous at my friends who have husbands and children, and I think “Wow, will I ever count myself amongst the coupled?”  Then I eat a cookie, stay up as late as I want, and refuse to wash my hair for a full day and half just because I CAN DAMMIT, and I feel better.

(sigh)

But joyful, joyful, to all and to all (in lieu of an actual Christmas Card from me)  Merry HanaChrismaKwanzaWhatever-you-celebrate!

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Dec 11

The decorations are up!

There is something about decorating your house for Christmas that makes the whole season so much more fun!  I love putting up my Christmas tree, looking at each lovely ornament as I hang them… And the twinkling lights make the whole room glow with the promise of a happiness, good tidings, and cheer.  At least, that’s what I think of when I look around.

I imagine when I was younger, the tree only made me think of the presents beneath it.

But I’m older now, and although I reeeeeaaally like to give gifts, I don’t really think about getting them anymore.  Because the holidays are about celebrating the one’s you love, be it with a gift you bring them, or time you spend with them.  And that’s what I really treasure, the time.  Because it goes fast and never asks us how we feel about it.  It’s up to us to enjoy every moment we can!  Christmas just always reminds me of that… of the fleeting nature of life, and of our commitment to cherish it.

And besides, everything looks prettier with a bit of tinsel spread over it!

But however you celebrate the winter holidays, I hope it is lovely and warm… and may you be with the ones you love  :)

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Nov 26

On this day of Thanks

Thankfulness…  We skip over it too often.  I’m at home, home sweet home, and football is on the T.V., everyone anticipating the goodies in the kitchen… and for the moment everyone is just happy.  Purely, sincerely, happy.

Because life is really simple!  It’s just that we people insist on making it more complicated than it needs to be, inherently craving drama or a challenge… I don’t know…

But here we are, on a day of thanks- a day set aside to rejoice in family and friends and bountiful tables, and there’s naught else to be worrying about except whether or not you can fit another bite of turkey into that overstuffed belly of yours… Life is meant to be like this.

Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Life is meant to be celebrated.

Life is meant to be shared.

And I’m sitting here, in my house, delicious aromas spinning round my head, feeling in tune with something deeper, something whole…

Life is truly a wonder, we are a wonder- and this day our touchstone of revelation.

Rejoice in all that you have within you, rejoice in all that you have about you.  For, life is ours for so short a time; we must make the most of it… and eat lots of turkey.

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Nov 20

The holidays are coming!!!

And I’m getting ready!

It’s funny, I had such a rough year, you’d think I’d be dreading all the fuss – but I’m looking forward to them with gusto.  I think it’s because my family and I are so very close, and I cherish the time I get to spend with them.  Knowing that I will soon be gliding merrily through a house smelling of all things delicious fills me with comfort and peace.

Which is what the holidays are all about.

Not those Black Friday sails and counting boxes under the tree.

So maybe it’s not such a bad thing that we won’t be contributing too bullishly to the looting… Because the important stuff?  The love and peace and joy?  That my family and I have in abundance.

Happy Holidays indeed!

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