It's so hard to know where to start this post, or even where to go. So I'll start with our evening's adventures. Larry and I decided it was time to venture out to find a local Christams light display known as Hartwood Acres. Although local, it is not close by and various trips in this area have served to remind us we DON'T know where we are going, and by the time we find our way 'there' and home, we rarely know where we've been!
Our first summer here, Larry wanted to show me a place he had found. It was 15 minutes away and he assured me we'd be home in 45 minutes. Getting there was easy. We stuck to the interstate. But on the way home we tried the back roads...without the GPS. 45 minutes later we had found 'the river'. I put that in quotes since Pittsburgh is well know for it's 3 rivers! 2 hours later we found our way home.
We've had various adventures since then, mostly in the city. There may be 14 ways into the city, but we've only ever found 1 way home. We end up at his office and head back from there. It may be out of the way, but it never fails.
So tonight's venture out was brave, but we felt suitably armed with a somewhat better idea of the area, 2 separate directions from Mapquest, and our GPS. The 23 mile drive was mostly on main roads (that we knew), and was suppposed to take 38 minutes. The plan was to go see the lights at Hartwood Acres and come back to town for dinner. Ah yes. Plans. Such a good idea. Such a wasted effort.
Who knows what went wrong. We headed down the turnpike towards Butler. Everything seemed fine at first as we headed south on Rt. 8, but then the GPS decided it would rather take us into Pittsburgh. As we followed the calm voice guiding us we suddenly realized we were being directed onto Rt. 28. Points to turn around were absent, and besides, 'The GPS' was quite insistent as it deposited us in downtown Pittsburgh. Fortunately, I had been in that part of town before so I was able to turn us around and head us back out. While Larry was armed with the GPS I had the mapquest directions in hand and was insistent we find our way back to Rt. 8!!! Easier said than done. We tried. We really tried. And finally we found ourselves way out of town, headed for Kittanning, where, OH THANK GOD!!!! there was the turnpike.YES! That road we really do know.
We finally did make it almost to Hartwood Acres. After 2 hours we were a mile from the entrance when we came to a standstill. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who decided to see the lights. Tired, hungry, and running on empty (the Trailblazer was hungry, too) we cried "Uncle" and turned around. It was almost 9:00 when we finally stopped at our favorite wings haunt. "What can I get you?" the waiter asked. "A pitcher of Miller Lite, and 2 glasses, thank you." (Oh yeah, we did order the wings too... after a few swigs. First things first.)
Pittsburgh is a hard place for a GPS. If you are downtown, the concrete canyons make it hard to find a signal. The multiple levels of highway and bridge make it hard to determine which road you should be on. Even so, maybe tonight's trip was more a problem of an old GPS that lost it's way. It has always been pretty reliable before. Larry asked for a new one for Christmas. I sure hope Santa brings one.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Advent--Teaching a Procrastinator How to Prepare
December may have just arrived, but Christmas has been in the works since late summer! Every year we complain that the stores start their holiday promotions earlier and earlier. It seems to test our senses. This year, though, I started thinking about how we view all that commercialism and I came to a new conclusion. Maybe starting to prepare for the holiday so early isn't such a bad thing.
To many people, December is the month we get ready for Christmas, but to Christians, December is the month of Advent. In church each Sunday we light the Advent candle counting down the Sundays until Christmas Eve. Advent is all about preparation. It reminds us that what we are preparing for is the birth of the Christ Child. For all Christians December is a balancing act between the festivities and the focus. Everyday I hear people counting off the 'jobs completed'. "Christmas cards went out today!" "We picked out our tree and cut it down." "Our tree is up!" From baking and shopping to office parties and Christmas Cantatas, the whole month of December is a month of preparation. For a dyed in the wool procrastinator, my attention is much more on the festivities, and less on the focus. For instance...
As a child the feeling of urgency on Christmas Eve added to the excitement. Unfortunately, I carried that into adulthood. I would still be making that Christmas stocking on Christmas Eve so it could be hung by the chimney with care after everyone had gone to bed. In fact, I kind of reveled in the rush to get it done. Over the years I've gotten better, but Christmas Eve will still find me up late getting everything ready. Festivities or Focus?
And that got me thinking about the preparation that goes into the preparation. How often do we fuss because the Christmas decorations have appeared in the stores before Halloween? Being a procrastinator it is easy to jeer sarcastically at them and say the season keeps starting earlier and earlier. But is it possible that those stores are doing us a favor by helping us complete some tasks before the real prepartion begins? For instance maybe I should admire all those early birds that have their shopping done BEFORE Black Friday even arrives.
Lately, I've started to recognize all the benefits of getting things done early. The cookie baker who bakes and freezes her cookies in advance is ready for any party and doesn't have a sink full of mixing bowls and baking pans as she heads out the door. What a thought! Buying that Christmas Tree in September (artificial, that is) means you aren't paying for it in December when money is at a premium. In fact, an obvious benefit of shopping early would mean my January credit card bill would no longer cause a major meltdown in the family budget. I'm not holding out much hope for me for that one. I have multi-levels of reasons that support my need to buy gifts at the last minute.
The point here is that Advent is the time when we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ. The decorations, the shopping and the parties add to the fun, but probably not so much to the focus. Maybe next year I'll find a way to do some of the prep work in advance so that during this month I can focus more on what Christmas means. The stores have their reasons for getting me started early. It's called 'getting into the black'. But I can take their strategy and work it for me. And I'll call it 'getting the spirit back'.
To many people, December is the month we get ready for Christmas, but to Christians, December is the month of Advent. In church each Sunday we light the Advent candle counting down the Sundays until Christmas Eve. Advent is all about preparation. It reminds us that what we are preparing for is the birth of the Christ Child. For all Christians December is a balancing act between the festivities and the focus. Everyday I hear people counting off the 'jobs completed'. "Christmas cards went out today!" "We picked out our tree and cut it down." "Our tree is up!" From baking and shopping to office parties and Christmas Cantatas, the whole month of December is a month of preparation. For a dyed in the wool procrastinator, my attention is much more on the festivities, and less on the focus. For instance...
As a child the feeling of urgency on Christmas Eve added to the excitement. Unfortunately, I carried that into adulthood. I would still be making that Christmas stocking on Christmas Eve so it could be hung by the chimney with care after everyone had gone to bed. In fact, I kind of reveled in the rush to get it done. Over the years I've gotten better, but Christmas Eve will still find me up late getting everything ready. Festivities or Focus?
And that got me thinking about the preparation that goes into the preparation. How often do we fuss because the Christmas decorations have appeared in the stores before Halloween? Being a procrastinator it is easy to jeer sarcastically at them and say the season keeps starting earlier and earlier. But is it possible that those stores are doing us a favor by helping us complete some tasks before the real prepartion begins? For instance maybe I should admire all those early birds that have their shopping done BEFORE Black Friday even arrives.
Lately, I've started to recognize all the benefits of getting things done early. The cookie baker who bakes and freezes her cookies in advance is ready for any party and doesn't have a sink full of mixing bowls and baking pans as she heads out the door. What a thought! Buying that Christmas Tree in September (artificial, that is) means you aren't paying for it in December when money is at a premium. In fact, an obvious benefit of shopping early would mean my January credit card bill would no longer cause a major meltdown in the family budget. I'm not holding out much hope for me for that one. I have multi-levels of reasons that support my need to buy gifts at the last minute.
The point here is that Advent is the time when we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ. The decorations, the shopping and the parties add to the fun, but probably not so much to the focus. Maybe next year I'll find a way to do some of the prep work in advance so that during this month I can focus more on what Christmas means. The stores have their reasons for getting me started early. It's called 'getting into the black'. But I can take their strategy and work it for me. And I'll call it 'getting the spirit back'.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Traditions
Growing up my family enjoyed the holidays, both summer and winter. Breakfast picnics, Thanksgiving gatherings, Christmas parties, the candlelight service on Christmas eve, as well as the sunrise service on Easter are all just a few of the things we grew up doing. My brother-in-law had a word for it. Tradition! "Tradition!" he would declare when we would be planning a picnic or talking about a family sing.
After Larry and I married, we started to create our own traditions. Our own family was raised with a set of family traditions. Because we lived in Florida, far from any other family, our Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions were centered around just the four of us. As the girls grew up and left for school, or marriage, they still came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and those traditions continued.
The year we moved to Pittsburgh was the year we upset the apple cart. It wasn't just us. Janice married and moved away. We moved here. Jen remained in Florida. But suddenly we had to re-invent our holiday traditions. The girls discovered their in-laws handled Thanksgiving differently than we did. From stuffing to pies, the food on the table, as well as the rituals involved had some subtle and some not so subtle differences.
Ben Franklin once said, "In this world, the only thing certain is death and taxes". About a year before we moved I felt pretty certain that our family would move into the next phase of our lives and live within a few hours of each other, in Florida. The next year was like watching dominoes fall in slow motion. When the last domino fell we were all separated by 900 miles.
I think one of the hardest parts for everyone was discovering how to celebrate holidays we had spent together for the previous 30 years. It may have been difficult, but ultimately, I think it is one of the biggest parts of creating and raising a family. As an empty nester, this year Larry and I are faced with re-creating a Christmas morning without kids. When we got married, it was exciting to have that morning together, before we met with the rest of his family. The traditions we developed were a combination of some of his favorite memories and some of mine. But 40 years later it seems daunting.
Even so, I look forward to finding out what we will do. Traditions add stability, expectation and excitement to family events. But they are not stable. They will change and that is a good thing. It means life is evolving and we are open to new things. Traditions aside, that seems like a much more stable way of life than remaining static.
After Larry and I married, we started to create our own traditions. Our own family was raised with a set of family traditions. Because we lived in Florida, far from any other family, our Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions were centered around just the four of us. As the girls grew up and left for school, or marriage, they still came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and those traditions continued.
The year we moved to Pittsburgh was the year we upset the apple cart. It wasn't just us. Janice married and moved away. We moved here. Jen remained in Florida. But suddenly we had to re-invent our holiday traditions. The girls discovered their in-laws handled Thanksgiving differently than we did. From stuffing to pies, the food on the table, as well as the rituals involved had some subtle and some not so subtle differences.
Ben Franklin once said, "In this world, the only thing certain is death and taxes". About a year before we moved I felt pretty certain that our family would move into the next phase of our lives and live within a few hours of each other, in Florida. The next year was like watching dominoes fall in slow motion. When the last domino fell we were all separated by 900 miles.
I think one of the hardest parts for everyone was discovering how to celebrate holidays we had spent together for the previous 30 years. It may have been difficult, but ultimately, I think it is one of the biggest parts of creating and raising a family. As an empty nester, this year Larry and I are faced with re-creating a Christmas morning without kids. When we got married, it was exciting to have that morning together, before we met with the rest of his family. The traditions we developed were a combination of some of his favorite memories and some of mine. But 40 years later it seems daunting.
Even so, I look forward to finding out what we will do. Traditions add stability, expectation and excitement to family events. But they are not stable. They will change and that is a good thing. It means life is evolving and we are open to new things. Traditions aside, that seems like a much more stable way of life than remaining static.
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