MOYNA'S RAMBLINGS (6)

A NEW YEAR, A NEW BEGINNING...It's time for that proverbial New Year's Resolution. I haven't made one since my 20's; I've never kept them, so why make one? It's just something that depresses you because you KNOW, and you DO, fail... How long can you be successful? A day, a week, or maybe, if you're really strong (or lucky), a month? Most of us resolve to lose weight - I can't even COUNT the number of times I've made that one (New Year's and other various times of the year)!! Three weeks is about the longest I've lasted - then, before you know it, it's Martin Luther King's birthday, so what do we do? Go out to dinner & celebrate! After that, you've ruined your diet, so why bother? Failed once again...

This year WILL BE DIFFERENT!!! For one, I'm actually making a resolution. This is from a message I heard this morning -
My Resolution: "TO REJOICE EVERMORE" and "IN EVERY THING GIVE THANKS FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS CONCERNING YOU." (I Thes. 5)
The pastor spoke of how everyone has problems, but it's how we handle them. Most people think as they go through something, that they are the only one with this problem - or the only person that has a problem. Afterall, everyone around them is doing well. I've never been one to believe I'm the only one with problems, just that I seem to have more than most!! I just need a breather once-in-awhile. I've always thanked & praised God for what I'm going through, though sometimes I really don't mean it...I don't do it with a joyful heart, rejoicing in my circumstances. It's always easy to be happy & rejoice when we are being blessed by God. How many of us, though, are really joyful when trials come our way? Not too many, I'd wager. So, this year I will work on having a joyful heart - 24/7. I doubt (there's a word of failure...) if I will be perfect by the end of 2007, but I HOPE (there's the word for success!!) I will be further along than where I am now. And I know if God is there helping me, I have to succeed with my resolution for this year!! Now, you all have to keep in mind that I'm married to Fred Hudson - my success will be small steps, not leaps & bounds...!!! Just kiddding, Fred - ha, ha, ha!!!

Fred & I will ring in the New Year in our usual way...Fred will be asleep and I will watch the ball drop from NYC on tv. Then, a couple of the kids in the neighborhood will shoot off firecrackers!
We will get up tomorrow morning, have a nice breakfast, and remark how we can't believe it's another year already. Time goes by so fast as you get older. Then by mid-morning, I will lose Fred's attention because he will be watching Auburn play Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I sit here, 7:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, the neighborhood kids have begun with the firecrackers & fireworks early - they usually wait until midnight. Lots & lots of firecrackers... And Fred sleeps through it all.

Cinema and Christmas

This has to be one of the best times of the year. It's Christmas, obviously, which is always exciting. Yesterday was my last day at the school, and now I turn my attention to finishing my shopping and visiting with family over the break. But it's also time for movies to receive nominations and trophies, starting recently with the Golden Globes. I enjoy watching movies, and I enjoy too seeing what movies (like my favorites) do well. I just saw Thank You For Smoking, which is incredible. I also read a post online by someone I went to school with, who makes a neat parallel between her favorite movie of the year, Superman Returns, and this holiday season. I think it's a unique connection between these two wonderful times of the year that has a nice message about what for me is to be the true focus:

"...Though they are a little overdone in the film, the parallels the writers and directors created between Superman and Jesus are part of the reason I got so much out of the film...

The parallels to Christ have always been there in Superman’s mythology. The father (Jor-El) sends his only son (Kal-El) to earth to help and look out for its people. Superman is pretty much a perfect being, without sin or selfishness. He’s more than just a man. He’s there to help and save the people of earth.

The movie Superman Returns brings the Christ parallels even more to the forefront... In order to save the people of earth, Superman has to be willing to sacrifice himself. In the process, he 'dies' (even falling to earth with his arms out to each side as if positioned on a cross), and rises from the dead (what is deemed a coma by the writers – maybe they thought they were being too obvious) about three days later.

Though I doubt they intended it, the writers of the movie do their best invocations of Christ in the smaller moments where they aren’t trying quite as hard. Superman has been gone for five years, and no one knows where. In her frustration, particularly about his failure to even say goodbye, Lois Lane has written a story called 'Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman,' and has even been awarded the Pulitzer for it. When she talks to Superman again for the first time since his return, she tells him, 'The world doesn’t need a savior, and neither do I.'

Of course, Lois is totally mistaken. In fact, if not for Superman saving her and several other reporters from certain death as their plane plummeted toward the Earth in the film’s first act, she would not be around to tell him she doesn’t need him. This makes me think of my own tendency to always want to do everything for myself. I HATE asking for help. I think most of us would probably agree that we’d prefer to keep it so that no one has to look out for us but ourselves, that we don’t need anyone to save us...

But what Lois finds out after her life is saved by Superman AGAIN, along with the lives of (as Lex Luthor brags) 'Billions!' of other people on earth, the world does need a savior. On one of the 'making of' documentaries on my Superman Returns DVD, one of the producers made a remark about the fact that the world really does need a savior; it needs a Superman.

Well, the good news, and what many of us are celebrating at this time of the year, is the fact that the world already has one. While we may be capable of taking care of ourselves in most ways, one thing we cannot do to save ourselves is to get ourselves right with God. Based on all the reading I’ve done in the last six years or so (science, history, Christian apologetics, and more), I have unflappable certainty that there is a God who created this world and that Christ was his son that he sent to earth because we were incapable of saving ourselves. Christ is perfect, Superman is pretty close, but the rest of us are not. The rules that God put in place when he made this world say that the punishment for sin is death. All of us, with our free will, are sinners in some way or another. Because God loves us so much, he built a 'loophole' into his own rules, sending His Son to earth to first show us the way to live and then to take the punishment for our sins in our place as he died on the cross. It sounds a lot like a story we would praise a writer for making up, but does it ever occur to us that maybe this is the reality that we model stories after, that we praise writers for invoking?

I think the reason that some people refuse to believe in Christ, or to give true consideration to whether or not Christians could be right in what they believe, is very similar to Lois’s declaration that she doesn’t need a savior. We don’t want to have to take help from anyone, admit we can’t take care of it all ourselves. But we’re all like Lois and the reporters on the plane or the window washer in the movie who fell off his scaffolding on the side of a skyscraper – we’re plummeting toward certain death... Only the death we’re plummeting toward concerns our afterlife rather than our life in this world (and since the former is eternal while the latter is more like eighty years on average, it’s pretty obvious where our focus should be)...

here’s to remaining focused on the reason we celebrate at this time of the year; the savior that the Superman producer says the world really needs has already come... Don’t deny the real Superman the opportunity to save you before you hit the ground and it’s too late."

MOYNA'S RAMBLINGS (5)

TRADITION - A word I've been thinking about as I finish my last batch of spicy almonds. I was thinking about it in relation to the "Traditional" Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. This past Thanksgiving I tried 2 new recipes. One was a potato casserole. We all loved it! So, I've since sent the recipe to family & friends - suggesting they try it this Christmas! Fred & Freddy always have to ask me what will be for our dinner - I'm always trying something new. I'm not the kind of person - the traditionalist - who prepares the same dinner (Thanksgiving or Christmas) year after year, so they always have to ask what we're having. Here in the South, it is "tradition" to have mashed potatoes & gravy - though a lot of people now do smashed/garlic potatoes (breaking from "tradition"), the sweet potato casserole, or the ever-popular hash brown casserole - which is what we usually have. We liked the new potato casserole so much, I've asked our niece if I could bring it to our get-together at Christmas. I will be doing that, and I hope they like it as much as we do.
I also tried a new jello salad - again, breaking from "tradition." It is a little more difficult to find one we all like; Fred likes blueberry, Freddy likes lime (a recipe from my friend Marsha, about 30 years ago. How "traditional" is that - still making this jello salad all these years?!), and I like any flavor that is red - raspberry's great! This recipe uses Coke for the liquid. It was just unusual enough for me to want to try it - AND I LOVED IT!! I'm not a soda drinker, but I wanted to give it a try. You can taste the Coke, but it enhances the flavor of the black cherry. Freddy wasn't wild about the jello - it has nuts in it & he doesn't care for things with nuts, but Fred said it was pretty good (which really surprised me!) - much better than he thought it would be. It's not a recipe I will be able to make often, but it was a nice break from "tradition."
I've never been one to "fit-in" - or be a clone as I say. Why would everyone want to be just like everyone else? In high school, I was always buying, decorating, wearing what would be considered a little different; I even wore the paper dresses which were popular for a year or so - anyone remember those?!! My little '59 English Ford was decorated inside & out with large & small colorful flowers - the "flower child" of Modesto, California!! As I've aged, though, I find myself doing more "traditional" things. I really don't know if it's from getting older or just having lived in the South for 26 years. Southeners are preserved in tradition. I find myself getting pulled in...I try to fight it - when I recognize it! It can be something small - like using white lights at Christmas rather than the multi-colored, or fixing the hash brown casserole year after year. TRADITION, a word I fight, yet find myself becoming more of a "traditionalist!!" Or maybe it's really what my friend Marsha said about tradition back in the 70's - "IT'S JUST A RUT WE GET INTO."

MOYNA'S RAMBLINGS (4)

'TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY, HO, HO, HO!!! I don't think HO (so). I'm am still having problems with my back, so I'm not getting done what needs to be done - bummer. I will be working up until Christmas at the rate I'm moving, instead of enjoying the week before as I try to do. At least the house is decorated, so I can enjoy the lights at night. It's a relaxing time at the end of a stressful day. Fred has been quite helpful with my back giving me fits. He has run errands & done things around the house...all the while trying to wrap up his sales year. He's been stressed also, but hasn't been too short with me!!
Freddy will be home on the 19th. Although the kids are out on the 15th, the teachers have to come in that Monday, the 18th. I am putting together some gift bags - an ornament & treats - for some of his colleagues (like the principle & secretary(ies); it doesn't hurt to stay on their good side!!). I hope they will enjoy the gift bag.
The weather here is friggin' COLD. We've been in the teens at night & lucky to hit 40 during the day. It is suppose to warm-up to around 50 the next couple of days. I'm wishing and hoping (and praying a little) for some snow this year!!!! It's been about 4 years since we've seen snow during winter. One year we actually had it at Christmas...large, beautiful flakes coming down just about all day. It was soooo BEAUTIFUL, and made for such a warm, cozy Christmas! The nice thing is, the snow is here for a few days, so we don't have to live in it for any length of time...just enough time to enjoy it.
The cats are beginning to get excited about Christmas...they love all of the decorations! They have been on their best behavior (at least for them...) in hopes Santa will leave some catnip and catnip toys in their stocking. Doo-Rail keeps looking up the chimney, already on the lookout for Santa! He just doesn't understand Santa won't be here for another 15 days!!
As this holiday season fast approaches, I want to wish all of you a merry time (eggnog helps).
Stay safe and stress-free. Enjoy time with family and friends. Reflect on why we celebrate Christmas.

It Wouldn't be Christmas

It wouldn't be Christmas unless we had cold, clear, sunny days like today in the Birmingham area when we can run around town and get things done. I like cold, sunny, winter days. That winter sun is the best.

It wouldn't be Christmas if Moyna weren't stressed wrapping presents, getting presents ready to mail, baking holiday goodies in the kitchen for friends, neightbors, and customers. But she's getting it done.

It wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't hear Andy Williams sing "Happy Holidays."

It wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't watch for the upteenth time the movie "Holiday Inn."

It would be Christmas if I didn't have warm memories of Christmases past.

It wouldn't be Christmas if we couldn't count our blessings.

Christmas - 2006

The holiday season always brings both joy and sadness. The happiness comes from the spirit of the season, the chance to visit with family and friends and exchange gifts, and the realization of how lucky we are to have lived another year with all of our many blessings. The sadness comes from poignant memories. This year is no exception.

It was 10 years ago that my Mother was living her final days in this life. She passed away 12/20/96. I can't help but sadly remember those December days ten years ago.

But we are thankful this year for our many blessings. We are so fortunate to live the good ole USA. May all of you have a glorious holiday season. Keep in touch.