Bah Humbug: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Come on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge link-up!

Let's talk holiday decorating. On a scale of 1-10 where do you fall? (1=Scrooge and 10= Clark Griswold). What's your favorite corner-room-table-space to decorate? Is it done?

This is going to take a hot minute, so you might want to get a cup of coffee before you start reading.

When I have my own place, I will be somewhere between Clark Griswold and Martha Stewart, so around 9.75.  It wouldn't be too gaudy and I may not put lights on the house, but I would make sure the inside was welcoming and festive.  The sky would be the limit.

Anyway...

As for this year, it started out as a Scrooge kind of year.  I love Christmas and everything it means, but I knew that most likely (for reasons withheld to protect the guilty) I'd have another bad Christmas (I've had several the past few years). My own sanity and emotional stability dictated that I simply not do Christmas this year--no decorations, no parties, no nothing.  The prospect was just too painful.  Some aspects still will be, but God has sent a Christmas blessing my way so that I can celebrate...and decorate.  More on that in the days to come. 

Is there a nativity scene in your decorating somewhere? Post a picture or, if it's special to you in some way, tell us why. Or do both-it's Christmas!

I wish.  I love Nativity scenes.

Do you live in a social neighborhood? If so are you glad? If not do you wish you did?

No, not really.  I wish I did.  We have several neighbors who are Alabama football fans (Roll Tide), but we all stay in our own homes and have our own tailgate get togethers.  It would be nice if we could all get together and enjoy the camaraderie.

As the saying goes, 'there's no time like the present'. How does that ring true in your life right now?

As I'm setting goals for the new year, I'm already working on some of the habits I want to cement as a part of my daily routine.  Why wait until January 1st?  As I read in Jon Acuff's blog: "Where does it say you have to wait until January 1 to turn some part of your life around?  If you start today, you still have two weeks to get a head start."

Sounds good to me. 

Do you dread Mondays? Why or why not?

Rarely.  I enjoy having a job to get out of bed for.  The only time I dread Monday is if I don't get enough rest over the weekend.  Then, it's only the tiredness I dread, not the day itself.

Poinsettia, Christmas Cactus, Amaryllis-which on the list is your favorite holiday plant? Are any of these on display in your home right now?

Wait, I thought Amaryllis was a spring bulb.  I had bulbs at my old apartment.  The first year they bloomed in late spring.  The next year, the landlord's yard crew cut them down (along with a lot of my good perennials--yes, I'm still mad about it).   They are gorgeous, but as I said, I didn't think they bloomed in winter.  I also enjoyed my Christmas Cactus until it died.  Poinsettias are my favorite holiday plant.  I will not have one at home this year, but I plan on helping buy one or two to decorate the sanctuary of the church.

Share a favorite quote from a Christmas movie.

In the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Present gets all up in Scrooge's Kool-Aid for his callous attitude about his fellow man while seeming to show concern for Tiny Tim's plight:

Ghost:  "If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, the child will die."

Scrooge:  "No, no, say he will be spared..."

Ghost:  "If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, none other of my species will find him here. But if he is to die, then let him die...and decrease the surplus population."

Scrooge:  "You use my own words against me."

Ghost:  "Oh yes.  So perhaps in the future you will hold your tongue until you have discovered what the 'surplus population' is, and where it is.  It may well be that in the sight of heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than MILLIONS like this poor man's child!"    

Insert your own random thought here.

"If God said it, I want to believe it. If God gives it, I want to receive it. If God shows it, I want to perceive it. If Satan stole it, I want to retrieve it." - Beth Moore, Believing God.

My sister-in-blog, Annie, and I are reading this book.  It's a barn burner.  That quote from Chapter three is the cry of my heart.  Along with reading the book (among others), I'm also listening to Saddleback Church's series on believing God for breakthrough.  What I am learning has been amazing.