Categotry Archives: holidays and parties

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Shopping for Roses and Chocolates for Tomorrow

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Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so I need to get out of the house and go shopping for roses and chocolates for tomorrow. I don’t usually buy roses for anyone on Valentine’s Day, but my sister and I thought it would be a nice thing to do for our mom, since our dad passed away last summer. Mom had a hard time with the first Christmas without him, and he used to always give her a dozen yellow roses on Valentine’s Day.

The color of roses and types of flowers that you give to people are supposed to have certain meanings, like the color red for roses means love. So we had asked Dad why he gave our mom yellow roses instead of red ones. He said that because she was born in Dallas, TX, that the two of them had always had a private joke about her being his “Yellow Rose of Texas.” So he always gave her yellow roses whenever there was an occasion for flowers.

My sister and I agreed to go in together and split the cost of the roses, and I will take them to her in the morning on my way to work. We could have them delivered, but we want her to get them first thing in the morning, so her entire day is brightened and she doesn’t have to spend all morning being sad, missing him.

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Chinese New Year Starts Next Week

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graphic of Chinese symbol for the year of the snake

Next week is the Chinese New Year. It is the biggest holiday for people in China and many Asian countries, and also for people who live in many big U.S. cities that have their own Chinatown districts. I have been to Chinatown in San Francisco, Oakland and Washington, DC. Each one is a treasure trove of great food at authentic Chinese restaurants, natural medicine shops and imported gift items.

The cities have big parades, firecrackers, and many traditions and superstitions that everyone must honor and observe. The one that I like is you cannot sweep your house on New Year’s Day or you will be sweeping all the good fortune for the coming year out of your door and you will not have good fortune.

Next year will be the Chinese Year of the Water Snake. I don’t know very much about what birth years are included in the Year of the Snake, but I will try to look them up and see what calendar sign is related to my own birthday. You should do the same!

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Our First Snow is Here!

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Most of the country seemed to enjoy a white Christmas, but we only had rain here in Nashville. It was cold and windy and dark, but most people were focused on being inside exchanging gifts and feasting on traditional Christmas dinner foods. Some guys were all about watching football and there were some great children’s movies on cable to keep the kids occupied.

But when I woke up this morning, there were huge snow flakes swirling around in the air. It is just about 32 degrees outside, so I wonder if any of it will stick to the ground and give us a snow day today? We don’t get very much snow here anyway, so when it snows around Christmas that makes it special – even if it is the day after.

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Only One Week To Christmas

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Wow! Did you realize that Christmas is only one week away? I think this is about the right time to start to panic. Do I have all the gifts bought? Do I have plenty of wrapping paper and ribbons? Where are the gift tags that I bought on sale last year for 80% off? I know I put them someplace safe so I could use them this year and not have to spend top dollar on gift tags.

The dinner menu is starting to worry me. Do I have all the things I need in my pantry other than the turkey? Do I even want a turkey this year? I have been thinking about getting a Honeybaked ham instead. But it has always been a tradition at my house to have turkey on Thanksgiving and again on Christmas. Of course, that much turkey makes everyone pretty much sick of turkey and we don’t even think about having turkey again for several months – it’s just too much. So maybe it makes more sense to get a ham this year and start a new tradition?

Thankfully I got all the Christmas cards written and mailed last weekend. I don’t have that hanging over my head any longer. This year was tough to send cards – I have not been good about keeping up with everyone’s address changes. One card to my niece already came back as undeliverable because she moved and I forgot about it. So I have to call her and get her new address tonight, then find a new envelope to get that last card mailed out to her.

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Too Dry for Fireworks?

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We have been in a terrible drought this summer and several places are having a lot of wildfires. The one in Colorado is really scary – I have friends that live in Colorado Springs and that is where my brother lived for 2 years while he was in school. It makes me very sad to see the thousands of acres of mountains and all those beautiful homes being burned. And all those poor animals – it is a real tragedy!

It is also a problem for a lot people who have big plans for this weekend and for the Fourth of July. I have heard rumors that the police and fire departments are canceling their community fireworks shows and not allowing private citizens to shoot off any fireworks in their yards or neighborhoods, either. What a shame, but I totally support them in being careful about not wanting any wildfires here. We can celebrate in other ways and maybe next year we won’t have to worry about a drought.

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