Be sure to check out the Roses & Thorns section and hit up the comments with your own!
Without further ado, here are some thoughts based on headlines I’m seeing, the classes I’m taking, the YouTube holes I’m falling down, and the adventures of/with my 3-yr-old son.
It’s Christmas
This section was originally a condemnation of people who complain about Christmas or purport to know the real origins of the holiday. I’ve decided, last minute, to scrap it and focus on the positive.
I read this post by
and was reminded that I have a lot for which I should be grateful.As Ms. Male notes,
Pure magic isn’t just in the big moments, the big events, the big achievements. True magic is in the every day. In the tiny little moments, most of us don’t notice, but that are with us all through every ordinary and extraordinary day.1
I had a tiny little moment this morning as I was leaving my house (later than I wanted) and headed to my Sunday morning meeting. The moment was only really extraordinary to me, suffice it to say that I was able to bypass some long-standing construction and was subsequently able to make it to the meeting on time. I also woke up to beautiful snow-fall.
All of it reminded me that Christmas is, truly, a magical time of year. If you want it to be. And while everything won’t go as I’d like, or prefer, while spending time with family on Monday, I choose to let it be magical.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
For the rest of the year I’m cutting my annual subscription in half!
If you subscribe before the end of 2023, you’ll never pay full price for an annual subscription!
Weekly Why Files
This week the team over at The Why Files took a break (for Christmas) so there wasn’t a new video. There was, however, a ‘Christmas Watch-Along’ livestream. It’s worth watching really for just the first 15-ish minutes (before the actual livestream starts). The antics of Hecklefish and AJ are pretty great.
I’ve decided that I’m going to become a Patreon member (although, I admit that I don’t know the first thing about Patreon). I think I’m going to reach out and let them know that I feature them weekly, as well. Who knows, maybe it’ll lead to some sort of collab. Probably not, to be fair. But I can dream, right? It is Christmas after all.
Roses & Thorns
To close out the free series this week I’m going to attempt to find three good things (roses) and three bad things (thorns) from the past week. The intent is to both learn to see the good and reward ourselves for the successes as well as learn to objectively see and correct things that need to be corrected.
Roses
The family (my wife, son, brother-in-law, and his boyfriend) and I attended Zoo Lights on Wednesday night. Much like the candlelight walk, it was a great white pill moment. The families were abundant and it was great to see a lot of families with many children.
My family is healthy and safe this Christmas, which can’t be said for everyone else or their families. I am grateful for everything we have, and I pray for everyone else to those things they want most.
It’s snowing in the mountains, so I get the white Christmas that I wanted. Also, snow-covered mountains are gorgeous.
Thorns
The Supreme Court of Colorado declared Trump ineligible for the ballot. The Republican party of the state will, subsequently, cancel its primary. Both of these things are absurd and indicative of a spiraling totalitarianism that has spread throughout the country.
I hung up on a customer on Friday. In my defense, she was angry from the get-go, wouldn’t let me speak (even though I was trying to figure out a solution to her issue), and then started to insult me. When she started to insult me I decided I didn’t need to listen to it anymore so I hung up. I feel a little bad, but not for or because of the woman on the phone. I feel bad because my wife (who owns the store) is going to have to clean it up and deal with the same woman.
My wife’s cousin is coming to Christmas. It’s a minor thing, and I can generally ignore him, but he can be an obnoxious ass.
As you can tell, Roses & Thorns is unique to you and can run the gamut from small wins (or losses) to big things (in or out of our control).
Share your Roses & Thorns in the comments below.
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