CELEBRATE!

In a few days we'll be turning a calendar page and trying to remember to write 2024 whenever we have to include a date.

While we're adjusting to the end of one year and the beginning of another, here's something to keep you occupied.

I borrowed this idea from CNN's Good Stuff--they do it each year. Very simple:

• do a little thinking back over the past year
• write down some things you really, really liked
• choose the one you like best

That's all! You've just chosen your very own personal "Best of [whatever]" for 2023!

Here are some of the ones The Good Stuff published:

• a cultural event
• a food you tried and loved
• a place you went that you'd never been before
• a movie/book/CD
• an experience you never had before

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I want to give thanks for those extra-special "bests"--and I'm grateful that I lived long enough to experience them.

Enjoy the ride! See you in 2024!!

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

 WINTER SOLSTICE

I was sure I'd written about the Winter Solstice a few years ago, but when I looked for it, it wasn't there. So, just in case it somehow snuck off and left Thursday's Child in a lurch, I'll try again.

The Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs around December 20th/21st. On the calendar it's the day when the earth is at such an angle that we up north have the least amount of sunlight and the most amount of darkness. Actually--scientifically--it's only a moment, not a full day. Then the earth begins to start its tilt the other way and we begin to add a minute or so each day, and that continues until the Summer Solstice (June 20/21, approximately).

For those of us who have been moaning/whining/ranting about the Dark Mornings and Dark Evenings--well, the solstice is Good News! Change isn't instantaneous, nor is it even immediate. Think of it as letting us get used to the change.

If you can't accept that--you might consider moving to another hemisphere for the next six months.

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Since the Winter Solstice signals change, here are some thoughts to entertain you:

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. Oprah Winfrey

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Hal Borland

Wishing you blessings heaped up and overflowing for the coming year! See you next time!

Thursday's Child

FLOAT . . .

Back in my working days, we had a "floating holiday"--our choice of a day off that would help us get through some thorny patch of too-much-to-do. Or whatever.

Some people took their birthday. Nowadays this would be called a ME-day. But back then, it was just "my birthday."

The "floating" part was especially nice. I got to choose whatever day I wanted off. There were some limitations, though--we couldn't use our floating day to extend a long weekend (Thanksgiving weekend, for example) or to add to our annual week or two weeks of vacation. But the big advantages were enough.

A floating holiday meant:

• a day off during regular working hours so we could get to the license branch, the bank, the post office, other county or municipal offices
• we could go out of town to visit family or friends on a weekday
• we could do all kinds of errands during daytime (and maybe day light) hours that would normally have to be done after work; winter meant probably getting home 'way after dark.

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So that's the "historic" connection.

Today--here we are at mid-December . . . people are starting to count down to Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, a party, a school program, maybe a wedding . . . anyway, it's Counting Down Time.

It's probably, for a lot of people, Big-Time-Stress Time. So, why not float?

Take a floating day for yourself. (Think of it as a gift to yourself, that no one else can give you. How's that for special?)

Here are a few guidelines:

• doesn't have to be a full day
• you can take a few hours or half a day
• you can use the time for yourself, or for someone you care about, someone who needs help or just needs company
• you don't have to tell anybody about it if you don't want to

Not sure what you'd do? Here are some suggestions:

• go by yourself to a mall or shopping area or specialty shop; spend as long as you like there, whether or not you buy something
• take yourself out for lunch (or breakfast, or afternoon tea)
• spend some time in a nice park; there may be other people there, but you don't have to be social (really!); or, be social if that floats your boat
• read a book you've been wanting to try. Even if you only get through a chapter or two, you'll know if you want to continue once the holiday rush is over.
• listen to music you like--Christmas? Not Christmas? Jazz? Baroque? Piano/organ? Vocals? Choral groups?
• watch a movie you like--you know, the ones nobody else in the family will watch or the ones they make fun of. (This is your day, remember. Do what tickles your fancy.)

If you use up only half a day, schedule the other half for another time. Before or after the current holidays. Doesn't matter. It's a floating day.

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Feel better? Sometimes just knowing we have a choice helps lower the stress level.

And if you're not stressed? Bless you! Share some of yourself with people who need it.

Next week we'll celebrate the Winter Solstice. In the meantime, be blessed, take care of yourself and others, and take a deep breath. 

Thursday's Child

 ARE YOU UP FOR A GAME?

[Revisiting something that might perk you up while you're stressing the coming holidays. Take a break--play the game!]

As you've no doubt gathered, I'm a word person--I like words. I collect words. I use them when I speak and write and think. Of all the possibles, words are very likely the basis of my existence.

Other people are number people. They think them, they live them--words are much lower on the scale of existence for number people.

I understand about numbers--about, I said, not, I understand numbers. My understanding is quite basic, learned by fifth grade: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division (long and short). I also know about decimals and fractions. As I say, by fifth grade I knew all that. (Yes, I took math in high school and college, but not much of that stayed with me. It went off and hooked up with a numbers person for its happiness.)

So! Back to words.

We're starting a new month, and already today we're on Day 7. (See? Can't get away from numbers.)

I propose a game--activity--to accompany us through this last, and nearly blackout-dark month of the year, until we can start writing 2022 on our checks. Are you up for it?

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I like simplicity. So this is a very simple game. Only a couple of rules:

1--choose a new word each day--long, short, whatever part of speech--but just one word. FYI: a hyphenated word is considered one word. 

2--think or write about or just meditate on your chosen word for that day. See how many times it comes up for you--words have a habit of doing that; once they're in your head, they're like those ear-worm songs that won't go away.

That's it! No need to keep a record. No need to tell anyone what you're doing. (Unless you want to share the game with someone else; but remember, it's a one-person game. No competition.) No prizes or awards, except whatever fun you get out of doing the game.

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Some examples:

If you like nouns, you have a whole world of choices: dog, cat, candy, pizza, tree, presents, ribbons, money, truck, happiness, anticipation . . . you name it. 

The nouns may spawn a few more: mess, expense, greed, disappointment, joy, excitement . . . .

Your choices will come from your life and your imagination. Have a go! Might lighten your day.

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Now, for you numbers folks:

--there are 31 days in this last month of the year. How about working with each day's number?

--does the number 2 ring a bell for you? Or 7? Or 19? Think about each day and its number, what it means, if anything; or if it means nothing, make up a meaning for it.

--do you prefer even or odd numbers? Do you have favorite numbers? Or lucky numbers?

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For all of you--word or number people--by the time you get to the 21st day of the month, you'll be past the shortest daylight day of the year, and it's all up from there.

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Q&A:

What if I miss a day? You missed an opportunity to play. Start again the next day.

What if I don't want to play? Go do something else--wash the dog, shop in a busy store at rush hour, eat something really bad for you.

Why are there no prizes? Because they're not good for you. If you only play to win a prize, what have you learned? Probably only how to play to win that prize.

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Start when you're ready . . . the fun is about to begin.

Blessings,

Thursday's Child

Winter Solstice--coming soon!