Have You Seen the Electronic Revolution? It's Bearing Down on YOU!

I've been thinking about technology.  Actually, not so much technology as the electronic revolution which is swirling around the entire earth and changing everything so quickly.  We are all conducting our lives in the equivalent of the Chinese proverb,

 "May you live in interesting times."

The last period in history when the times were this interesting was the Industrial Revolution which occurred in two phases over about 150 years.  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (all on-line, no books anymore), the first phase changed the developed world's economies from agrarian to industrial.  It all began in Britain about 1760 and continued until 1830.   The second phase of the Industrial Revolution started in the United States in 1870 and continued until 1919 - the end of the first world war. 

I could go on and on about the IR, of course, but in a capsule, it caused economic, social, cultural, and political upheaval.  It disrupted the fabric of everyday life:  How you made a living, where you lived, what you ate, what you wore, how you spent your leisure time.  It caused 'terrorist activities' including the bombing of Wall Street, mass deportations of 'undesirable immigrants', a generation of displaced workers who didn't have competitive skills in the new industrial economy, and the creation of a new class of wealthy people.  Government was ineffective and riddled with influence peddling.  

Sound familiar?

Technology as represented by the Electronic Revolution has been slowly changing the economy of the developing world since the 1960's.  However, it wasn't until Steve Jobs put a portable computer in the hands of virtually every person to whom he could sell one did the ER become a rocket.  Since 2007 (first iphone), we've been on a metaphorical, mercurial, speed of sound ride, and the Electronic Revolution is just getting started.  

One big happening is how suddenly the world has become connected and shrunk to something I can imagine because with a click of a button I can see it.  I can email a person in China instantaneously.  I can see all the fishing in the world.  I can watch a major storm move across the globe.  World technology is popping up everywhere.  Yes, airplanes and satellites have been shrinking the world since the 1930's, but the difference is now I CAN ACCESS IT.  Here's what I mean:  I stumbled onto a global fishing map.  Click on the link and start the Beta tutorial, and make it screen wide.  It will blow you away:

http://globalfishingwatch.org/tutorials/

Isn't this amazing?

A friend of mine sent me a video news story from the Wall Street Journal.  The heart of the piece is the sewing machine, which changed the way clothing was produced during the industrial revolution and created the garment industry, is now being re-vamped by the Electronic Revolution.  Take a look at this link, and extrapolate the effects this type of technology could have on other industries around the world.  These are the 'new factories'. 

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/moving-upstream/how-sewing-robots-may-put-human-hands-out-of-work-moving-upstream/8A0329DB-06F0-4737-A105-8FFC1C06EC92?mod=djcm_022818sm_us&mi_u=854630490

These two links just fell into my lap.  If I actually went out and did real research, what do you think I would find?  

Our world is changing around us at lightening speed.  Even Americans, who pride themselves on being able to handle change, are struggling to find their feet in a world which seems to be constantly shifting.   The unease with the rate of change is playing out culturally:  There's been a surge in apocalyptic entertainment (zombies, post nuclear world, vampires, etc.), We are openly expressing our rabid fear and loathing of 'the other' - whether 'the other' is generational, racial, cultural or religious.  We are frustrated by political polarization and the feeling government isn't getting things done.  Then, there's the marked upswing in violence.  We are awash in morbid entertainment, festering hatred, ineffectual government, and gun violence.

The Electronic Revolution has established the increasingly swift adaptation of  new cultural and social mores which are redefining our society.  (Let me translate that last sentence:  twitter, facebook, instagram, texting, etc., etc., etc.)  These applications are changing our basic interactions with one another, forming public opinion, and documenting our individual lives at the cost of our personal privacy.  And, we can't even image what's next.  

Maintaining our social fabric and social equilibrium is becoming increasingly difficult.  Many of us feel helpless, left behind, marginalized, and unsettled at some level we can't quite put our fingers on.  Some days I long to wake up to life in 1975.  Nostalgia for a past which we all view with a selective memory is also a symptom of too much change, too fast.  

What REALLY comforts me is I'm sure the buggy whip makers, the livery stable operators, the dressmakers, and the hundreds of other occupations and jobs which were eliminated seemingly overnight by the Industrial Revolution must have felt the way I do some mornings.  They made it through their interesting times, and so can I.

  

Gesnariads, Gesnariads, Now that's What I'm Talkin' About!

We went to see an entire room of gesnariads on Saturday.  No, not dinosaurs, not petrified old people, not astronomical phenomena, no, we saw a room full of African violets.  Now all  African violets are gesnariads, but not all gesnariads are African violets.  They are actually African in origin growing originally in subtropical Tanzania and Kenya.  The 'wild' varieties of this plant are called vintage.  They are called 'violets' because that's what the European classifier thought they looked like.

Vintage African violet

The reason we went to this show is because of my grandmother.  She grew African violets on her kitchen sill over the sink, and they were always in bloom.  It turns out she was a master grower to be able to keep her plants continuously in bloom.

Even though we went to this show and sale on a lark, these plants are serious business.  According to AVSA (African Violet Society of America), founded in 1946, AV's are the most frequently grown houseplants.  This is a society with muscle.  I bought a couple of 'old' African Violet Magazines, a glossy magazine published six times a year by the national organization, to just glean some factoids for this blog.  I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I discovered in 2010 they had net assets of $168,000!  These people give scholarships and research grants to students studying plants.

What was really fun about this outing was getting to talk to people who have real passion for their hobby.  Meet Janice.

She's a 'snowbird' who belongs to the society here as well as 'at home' in Denver.  Her knowledge was encyclopedic.  She spent more than an hour describing to me the differences between 'fantasy' (speckled flowers), and 'fancy' (two/three toned flowers.  What a gesnariad is and how they can be totally different from African violets even though all of the AV's are gesnariads. 

My favorite gesnariad of the show - Coral Flame

I learned there are so many hybrids, some of which concentrate on the leaves and others on the flowers.  Some of the species of SaintPaulius (AV's) are even endangered due to their natural habitat being chewed up by humans.  The national society has to officially recognize all hybids - kind of like how the American Kennel Club has to recognize new dog breeds.

As with all true plant people, Janice insisted talking to one's African violets is the true way to make them happy.  She must be talking all day long since she personally owns dozens of plants.  And, it turns out my Grandmother's location over the sink is a prime place to grow these plants.  That's an especially valuable location here in the desert - since the moisture from water running frequently in the sink helps keep them closer to the humidity they like.  To water these plants correctly in this climate you need 'wicks' which are lengths of yarn which extend out of the bottom of the potted plant which sits ABOVE THE WATER.  The yarn strands 'wick' the water into the plant roots which has thirsty little nodules.  (To give credit where due:  Drake ascertained this nugget of information from an woman who is extremely excited to going to the national convention show and sale in Buffalo, New York.)

We were the only non enthusiasts at the show.  We went late in the afternoon, thus missing the buying rush of the morning.  It's easy to make fun of people with an all consuming hobby, but the sheer joy these people had was definitely worth the time we spent with them.  As always I took pictures.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yw6dQf2Yko5BnKds2       

A Total Lunar Eclipse of the Super, Blue, Blood Moon.

Today, I got up at 4:38 a.m.  Really.  I truly dislike getting up early, but today, I made an exception.  An event occurred which last happened 152 years ago.  It was a super moon, blue moon, blood moon total eclipse.  I read this great website called "Earth and Sky".  It keeps the reader up to date on astronomy, physics, biology, geology, weather, and just about any other science you can name through short articles by scientists around the world and it also has pictures.  There have been wonderful reports leading up to the total eclipse.

First, a 'super moon' is simply a moon that is closest to the earth in its orbit.  An astronomer would say, "The moon is at perigee."  Yeah, perigee is the point when the elliptical orbit of the moon is closest to the earth.   So, that's a super moon.  It's about 14% bigger than when the moon is farthest from the earth (at it's apogee).

Now, here's something hilarious.  The term 'super moon' was coined by Richard Nolle, an ASTROLOGER, a horoscope guy, in 1979 in the Dell Horoscope magazine.  His reasoning was the average sixth grader couldn't read 'perigee syzygy' much less remember it.  Thus, he made up the term 'super moon' to describe the alignment of the sun, earth and moon at either the new or the full moon.  Generally, we only pay attention during the full moon.  The last time a 'super moon' went bananas and eclipsed fully was September, 2015.

And, you ask yourself, well, what's a 'Blue Moon'?  (Ok, so you didn't really ask yourself, but it doesn't matter because I'm going to tell you anyway.)  It is NOT AN EXTRA FULL MOON IN A CALENDAR MONTH.  Some fool in the 1947 issue of "Sky and Telescope" defined it that way, and that's wrong.

Simply put in astronomical terms a Blue Moon is a fourth full moon in a season.  A season officially has three full moons.  However, the earth doesn't have 365 days; it has 365.24 days.  (That's how long it takes the earth to go around the sun.)  To further screw things up, the moon doesn't go around the earth in 29 days.  It goes around the earth in 29.53 days.

If you divide 365.24 by 29.53, you get 12.37 lunations.  (Isn't that a great word?  Lunations.)  You've probably already figured out that a 'lunation' is that new moon to full moon transformation.   In  our Gregorian calendar there are 12 each year.  But the devil is after the decimal points.  You pick up about 11 extra days each year because of those damn decimal points.  When those eleven days accumulate enough, well, you get a fourth full moon in a season (instead of three).  That fourth full seasonal moon is a 'BLUE MOON'.  It's actually pretty rare.  So, 'once in a blue moon', a BLUE MOON happens.  They are about 2 years and 8 months apart.  That is if you use the 'seasonal' definition of a Blue Moon.

If you use the non-astronomical calendar definition, (two full moons in one calendar month), then getting a Blue Moon depends on the Gregorian Calendar and the time zone.  The Blue Moon today, January 31st uses the calendar definition.  (January 2, and 31st - full moons).  Really confusing.  Oh, and if you aren't confused enough, the Blue Moon is rarely blue.  To get a blue Blue Moon, you need a volcanic eruption with particles interacting with the Earth's atmosphere in a specific way.  (And, aren't you glad I'm not going to tell you about that!)

If you haven't skipped down to the pictures yet, you might as well hear about the Blood Moon.  If the moon is at a certain angle during the lunar eclipse, the sun reflects off it during the eclipse and it looks red.  Yes, this is real.  I saw it this morning.

Now, you know why I got up at 4:38 a.m. today.  I went outside in 42 degree weather and stood behind my camera mounted on a tripod and took 272 pictures of the total lunar eclipse of the super moon, which is also a blue moon, which turns into a blood moon during the eclipse.  And, it was freaking cool.  You will be glad to know I edited my pictures down to about 30.  I hope you enjoy them.  I loved taking them.  This morning, however, I have to admit the cold weather chilled me to the bone even thought I was wrapped up in layers of clothing.  All my capillaries have migrated to the outer portions of my body.  My poor core just got frozen this morning, but it was worth it.

Here are my pictures of the total eclipse.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tRH3DNK6GgXNjuY92

The 20th First Day of School

At 67 years old, I'm contemplating, with a bit of trepidation, another first day of school. How silly is that?  Now, don't get me wrong, it's not the heart pounding, palm sweating, who will notice I'm too fat, thin, tall, short, with a big zit, and bad hair type of anxiety common to  12 year old girls starting middle school (or in my case, junior high).  However, I am surprised I feel even mild anxiety.

For anyone who doesn't know, I've enrolled in a class at baby college (aka Glendale Community College).  The class I'm starting next week is Art History: Renaissance to Contemporary Art.  It's going to be a wonderful class I've wanted to take for a long time.  This is a dream opportunity for someone who never met a museum she didn't like.  At least that's my expectation until proven wrong.  There are 30 people in the class, and my hope is I'll be the only old fogy.

A primary goal for taking this class is to become acquainted with some people who are in their late teens or early 20's.  That's a real uphill battle.  People who are just ten years old than me say they are 'invisible' to younger people.  So, my real concern is not really about the first day as much as it is about trying to bridge the age gap I'm expecting.

Isn't it interesting even with my six plus decades of life experiences, I'm still anxious about putting myself in a new situation?  Yes, this will be my 20th 'first day of school', but those four words still evoke a sense of 'will I be liked and where will I fit in' this group.  It doesn't matter how old we are; we are still influenced by social hierarchy.  (This is a theory proposed by the anthropologist, Elman Service - you can look it up.)  In tribal/social hierarchy,  people rank themselves in comparison to others.  We also somewhat inaccurately compare ourselves to chickens by referring to 'a pecking order' within a group.  Or, in high school we talk about the cool kids, the jocks, the goths, the band kids, the nerds, and the druggies.  Then, there are sub-set orders of importance inside the various 'tribes'.  This ranking system carries over to every aspect of our lives.

This drive to 'fit in' or to 'stand out' is a constant push/pull for me.  I have trouble conforming to norms, but at the same time, I'm also aware of being molded during my childhood to live a certain type of life.  In parts of my life, I've played out those parental/social expectations:  I married too young.  I stayed home with a child.  My main work was in a 'traditional' woman's career.

Outside of the norms, we were married fifteen years before we ever had a child.  We postponed childbirth to an advanced age.   We had an only child when multiple children were preferable.  I blazed a path in the business world in the 1970's, but then chose to stay home when doing so marked you as 'less than' in the eyes of other women.  Choosing to teach fulfilled my parents' expectation of the 'right' life for me, but the kids I taught went against that norm.  We lived the traditional life for twenty five years, then all of a sudden, we downsized to a storage unit and started the vagabond lifestyle.

Now, I'm going against the norm again by enrolling in a  college class.  There are lots of silly short terms classes of a few weeks designed for seniors most of which make me want to roll my eyes.  I got another friend interested in the idea of taking a college class, but she's concerned about having to take the tests and write papers.  I laughed.  During in my prior adult schooling, those activities were always the fun part.  Then, I reconsidered.  Some of my anxiety is based on can I compete intellectually with the younger set.

Then, there's the hassle of being somewhere twice every week, at a fixed time.   For the retired, leaving the working world means leaving the time clock behind.  The element of having to go to class  seems to curtail one of the illusions of time freedom retired people cherish.  In reality, the retired quickly fill up their calendars with places or commitments to which they have to appear at fixed times.     

Ultimately, this class falls into the category of nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Yes, I'm anxious about a new situation.  However, I'm bored in Snooze City, but if I do nothing to change my patterns then I deserve to be bored.  This is a big pattern changer.    Choosing to take a real college class, attempting to connect with people over forty years younger than myself, and learning new things certainly gets me out of the Sun City dynamic.  I think this class is going to be a good thing but stepping up to it is still a risk.

P.S.  In an effort to ease the anxiety I can fix, I already went over to the campus to find my classroom and know where to park.  Now, if I could just figure out what to wear the first day...

The Caribbean post Hurricanes

The past July we decided to shake up our normal holiday routine of gathering in Austin and planned a Caribbean cruise for all of us.  Of course, the plan was prior to the two Cat 5 hurricanes which roared through the Caribbean and flattened all three of our destination islands:  Grand Turk, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas.  Having paid our money, we had little choice but to trust the cruise line not to drop us off in a place which shouldn't be entertaining visitors.

The reality turned out to be the residents of all these three islands were pathetically grateful to see us tourists in their midst.  Tourism is the economic mainstay of the Caribbean.  It was obvious the priority for clean up and restoration has been concentrated in the places which are 'attractions' for the tourists.  Old San Juan (the oldest part of Puerto Rico) and the spot when the cruise ships anchor, seemed completely unaffected.  That is, until you started talking to people.  I didn't talk to a single local who hadn't sustained some type of damage to their home or business, and you know me - I talked to everybody!

Grand Turk, famous only for its snorkeling and beaches, is very tiny.  It's only seven miles in length and a couple of miles in width.  We rented a car, and it allowed us to tour the entire island since I wanted to see the lighthouse, the museum, and a couple of churches.  It was here we really saw the depth of the damage even months later.  The lighthouse still looked pretty

battered.  The museum was closed for water damage, and the churches were tightly shut. 
Every roof was either new, partially new, or still tarped in blue plastic.  Windows were missing.  There was still a lot of water damage from storm surge.  There were no street signs as well as missing or weirdly tilted stop signs.   I learned most of the island had been without power for about three months, so that restoration has accelerated the repairs.   Almost every electrical pole was brand new.  The local 'home depot' was absolutely roaring with business.  There was a traffic jam of cars and trucks around it.  The constant refrain of the island was power tools.

As an aside, the other thing which makes Grand Turk 'famous' is this is the area where John Glenn's Mercury capsule splashed down in 1962 after he circled the earth three times.  The capsule is an actual display in a small park.  Right before we left, we watched the movie "The Right Stuff" in which the seven astronauts argued with the tech staff for a 'window' to be part of the capsule design.  Here's the infamous window.

Of the three islands, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was my favorite stop.  The tourist part of the town is utterly charming. The old part of the city is built around a series of plazas, and is encircled with a twenty foot thick wall which dates back to the 17th century.

San Felipe del Morro, a defensive fort also originally built in the 17th century, was destroyed by the 1789 hurricane and rebuilt.  Cat 5 hurricanes are well known in this part of the world.  El Morro is now part of the United States National Park system, and it's massive and impressive.

Here's 'El Morro' as we are coming into the San Juan Harbor

Speaking of Ponce de Leon, the famous Spanish conquistador, is supposedly buried at the San Juan Cathedral.  This is a massive Catholic church constructed in the style of the great cathedrals of Europe, but instead of marble and stone, it's constructed of adobe and wood.  An advantage of seeing this church in December was it was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

To me, the 'wall' was the most fascinating part of San Juan.  I can't imagine the labor it took (mostly slave, I'm sure), to built it.  It's twenty feet thick throughout while the height varies depending on location.  There were originally multiple gates cut into the wall, of which, only one survives.  That gate is called 'The Red Gate'  Here's Drake doing his job as 'perspective'.  Using him as a measure, it's easy to see the massive structure.

Perhaps the most obvious  damage in the tourist areas from the hurricanes was on St. Thomas.  We took an open air touring vehicle up to the top of the island to take in the overlook view.  Most of the 'resorts' including a massive Marriott resort are still not open.  The Marriott property sits right on a promontory overlooking the beach.  It was battered. 

Normally, we could have taken the gondola to the mountain top, but the snapped cables were still not repaired.  When we arrived on top of the island, we were rewarded with this stunning view.  We also saw this:

Here's the hurricanes' handiwork:  a rolled up cell tower.  Its replacement is just behind it.  Our driver lost his entire home.  He spent eight hours holding a door in place to save the lives of himself and his family.  He was sporting a cast on one arm, not because he broke it, but because he strained the ligaments in his hand, thumb, and lower arm.  Fortunately, he had insurance on his vehicle and his home.  Want to live on St. Thomas?  The taxes are low, but the cost of real estate is high (limited landmass).  The cost of home insurance is sky high.  According to the driver, his home insurance runs about $15,000 a year.  Worth every penny to him now since it will fund his re-built.  It was brutally apparent as always in these natural disasters the poorest people who live precariously are the hardest hit.   

St. Thomas didn't even receive the brunt of the hurricanes in the US Virgin Islands.  That honor was reserved for St. John, its sister island, which contains a massive national park.  All the parks, both on Puerto Rico and on St. John are taking a back seat to the repairs for people and their personal property as well as infrastructure.  El Junque in Puerto Rico, the only topical rainforest in United States,  and the Virgin Islands National Park were severely damaged.  The carefully built trails  really suffered, and they are almost all still closed.  We didn't even try to get to either one.  

Our Holland America ship was brand new.  It was exquisitely decorated for Christmas.  I couldn't have taken pictures of all of the decorations since they were so numerous.  The one which really caught my eye was the gingerbread houses/villages scattered throughout the main areas.  Here's a sample of those.

We did have a wonderful time.  The scenery was beautiful.  It is always so breathtaking, you understand why people brave the inevitable hurricanes.

As always, if you want to see the rest of my photographs, click on the link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UuWdVi8sZRyLJpNx2

Stepping Out

I love to read magazines.  With our six months travel lifestyle, I don't subscribe to magazines; I read OLD magazines.  Sometimes they're a few months old; sometimes they're years old.  Incessant reading has taught me how hard it is to be original.  Articles in magazines women favor are like teacher meetings.  There's not much new under the sun. 

I took up learning how to embroider to have something to do while people, who were tired of children, had moved 'up' in the school system and gave teacher in-service days' lectures on teaching/discipline techniques.  What a yawn.  After the first two years of this annual torture, they didn't have anything new or original to say.  Embroidery helped keep me AWAKE.  (My principal quickly learned to prefer this activity to me being 'creative' during these meetings.)

I have been thinking about trying new things lately.  What a process!  Deciding to try something new is like fighting all the demons inside yourself.  Looking back, embroidery didn't start as a way to relieve the tedium of teacher meetings - that was a byproduct.  It started because I admired someone else's needlework.  She encouraged me to try it.  Her encouragement freed me to buy an embroidery kit which used only one type of stitch.  I goodwilled those pillow cases just last year!  I was hooked.  Then came YEARS of filling in pictures with thread;  it was like paint by numbers.  (People admire my satin stitches; it's because of all that practice.)  It took me years to step out and start creating my own designs. 

Getting my foot screwed up with a bad surgery and a dissolving joint was an impetus for creation.  There were months spent being only able to walk 50 feet in a day.  Creating saved me.  What a struggle those two years were:  Lost the job I loved; the school I loved closed, and I lost the ability to walk.  The anger almost devoured me.  Creativity seemed EASY, after all that.  It was still a couple of more years before I could admit I was an artist.  Stepping out of your comfort zone is not for the faint of heart.

Sometimes we think creativity is only one thing.  "I'm not creative; I can't draw."  "I can't sew."  "I can't craft."  "I can't write."  "I have no sense of style."  See the common thread?  You always limit yourself with 'I can't'.

Creativity is all about enjoyment.  I just created the most hideous embroidery piece because I don't know how to draw much less draw to scale.  San Diego was on the ocean, and I love gulls.  That was the basis for the idea of the piece.  I knew the birds were wrong, but this piece just kept getting more and more fun to make.  Here's the result.  You be the
judge.  My 2 year old great-nephew is getting this as a pillow for his room.  I'm pretty sure he won't care about the scale/perspective problem of the flying gulls.

Sometimes for me creativity is about challenge.  It's very hard to stretch yourself.  Life here in the dollhouse in Sun City bores me.  It's very easy to do the very same thing day after day, month after month.  This year I'm challenging myself to step out in  Sun City in the ways I embrace when we travel.  Here's my first challenge of the new year:  I'm taking a real college class at the local community college.  Is it Yale?  Well, no, but it's a class I've wanted to take for over 40 years, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be fun.

I'm taking Art History:  Renaissance to Contemporary Art.  There are so many gaps in my knowledge for someone who worships museums.  I'm also a little curious to count how many pieces of art the professor will show via power point (I almost said 'slides') which I've actually seen in person.  I will also be around YOUNG PEOPLE, and hopefully making some new friends.  I can hardly wait! 

Sometimes when you 'step out' you get an unlooked for reward.  After eight years in New Orleans, I still call that the lagniappe.The class is only costing me $149 (that includes the tuition and fees).  Good grief - it's practically free!  I got the senior rate for tuition. The book costs almost as much as the tuition, and I even bought it used on Ebay. 

This winter and spring, I'm hoping to write blog adventures in the same vein I write during the travel months.  Hope you're ready, and hope I am too. 

Oh, Boy, It's the Holidays!

The holidays are upon us!  All young women I know are saying, NO, NO, NOT YET.  One of the smooth spots of being post 65 w/o grandchildren is there are almost no presents to buy, and I can shove off all the cooking on the younger generation.  Sweeeeeeeet!  (This year I'm going to have to do SOMETHING cooking wise for Thanksgiving, but I consider that to be an easy meal.  I'm even contemplating making a pie.)

Looking back twenty years, I marvel at how many plates I was constantly twirling on the end of slender sticks.  Now, that I only have about three plates twirling, oh, hey, let's be real - all my plates are lying securely on a waist high table, I can handle them with ease.  So, another holiday season starts.

Here's a list of fun stuff to remember to do because each holiday may be your last one.  (Service Announcement from 'The Grim Reaper') 

1)  If you don't feel like cooking the big, traditional holiday dinner, DON'T.  (Imagine the hours you'd recover, and your loved ones could stop holding their collectively breaths since you're always in such a bad mood at the end of the big day when you've exhausted yourself shopping, preparing and cooking.)  Yes, I know the idea can seem like heresy, but try it for one of the big holiday meals for just ONE year.  Make a crockpot meal.  Lay out a big sandwich tray.  If you can't shed both meals (Thanksgiving, Christmas), then at least try shaking up one of them.  Finally, if you get the, "Mom, if you don't cook, it won't be the same line, then offer to supervise rather than cook.  Stick to your guns.)

2)  Give presents all year long.  Give trinkets at Christmas.  I like calendars, cool greeting cards, books, puzzles, or games.  Here's the way I look at it:  The less money you spend at Christmas on 'presents' means the more money you can spend on charitable giving.  So many reputable charities count on holiday giving - be a giver of important stuff. 

3)  Remember someone who has lost a love one in the past year.  Acknowledgment of the loss at the first holiday season can be so appreciated.  (Yes, yes, yes, I know, you don't know what to say, etc., etc., etc.  So, buy a freakin' 'thinking of you' card, sign it and mail it.  Any idiot can do that.)

4)  Create a new tradition.  (New stuff doesn't always 'stick', but keep trying . Something will catch hold.  At the very least, it will keep the holiday family time from being so predictable.)

5)  Enjoy Thanksgiving more.  It disturbs me that Thanksgiving is being slowly eliminated by commercial greed.  This is a holiday about the really, really important stuff without the minefields of religion or the expectation of buying, buying, buying.  Don't go shopping on turkey day.  The stores are open long enough.  Nobody needs to start Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving Day.  Remember:  All the ads you are going to be flooded with are designed to psychologically snare you.   

6)  Get an Advent Calendar.  I send a whole bunch of Jacquie Lawson calendars out every year, and I guarantee the adults who receive them enjoy them just as much as the kids.  (For the clueless:  Advent is a season in the Christian church that corresponds to the Christmas season.  However, secular Advent Calendars are all about opening up something fun each day from December 1st to December 25th.  There are paper versions where you pry up a paper window to reveal a new picture, or felt versions with pockets for each day, or electronic versions.  They are all really fun.)

7)  Rethink Christmas cards.  Who do you really, really want to send a greeting to?  Just do those people.  It doesn't have to be hard.  Electronic works!  I'm a big fan of electronic cards because you don't have to particularly plan ahead.  You can batch mail for the cost of a few electrons.  That said,  I do love the spirit of snail mail Christmas cards, and I send out way, way, way too many.  However, it's not a contest.  You don't get a brownie badge for sending out 100 or more cards.  (And, yes, at one time, I actually did that.)  What I have discovered is it's so heartwarming to have cards as decorations around your house - especially if you travel away at Christmas.

8)  Nobody likes fruitcake or the fruit of the month club.  Enough said.

9)  Get your Christmas music in your car and play it from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas.  Your mood will improve.  I look forward to it every year.  Of course, I'm a Christmas carol nut - although, I must say, the Great Christmas Carol Quiz blog was super popular last year.  If you have small children,  car Christmas carols are a great way to introduce cultural icons. (Right, Sarah?)

10) Finally, in midst of all the hubbub of home, office, friends, and obligations,  spend two minutes each day of the 'season' being mindfully grateful for all your many blessings.