Countdown...

 December 28, 2022

For those who celebrate, I hope that your Christmas or Hanukkah were all you’d hoped they would be. When an event comes but once a year, it’s wonderful if it turns out, also, to be very special.

Anticipating the week leading up to Christmas, there had been a few places we had originally planned to go and a couple of people who we’d hoped to see. However, as the storm was first forecast and as it approached, and since we were warned of its inevitability and nearly unprecedented size, we decided to just stay home, instead. Seeing loved ones face to face isn’t worth a risk of life and limb.

I can’t tell you all just how much I wish others had done the same. Two things can be true at the same time. I feel compassion for those who’ve been stranded—either because of the difficulties of air travel, or because of attempting to travel by road. But I also wonder what they were thinking, since, as I said, it was well publicized that a monster winter storm was imminent. Getting stranded was a completely unnecessary hardship.

Our Christmas Day here was a very relaxed and quiet day, just the three of us here. Our daughter made breakfast. There were two kinds of bacon, eggs, breakfast potatoes and toast. The food was very tasty. Supper was my job, and since we’d decided well ahead on the bill of fare, it was a very simple but good meal. We enjoyed bone-in ham, candied yams, Brussels Sprouts (our favorite veggie), and coleslaw. I bought some of the groceries on the Friday before Christmas, and because our daughter really loves red cabbage coleslaw, that was what we had.

Recently, our daughter has reintroduced chicken and ham into her diet. So far, it’s working for her. She doesn’t eat large quantities of those meats, but she eats them with no negative side effects.

There was an addendum to putting some slices of ham into the oven to heat them, for our Christmas supper. Most of what we didn’t eat for supper, had been designated for another purpose. I put that cut up left over ham through the meat processor, added a few sweet pickles which were also chopped in the processor, added some mayo to the mix and voila: the family favorite, ham and pickle, which is salad that is eaten as a sandwich filler. When daughter and I decided on the menu, she was most excited about the ham and pickle since she hadn’t had any for a couple of years.

Made on Monday, (and a healthy portion of it, at that), the meat spread was but a memory by the end of the day, yesterday. I’m not complaining. I’d rather have something eaten up that quickly than left to go bad in the fridge.

Our family Christmas supper will be on next Monday, this year, January 2^nd. There’s usually a challenge coordinating since both our daughter and our “second daughter” have busy schedules. This is also the reason I didn’t even attempt to serve a turkey on the 25^th. Sonja makes the best turkey, period. And while I pride myself on being a very good cook, I have no problem bowing to someone who can do something better than I can. It will be a fun evening, and of course a new rendition of the game we always play when we get together for these events: left, right and center. (If you’re curious, they sell it at Amazon).

Yes, next Monday will be in the brand-new shiny year of 2023. Time does march on, whether we wish it to, or not. That’s the way of the world. But I’ve lived long enough to understand that few things in life are either all bad, or all good. So while time marching onwards means we part with some things, it also means that we encounter some new things.

I sincerely wish that y’all have enough of the new, and the nice, and the happy, and the spice in the year to come to put a smile on your face and a song in your heart.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

Tis the season...

 December 21, 2022

Well, here we are again, and so soon, too! Christmas is only 3 sleeps away, as the kids used to say. Just about everyone I speak to in recent days has had one question in common that they ask me, during the course of our conversations: “are you ready for Christmas?” I’m not certain if they are asking that out of genuine curiosity, or if they are hoping that I will say no, and they will then sigh, and think, “oh good, another one just like me.”

My answer to the question, am I ready, is always no. I’m never ready for Christmas. I do, every year, comment on this fact. And every year, it’s true. Every year, the inevitability and approach of Christmas, the nearness of it when I look up mid-December and realize it’s almost here, seems to be a shock.

You see, Christmas to me is a time to stop the busyness of life, a time to sit, be calm, and reflect. To sink deep into contemplation. To once more draw near to the wonder and the magic and the majesty of human hope and aspirations.

When I say those words to myself, a lovely picture forms in my imagination. I’m in a room with a large front window; sitting in a comfy chair, with a fresh cup of coffee beside me, a blanket on my lap, and a fire burning close by. It’s night, I have the indoor lights off, and outside I can see thanks to the soft lighting from somewhere that the snow is falling—gently, softly, with the occasional puff of a breeze that sends the snowflakes dancing. There may be soft music playing, but aside from the crackle of the fire, it’s the only sound.

So, am I longing for Christmas? Yes, I am so there. But am I ready for it? No…but I have hope.

When I was a child, my pleasure when it came to Christmas was, of course, from anticipating all the wonderful things I might get from “Santa”. I can tell you that there were two days a year that I got gifts – my birthday, and Christmas. That was normal, for most folks I believe in those days. I would be given shoes, or clothing as the need arose throughout the year. And I did get a whole 25 cents a week allowance. That was a lot! Why, every couple of weeks or so, my daddy would take me to Kresge’s, in Dundas, and I could, from my allowance, buy myself a toy from amongst the riches on display there.

My two favorites were a “flying saucer”, and solo ping-pong. The first consisted of a “launch pad” a ring, a string, and a plastic circle, with spokes. The string wrapped around the launch pad; the circle sat atop it; and when you held the toy in one hand and pulled the string fast in the other, the circle twirled hard, then would be launched to go…. wherever. The second toy was a wooden paddle, which had an elastic band type piece securely affixed to it. At the end of the band was a small rubber ball. You could play ping-pong all by yourself!

With that monthly influx of new toys, I never felt deprived—or bored!

These days, as a seasoned adult, my pleasure in Christmas comes from giving. We keep a few dollars on hand, and every kettle we pass in this season, gets some. We have, in the past, taken great pleasure in shopping for toys, lots of toys, and then giving them to the first responders on duty each Christmas season outside the grocery stores. And of course, we give gifts to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And to special friends.

I also used to love to make cookies with my own children, and then with my granddaughter. This year, being so much older and sadly a little less patient, I made the cookies on my own and then presented two of my great-grandchildren with them, along with some icing and all manner of sprinkles for them to decorate at will. My daughter and second daughter supervised, and I enjoyed watching them.

I also sent them home with some cookie dough ready to roll out, so they could make cookies at home with their mother.

There is one more thing that I look forward to, every Christmas, and it’s my absolute favorite: and that is the time I get to spend with my loved ones. Yes, there is a shadow of sadness present, as this is the time of year when I most keenly miss those no loner with us: my parents and siblings, my middle son, and his first-born daughter. But life, at it’s best, is neither all good nor all bad. Life at its best is bitter-sweet.

My husband and I wish you boundless joy this Christmas—with lots of hugs and mugs with your nearest and dearest.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

Solemn commemoration....

 December 14, 2022

Ten years ago today, tragedy came to live in a community called Newtown, Connecticut.

It was a beautiful, late fall day. The sun was shining, and the temperature had been forecast to hit 43 degrees. The day began, I imagine, much as any day begins. Parents roused sleepy children early, getting them up and dressed, and then sitting down to breakfast. There would have been the usual sounds of family life, sounds that would have run the gamut from laughter to tears, as most every day does. Could be someone couldn’t find their shoes, while someone else had to change their socks, so that they matched. Teeth had to be brushed—and hair, too. Finally, what was likely a familiar if hectic daily rush out the door as the parents would have taken their children to school and then headed on to work themselves.

Some families would have had their Christmas trees up already, and some would have had that on the calendar for the next day, which in 2012 was Saturday.

And then, shortly after 9:35am, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the unthinkable happened.

I remember at the time just sitting in shock, and tears, as I watched the news coverage unfold. We’ve had a few horrible mass shootings here in Canada, but nothing like this. Nothing had ever been like this.

And I remember thinking, surely now something will be done. There are so many things that can be done to help to mitigate the kind of violence we saw that day. And really, none of those things involve anyone coming in black helicopters to seize anybody’s weapons.

Now, here we are 10 years later, and although slowly, the movement for common sense gun control legislation has been gathering activists and action. More than 500 pieces of legislation on the state and local level have been enacted. In June the first significant piece of federal legislation in more than 30 years was passed thanks to bipartisan cooperation.

I have come to the realization that we’ll likely never see a revolutionary big law as I expected in the days and then weeks and months following the massacre, Sandy Hook. I was expecting a big and sudden change and felt very disappointed there was none, but really, I should have known better. After all, the turtle did win the race against the hare for a reason.

I take comfort in the knowledge that the coalition of groups and activists working together toward a goal of universal gun safety legislation is now larger and more powerful than the NRA. They are active in every state, I believe. There is hope, and as long as there is some progress, there also needs to be patience.

The Safer Communities Act was signed into law this past summer. It was a beginning on the federal level, but not the end. I choose to believe it was not the end, because those 20 wee children and 6 educators should never be forgotten.

I am going to spend some of today remembering the lives lost ten years ago. I’ll likely shed more than a few tears, but that’s as it should be. And I am going take time to pray something more will be done than that one piece of anti-gun violence (not anti-gun) legislation that was passed.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

Commercial free and other myths...

 December 7, 2022

I’m old enough to recall when there were only 13 channels available on our television. When I lived with my mother, she had a black and white RCA set that stood on its own legs. I don’t recall how long we had this free-standing model, but it was what we were used to. Of course, at that time, I was my mother’s remote control, and it didn’t even matter if I was upstairs when she wanted the channel changed. I got married a week before my 18^th birthday, and moved not just out of her house, but out of my rural community.

My mother did not, in her lifetime, own a color TV.

But even before she died, there was talk that something new would be coming before too long—they called it cable TV, and while there would likely be a small user-fee involved, it would well be worth that minimal price because, (they said), there would be several more channels for watching, and there would be no commercials. And maybe there are some folks reading this who don’t know, so I will relate here that prior to the advent of cable, the only cost of watching TV was the appliance itself, the antenna you bought, and the electricity to run it.

I do recall that my mother didn’t believe that last part about no commercials on cable TV for a single moment. 

Moving forward from that time, in the early days of my marriage, I had a job in the credit office of a department store in our local large city. Then, one day, we were told that something new was coming. They said we would be doing our work on a computer. It was cutting-edge stuff and involved punch cards and something called a hopper. A young woman was hired to instruct us all, and her first pronouncement was to assure us, quite gleefully as I recall, that eventually we would all be replaced by this modern-day machine. And she made one more promise, which we had all heard and believed at the time—that the advent of the computer in the workplace would herald the end of paper in the workplace. Just think, no more endless paper to deal with!

I’ll give all y’all a moment here to get the giggles under control in response to that last bit of horse puckey.

Now, with those two shining examples in my background, one wouldn’t think I would be surprised that YouTube is working on finding new ways of giving us even more commercials to pepper our short, two-minute videos. I think there are enough now, because sometimes I’ll be watching an eight-minute video and get three ads in the first three minutes.

I’ve participated in more than a few surveys online, about advertising. There is almost always a comment section. I usually state in that comment section that 1) I do not watch the ads and 2) if they annoy me enough, I put the sponsor of the ad on my personal, “never, ever buy” list.

Yes, I know that likely no one ever sees those comments, but I do feel better for making them.

I have always believed that the internet has more positives to it than negatives, and that attitude had, in the beginning, extended itself to social media. But I forgot to factor in that one bad actor can create more chaos, confusion, and pain than a room full of good people can spread peace and harmony.

When television first came into being, there was a general consensus that standards needed to be established and upheld—for the greater good. Thus, behavior was monitored and those producing the programming fit themselves into the stated community standards in a way that became second nature.

I would dearly love to see social media take on the same guardrails.

And as for those darned commercials? I imagine if YouTube does manage to eliminate one’s ability to “skip” some ads that eventually, I will simply spend far less time there. Likely using the site only for limited purposes—like watching videos that I know can show me how to do something, or how to pronounce a name.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury