Tag Archives: fun

All Is Calm.. All Is Bright

All Is Calm.. All Is Bright

This is my next door neighbor’s house.  They are the first house on our street to have their lights up and their tree decorated.  I noticed this Sunday evening as I was walking to my mail box across the street. (I hadn’t had time to get my mail for a few days.)

I said to myself  Jeez!  A bit anxious aren’t we?  I then heard a voice in my ear saying “bah humbug..”.

I looked a little closer and noticed through the window people eating and laughing.  My neighbors were having a holiday party and the guests looked cozy and warm inside- the windows somewhat fogged from the heavy breathing, fun laughter, and everyone talking at the same time.

I was transfixed.

It was a rainy night yet I felt compelled to walk by their house again later that evening just to take it all in.  It was like a Norman Rockwell painting and it stirred within me a nostalgia for days less busy, less hurried and less hectic.  Days filled with the care and feeding of three little boys, putting together puzzles with them, dancing to wild music on the turntable and baking Christmas cookies.  Days when the mail man at the door was one of the most exciting events of the afternoon!

I have to admit, I’ve been a little bit of a Scrooge lately.  With a full time job, preparing for Christmas often feels like taking on an additional part time job!  It always has a lovely ending though the beginning can be rough, plagued by my bad attitude and feelings of impending doom.

Sunday night changed all that.  Something wrenched itself loose in me and I wanted what I saw inside my neighbor’s cheery and festive home.  Love and Joy.  Friendship and laughter.

All things calm and bright…

Let the wild rumpus begin!

 

 

Christmas Gifts.. Jump into Joy!

Christmas Gifts.. Jump into Joy!

Watch Patrick on YouTubewatch?v=YJH65jLvmv0

This is my son, Patrick, at our annual day after Thanksgiving Karaoke night at El Toro Brewery in Morgan Hill.

Talk about JOY!

Joy is having your family together for the holidays and making it user friendly by doing some of the activities that THEY like to do!  This annual Karaoke night has become a real crowd pleaser and is a great way to launch the holiday season for the Healy family.  Being that it’s Thanksgiving weekend, my sons have friends home from far and wide who come and reconnect with them over good beer and great entertainment.  Us “grown-ups” come along for the JOY!  (And sometimes we can be coerced to get up and sing… oh somebody twist my arm!)

Life is hard.  The holidays can be difficult. Feelings, memories, emotional baggage can all get stirred up inside us and we can get blue and nostalgic for the way things used to be or fantasize about how we would like our lives to be different.

OR we can take moments of JOY and string them together in order to get through the tough times.

When I think of the popular song Joy To The World I have visions of angels and peace on earth and heaven and nature singing.  How does that translate into the real world?

Perhaps it is at a Karaoke bar on a Friday night listening to your son singing Foxy Lady like nobody’s business!

BTW the beer is about $8 a pitcher.  The JOY is free!