Sunday, December 23, 2007

Is It Just Me, Or...

Is it just me or is everyone a little on the cranky side this holiday season?

We were talking about this last night at the Holly-in-Our Hearts Holiday Hullabaloo here at Chez Tewkesbury. Everyone I talked to said, to a person, that they were having a hard time catching the holiday spirit this year.

I can't finger whether it's a product of day-to-day life that seems to move faster and faster as the years progress, leaving little time or grace to just slow down and enjoy some quieter moments. Or, maybe it's a result of mass marketing and over-stimulation with ads that yell and urgently proclaim "Consume! Consume! Consume! For tomorrow we die!" Perhaps it's this year's holiday calendar which started with Thanksgiving; it felt like it was a week earlier than normal, thereby making Christmas feel like it's also a week earlier than it should be.

I don't know. What I do know is, I wish it was January 1 already, because I'm tired of this year. I've had enough of 2007. In the years of my life, this one was disappointing in so many ways and the most overrated, as far as years go. I'm not trying to be a downer here and I'm not suggesting there haven't been highlights and happy moments. It's just that this year has been underscored by a level of weariness I've not experienced before. Even my most hellish, worst year--professionally, academically, and personally--was better than this year. I'd take September 2000-September 2001 over again any day compared to 2007. (And anyone who knows me and that particular period in my life, knows that's saying a lot.)

Twenty-oh-seven has been the year of merely existing and surviving for me and that's just plain yucky. A friend of mine wrote the other day, "Life becomes lively when I participate instead of watch." That's going to be my mantra for 2008. That's what I'm going to be again: a participant in life. An active, engaged, out-there woman who doesn't hold others back and isn't held back either! (And in truth, the only one holding me back is me. So, I'm gonna bitch slap myself like Cher and snap out of it!)

Adios 2007! Here's looking at 2008...

10 comments:

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

SML: Yeah. Remember the scene in Moonstruck where she slaps Nicholas Cage and yells "Snap out of it!" That's what I need: Cher, bitch slapping me.

Mary Ellen said...

Raspberries and celery should not cohabit the same dish. Jell-O goes with FRUIT, not vegetables!

My mom makes a layered cran-raspberry, ginger ale and cream cheese Jell-o dessert. It's the only time I eat Jell-O and it's ALL about the decadent sweetness.

I'll help hustle 2007 out the door by the scruff of its scrawny chicken neck and wish you a very merry 2008. You didn't buy into the clock-changing at daylight savings; why wait until Jan 1 to start you own personal '08?

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

ME: I'll take fruit and vegetables in Jell-o any day over fruit and dairy products. Yuck! Bee likes that whole Jell-o and pears and cottage cheese things, which I just think is vile. But, as she says, that just means more for her and that's fine with me.

Oh, let's face it. Jell-o with anything but just fruit is just plain weird.

Anonymous said...

Well, since we're telling jell-o tales... My grandmother, staunch methodist that she is, has always frequented her ladies' group luncheons, bazaars, etc. Her "signature dish" that everyone raves about is a "salad" that involves the following ingredients: Lemon jell-o, corned beef, mayonnaise, celery, hard-cooked eggs, and onions. (I've never tried it because it makes me shudder just to think about it [and because I think corned beef and mayonnaise are heretical together anyhow, never mind the introduction of lemon jell-o into the mix!]). And it's worth noting that her friends in the ladies' group are all well into their 80s and 90s now and they still gobble it up.

Mormons on the Wasatch Front have definitely not cornered that market. :-P

Happy New Year, Tewkesies!! xoxo

Anonymous said...

PS - I'm with Bee, I LOVE the jell-o, cottage cheese, pears thing. Mmmmm.

Anonymous said...

Okay, jell-o makes me verbose. You know that "salad" that involves jell-o, cream cheese and salty/buttery pretzel crust? I defy ANYONE to hate that one.

Maybe I'm homesick for american food...

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

How did all the Jell-o comments end up here when the bit about the Christmas Jell-o is in the entry after this one?! Well, no matter. I'm loving this thread regardless of where it is!

Di: I'm hurling at the thought of your grandmother's lemon Jell-o-corned beef-onion-mayo-WTF? concoction. OH.MY.GOD. You're right: Mormons do not own the corner market on this one.

The next time we get together with you guys, I'll have Bee make the pears-cottage cheese thing and the two of you can enjoy that.

Jell-o and Cool Whip are definitely a match made in heaven. As I'm typing this, Bee is telling me about a Jell-o dessert called Orange Fluff. I guess it involves those two aforementioned ingredients, plus 7-UP. How can you possibly go wrong there?

And yes, I've had the Jell-o with strawberries, pretzels, and cream cheese thing. It's about as white trash as you can get. Although, I've noticed out here that a lot of high-brow people make it. It's like it's their one secret Jell-o vice. So, I guess that would make it high-brow white trash, right?

I think you must be homesick for American food. Perhaps it's time for Ess to join the Air Force, so you can have access to the commissary in Germany...

Happy New Year to you, too, my friend! xoxo - Jay and Bee

Mary Ellen said...

I think the misplaced Jell-O comments were my fault. Poor reading comprehension with the increased sugar intake. Who knew the mighty Jiggle would unleash such comments?

I did have the strawberry Jell-O + sour cream and pretzel "crust" dessert at the Community of Christ potluck we went to today. YUM. Pass me some trashy goodness.

Our contribution to the pot: cheesecake & Tewkes' raspberry pinot noir sauce. You should have seen us doofuses trying to open the freakin' pinot bottle: Me pulling down on the bottle with my entire body weight, M pulling up on the corkscrew until the twain finally separated.

The other things I can't stand together: cottage cheese and fruit. Bleeeeech! Stir in some salsa or shrimp cocktail sauce and I'm all over it.

Angie K. Millgate said...

LOVE the new mantra. And I am thinking I will adopt it as well. I have even copied it, am pasting it into Word, gonna make it "pretty" and then print it off. New mirror adornment!!! Wooooooooohooooooooooo!
With love,
Angie

ps... I thought it was funny that all the Jell-O comments ended up here too and was a bit concerned that I had "commented" on the wrong post. Whew! Hate to do anything wrong, ya know!!! LOL

Our family - being Mormon for time in memorium - has a grundle of Jell-O disasters/miracles in our recipe boxes. My sister's husband has brought his favorite with him called "Pink Surprise." My brother threw it up all over their back yard last year after he drank the entire carafe of water on a bet, just after finishing a five-course meal. I call my favorite Jell-O miracle "Green Fluffiness" because it is this cloud-like confectionary delight with pistachio Jell-O pudding, marshmallows and whipped cream. Between my brother and I, we ate two batches of the stuff this season!

Anonymous said...

Wishing you a kick-ass 2008 -- kick-ass in a good way (geez, Phoebe, be careful what you ask for). I hope you have a self-actualized, happy, fruit Jello flambe year with whipped cream on it!

Yay!

- Phoebe