We all have memories of past Christmas's some good, some bad.
My favorite are childhood memories,
I remember many Christmas's spent with my Moms
family and my cousins, fun times.
One at My Auntie Lo's, my dads sister and her family.
My mom always did everything to make our Christmas's special, she seemed to read our minds
about what we wanted.
I don't ever remember being disappointed
I hated it when I discovered there wasn't a Santa.
I was in 2nd grade and while I was at school
one day my younger sister found the dolls my mom had hidden.
After that, Christmas didn't have the same excitement.
Sometimes I wonder if we are wrong passing the Santa myth on to our kids.
My worst Christmas's were the result of deaths in our family.
My dad died two weeks before Christmas the year I was expecting my youngest son.
We had just moved into our new home two weeks before that and
we didn't have a tree, and the house was in disarray, so we spent
that Christmas at my Mothers and Santa came for the kids at my brothers house on Christmas Eve
My daughter and oldest son were way to young to realize the sadness in the house that year.
There have been many deaths during the holidays since then, and I am always a little more anxious when December approaches.
As our family grew, our day for Christmas changed to the weekend before,
last Sunday we had our family here for the afternoon.
It was a good day, because we were all together this year.
We were going to spend Christmas Day with extended family in Mankato, but the weather kept us home this year.
We have had a very quiet week and some how I feel much calmer, I hope it lasts through the year.
There are many challenges ahead in the New year, I hope we can handle them with grace.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Three Wise Woman
Today is our family Christmas and I am feeling a little overwhelmed.
The crowd gets bigger every year with Grandchildren marrying or bringing a friend.
It reminds me of those Wise Men and Shepherds that visited Christ at his birth.
I remembered a plaque I saw once at Cracker Barrel.
Three Wise Women would have.....
Asked directions,
Arrived on time,
Helped deliver the baby,
Cleaned the stable,
Made a casserole,
Brought practical gifts and
There would be Peace on Earth
Men are the ones that screwed up this world, maybe someday a wise Woman will be in charge!
Have a good week and don't get stressed!
The crowd gets bigger every year with Grandchildren marrying or bringing a friend.
It reminds me of those Wise Men and Shepherds that visited Christ at his birth.
I remembered a plaque I saw once at Cracker Barrel.
Three Wise Women would have.....
Asked directions,
Arrived on time,
Helped deliver the baby,
Cleaned the stable,
Made a casserole,
Brought practical gifts and
There would be Peace on Earth
Men are the ones that screwed up this world, maybe someday a wise Woman will be in charge!
Have a good week and don't get stressed!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Minnesota needs a new Governor, But ,
Maybe it is time to give tests to those who want to run for public office.
Ole Savior is one of Minnesota's perennial candidates for public office.
Yesterday at the DFL State Central committee meeting he was back, this time running for Governor.
The audience was polite but restrained.
Running a State and a Country is serious business Ole,
Minnesota elected Jessie Ventura as a lark and we still haven't recovered.
Next year we have a surplus of good candidates.
There are so many good candidates, I am hoping that the convention recognizes that and doesn't endorse just one of them, that way the cream will rise to the top and one candidate will come out of the primary stronger.
Our current Governor is ignoring this State and traveling the Country searching for support in his race to the White House.
At least Sarah Palin recognized she wasn't going to have time to do her book tour and run a State, I have more respect for her then Governor T PAW.
In about a month the streets will be filled with more homeless citizens because of cuts this prim donna has made trying to prove his conservatism.
Most of the Republican candidates want to lead in the same way, we can't survive another 4 years of cutting services.
Thanks to Dusty Trice,
here is a glimpse of Ole at his best!
Ole Savior is one of Minnesota's perennial candidates for public office.
Yesterday at the DFL State Central committee meeting he was back, this time running for Governor.
The audience was polite but restrained.
Running a State and a Country is serious business Ole,
Minnesota elected Jessie Ventura as a lark and we still haven't recovered.
Next year we have a surplus of good candidates.
There are so many good candidates, I am hoping that the convention recognizes that and doesn't endorse just one of them, that way the cream will rise to the top and one candidate will come out of the primary stronger.
Our current Governor is ignoring this State and traveling the Country searching for support in his race to the White House.
At least Sarah Palin recognized she wasn't going to have time to do her book tour and run a State, I have more respect for her then Governor T PAW.
In about a month the streets will be filled with more homeless citizens because of cuts this prim donna has made trying to prove his conservatism.
Most of the Republican candidates want to lead in the same way, we can't survive another 4 years of cutting services.
Thanks to Dusty Trice,
here is a glimpse of Ole at his best!
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Viet Nam Revisted ??
When Kim Ode wrote this column back in 2002, my gut told me she was right,
and it has stayed in my thoughts.
I had hoped that by now our kids would be coming home, but now hearing that President Obama plans on giving into the Generals and sending more troops.
I am again trembling along with Kim whose 9 year old son is now in college.
If this war is to continue then we need to reinstate the draft, and we need a war tax to pay for it.
.
I sent her an e-mail and asked her to send me the article here it is unedited.
I hope she doesn't mind!
Headline: The thought of going to war, and the trembling begins
Date: 10/20/02
Byline: Kim Ode; Staff Writer
It's been one of those weeks, a distracting week when I couldn't
seem to hold a thought any longer than my sneezes. The chill I feel
is not from the weather, but from a growing heat. I can't shake the
feeling that we're sliding into war with little idea of how we will
climb back out.
I can't shake the voices of the veterans who write their letters
to the editor and call the radio talk shows. They want to make sure
we're clear about what going to war really means and how hard it is
to shake the memory of slaughter and chaos and the stark fright of
battle.
I can't shake the gutsy futility of the people who ask that those
in Congress who voted to support making war be so kind as to tell
us in which branch of the armed forces their children and
grandchildren have enlisted. I would grant to President Bush a
wholehearted credibility that so far has been wavering if his
daughters were to walk into their local recruiting office.
I can't shake how strangely grateful I am that weaponry has
become so efficient that, by most projections, a war would be over
with ruthless rapidity, making the prospect of my ninth-grade son
eventually being called to fight seem slim - although mothers in
the Vietnam era might have thought the same thing.
I can't shake the suspicion that all the networks long ago signed
off on plans to get their news anchors on-site as soon as possible
to provide the most dramatic backdrop.
I can't shake a sense of trepidation about going to war against
people who use donated blood to paint election posters for Saddam
Hussein and who use their own blood to mark their ballots.
I can't shake the thought that there's a family of four in a
Baghdad suburb listening to the latest news reports and feeling
both frightened and outraged that a nation possessing weapons of
mass destruction is threatening a first strike against them.
I can't shake the sense that the administration will be caught
flat-footed by how quickly the "Hoo-ya!" mood of this country will
shift against it once they start offloading coffins onto the tarmac.
I can't shake my awe at the audacity of the serial sniper for
presuming to grab headlines with his weapon of singular destruction
while we're contemplating global war.
I can't shake the certainty of the bloodlust I'd feel if any harm
came to my family because of a foreign attack, nor the bitterness I
would harbor if my country provoked it.
I can't shake my fear that Saddam Hussein is a nut case, nor my
fear that we're playing into his hands.
I can't shake the weird optimism of ordering magazine
subscriptions for the school fundraiser, nor the prospect that even
in war, because we are the United States, that I might still make
use of Fine Cooking.
I can't shake the disappointment of knowing that some may label
me unpatriotic for these views at the same time they purport to
uphold the ideals of this country's freedoms.
I can't shake the sense that I need to be ready for something.
I'm not sure what that's going to mean. But it's causing me to
tremble, tremble, tremble.
.
- Kim Ode's columns run Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Write
to her at kimode@startribune.com, or 425 Portland Av. S.,
Minneapolis MN 55488. For past columns, go to
http://www.startribune.com/ode.
and it has stayed in my thoughts.
I had hoped that by now our kids would be coming home, but now hearing that President Obama plans on giving into the Generals and sending more troops.
I am again trembling along with Kim whose 9 year old son is now in college.
If this war is to continue then we need to reinstate the draft, and we need a war tax to pay for it.
.
I sent her an e-mail and asked her to send me the article here it is unedited.
I hope she doesn't mind!
Headline: The thought of going to war, and the trembling begins
Date: 10/20/02
Byline: Kim Ode; Staff Writer
It's been one of those weeks, a distracting week when I couldn't
seem to hold a thought any longer than my sneezes. The chill I feel
is not from the weather, but from a growing heat. I can't shake the
feeling that we're sliding into war with little idea of how we will
climb back out.
I can't shake the voices of the veterans who write their letters
to the editor and call the radio talk shows. They want to make sure
we're clear about what going to war really means and how hard it is
to shake the memory of slaughter and chaos and the stark fright of
battle.
I can't shake the gutsy futility of the people who ask that those
in Congress who voted to support making war be so kind as to tell
us in which branch of the armed forces their children and
grandchildren have enlisted. I would grant to President Bush a
wholehearted credibility that so far has been wavering if his
daughters were to walk into their local recruiting office.
I can't shake how strangely grateful I am that weaponry has
become so efficient that, by most projections, a war would be over
with ruthless rapidity, making the prospect of my ninth-grade son
eventually being called to fight seem slim - although mothers in
the Vietnam era might have thought the same thing.
I can't shake the suspicion that all the networks long ago signed
off on plans to get their news anchors on-site as soon as possible
to provide the most dramatic backdrop.
I can't shake a sense of trepidation about going to war against
people who use donated blood to paint election posters for Saddam
Hussein and who use their own blood to mark their ballots.
I can't shake the thought that there's a family of four in a
Baghdad suburb listening to the latest news reports and feeling
both frightened and outraged that a nation possessing weapons of
mass destruction is threatening a first strike against them.
I can't shake the sense that the administration will be caught
flat-footed by how quickly the "Hoo-ya!" mood of this country will
shift against it once they start offloading coffins onto the tarmac.
I can't shake my awe at the audacity of the serial sniper for
presuming to grab headlines with his weapon of singular destruction
while we're contemplating global war.
I can't shake the certainty of the bloodlust I'd feel if any harm
came to my family because of a foreign attack, nor the bitterness I
would harbor if my country provoked it.
I can't shake my fear that Saddam Hussein is a nut case, nor my
fear that we're playing into his hands.
I can't shake the weird optimism of ordering magazine
subscriptions for the school fundraiser, nor the prospect that even
in war, because we are the United States, that I might still make
use of Fine Cooking.
I can't shake the disappointment of knowing that some may label
me unpatriotic for these views at the same time they purport to
uphold the ideals of this country's freedoms.
I can't shake the sense that I need to be ready for something.
I'm not sure what that's going to mean. But it's causing me to
tremble, tremble, tremble.
.
- Kim Ode's columns run Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Write
to her at kimode@startribune.com, or 425 Portland Av. S.,
Minneapolis MN 55488. For past columns, go to
http://www.startribune.com/ode.
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