Hustle

My problem is I ride the holidays like they are a wild stallion I can't control - but might be able to survive. If I'm lucky. I tend to regain consciousness just before the New Year, after all the miles have been tallied & pounds added & feelings hurt. By then I have relinquished my sense of gravity and personal boundaries. I need to find a different way to navigate "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," so I don't end up this depressed on the other side. Eames and I have agreed to aim for Ireland next Christmas and avoid the whole mess altogether.

I'm tempted to type up character assassinations on the relatives that have driven me mad this season (and those I wisely avoided). But I'm trying to learn the virtue of restraint. Instead, I'll mention how unmeasurably fun and meaningful it is to exchange homemade Christmas Gifts. This year I made necklaces, Christmas ornaments, collages, and photo montages. The best gift was one I received from my Sexy Beast, Nicole:



The Anaias Nin Quotations read:

“I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic -- in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself.”

"Good things happen to those who hustle."

This gift was the star on the top of the Christmas Tree in my heart. It inspired me to try harder in my craftiness and aim for a booth in Eastern Market, where I can sell all the ridiculous things I design. It is a symbol of unexplored possibility when I feel too bookish, brain-dead, or bored with culinary arts. And for that I am grateful - a lovely sentiment when spiteful is what I've become known for lately. Sigh.

Hopefully now all the parties have been thrown & cities visited, I will become a lovely person again. I'm sure my parents & brothers would appreciate it. Not to mention old pals who naively want to reconnect over the holidays. May I not bite off their precious heads, I pray.