Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The Wendy List of Advice for this Holiday Season


I am reading with interest the advice given in so many of the blogs I like about the need to do lists, pacing and simplicity this holiday season.

I don't have much I can offer to that - it is all good sound stuff and proffered by good sound people.

So I offer you my own personal list of things that might make your holiday season just that much brighter:

1) Eat too many cookies - isn't that why they made January?




2) Drink Real Champagne. 

People will tell you sparkling wine is all the same, but I say, if you are curling up on New Years Eve with Ryan Seacrest or Anderson Cooper you need two things: The Widow and Potato Chips (see #1 about January).  BTW Veuve is Widow in French...




3) Embrace one awkward present moment

Oh you know that someone is going to give you something you hate.  Embrace it - go over the top with it (then quietly return it or re-gift it to your mother-in-law)...



4) Embrace your shallow you...

Now is not the time for deep talks.  Now is the time for small talk and giggling.  Compare horror stories of your worst presents ever (or your best), debate the virtues of Ryan Reynolds versus Ryan Gosling, give to charity and then take a deep breath and enjoy the season...


5) Get yourself a toy

When was the last time you had a toy?  Played with play doh, paper dolls or lego?  Your stocking must have at least one toy and preferably, you will lay on your stomach when you play with it and then hopefully someone will will help you up off same-said floor later....A train set is perfect and you can even put your little bottle of Baileys on top of the cars and watch it go around - such fun!




6) Make a snow angel

Those of you in warmer climates need a beach, but you get the drift.  Have fun!  All work and no play makes us dull.. Watch out for yellow snow...



7) Buy the John Denver & the Muppets Christmas Album

Sure, there's the old chestnuts, but John Denver sings some of the deepest and loveliest songs and they are all waiting for you to discover....




It's in every one of us
To be wise
Find your heart
Open up both your eyes
We can all know everything
Without ever knowing why
It's in every one of us
By and by


8)  Make Sure you Make Time to Remember that one great Christmas memory

Christmas can be a time of melancholy, regrets, sadness.  We all experience a bit of that because we are, after all, human.   Find your sweet spot, that one thing about Christmas that you love and then just, as we like to say here in the Maritimes "Do that friggin' thing".   Call someone you miss and say hi - sure they may have no idea who the hell you are now, but you know who they are and that's all that matters...Sometimes, you just need to don your antlers and let 'er rip..




9) Eat cookies

Did I mention that already?

 



10) Befriend a Lonely Celebrity ( Even famous people can get lonely at Christmas)

and because I am the kind of person that I am, I hereby throw open my doors to:

  • George
  • Andrew Lincoln
  • Denzel Washington
  • Chris Martin
  • Emma Thompson
  • Tom Hanks
  • Eleanor Catton , who I really need to talk about The Luminaries with...
  • Sandra Bullock
  • Keith Richards
  • Paul McCartney
  • Tony Bennett
  • Bill Clinton
  • Maggie Smith
  • Judi Dench
  • Jennifer Lawrence
  • John Stewart and Stephen Colbert
  • David McCullough (still a groupie)
The champagne and potato chips are on me.

I think you need to think of which celebrities you will take under your wing this holiday season - we must always be ready to extend a hand to those who need it the most...

And this post was a public service announcement of the WMM School of Ironic, but True, Philosophy...

Happy Thursday and Stay Safe out there!




 

27 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Who says Canada doesn't give the world good things??????

      Janet - I have decided that in the future I will spend one day at your house over the holidays for a wonderful zen day to cleanse my excesses! Of course I will need an invite!

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  2. Best list! The whole thing. I'm doing it! Thanks Wendy. How cute is Indy in the antlers.
    Do you recommend The Luminaries? I was thinking of ordering it today. And I have to send you Diary of a Provincial Lady, recommended by Fred it's SO funny, I was to send it to you months ago and I can't believe I forgot!

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    1. I'm about a quarter of the way into it and am loving it so far! Very easy to read and evocative. I lived in NZ as a girl, and remember learning so much about the Gold Rush era...takes me back a bit!!

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    2. I am with Miss Wild Rose - I am about 3/4 through and I bow down at her feet - it is an amazing achievement for any writer, let alone a 28 year old woman.

      Good for you about the list Dani - I wish I could pop over and play a board game over the holidays!

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  3. Great advice Wendy, especially the part about the cookies! I was surprised that I knew who most of those celebrities were, usually I am googling the famous people you mention. Since I don't watch movies and very little TV I am way out of the entertainment loop. I would love it if the plane carrying the current and former Canadian PMs back from Africa stopped in Calgary and they popped in for a cocktail and hors d'oeuvres. Oh yes, Harry Connick Jr. is always welcome here too!

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    1. xoxo - I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that 17 hour flight over - certainly Mr. Mandela's death has reminded people that people are not black and white and that Mr. Mulroney has a legacy that is both reviled and admired!

      I love Harry too!

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  4. Number 11, and Barry will thank me, have sex everyday from Day after Christmas (no can do on Christmas...way too tired) until day before New Years Eve (no can do New Years Eve...way too tipsy and tired). Five days in a row. Should make up for the year :). Your list is spot on except for John Denver. Em is home so I am in a particularly good mood except suddenly I have become Ma instead do Mom...I feel like a Walton.

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    1. Good night Mary Ellen - no fair raising sex 5 days in a row on a blog my husband reads!

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    2. Oops sorry. Now you really can't disappoint the good man!

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  5. Champagne. Check. Working on getting the butter cookies, then will check. Thank you for #5 to remind me to get a new board game.

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  6. Great list! If there's ever a time for champagne it's Christmas...Prosecco is fine the rest of the year. I think I have to make sure that all the grown-ups get toys in their stockings this year....and I'll have fun buying them!;)

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    1. Toys and candy. Stocking must have some fun in them - practical is for Arbour Day!

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  7. Oh I love your list!!! It makes me laugh and it felt good. Number one is the best. We are already eating way too much cookies, but now I feel better as I know January will be there to save me.

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  8. Yes. Cookies.

    More cookies.

    And caviar and champagne on NYE, watching fireworks in central park from our terrace with Himself.

    And indulging in sentimentality over all that is lost - parents, friends, common civility, large portions of the English language, Barton's chocolate coffee beans, BontƩ's bakery . . .

    And laughing at old passport pictures. Always laughing.

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    Replies
    1. Oh God - I am always wondering that my old passport photos don't get me on the no fly list!

      Now that is a nice new years eve! We do fireworks in the backyard, but not quite the same...

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  9. Mmmm, cookies. Perhaps I shall sample one of mine now with my coffee. Granola can wait. Love this list Wendy!

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  10. Alas, I love bubbles but bubbles hate me, violent headaches. However, every year I go on the hunt for Christmas cookies. I do not allow desserts during the year except for vacations and very special occasions. But Christmas cookies, "now yer talken".

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    Replies
    1. You are a woman of great discipline, a discipline that I lack approximately 360 out of every 365 days sadly....

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  11. Great list, Wendy, although no chance of snow angels here!!

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  12. Hi Wendy! I'm really, really good at #1 and #9. Would do #6 in a nanosecond but like ruth, need some snow.

    My best friend and I once did a lot of #4 with a lot of #2 one new year's eve and that was the hangover that cured me for life!

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