Category Archives: Holiday

The Joy Jar 2020

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There is no getting around that 2020 was an extraordinarily hard year. But it wasn’t all bad. As proof, it’s a return to the joy jar tradition! We have a Mason jar in the kitchen that has dated slips of paper inside, each denoting something that gave us joy on a particular day during the year. Lisa and I read these out loud on New Year’s Eve. Here are highlights from 2020. And yes, there are many:

  • Completing the “Silver Falls in Winter” video. Some of my very best work, and it even received a compliment from the director of Oregon Parks.
  • Lisa earning her Associate Certified Coach credential.
  • Aria engineering trains in the dining room with Grandpa.
  • After accidentally deleting my website installation and eight years of content on the first day of 2020, I got all my backups running and the site fully functioning again after a week. A miracle!
  • Listening to the total joy of Aria’s and Clarke’s laughs as they play tag upstairs.
  • Aria spending afternoons under Clarke’s desk while he works.
  • “Mom, are we getting Dairy Queen?” — note slipped under Lisa’s home office door in May.
  • Walking down the stairs at midnight and seeing all the stars clearly through the staircase window.
  • Evening walks during the summer to Crossler Middle School with Aria.
  • Watching Aria walk down the block with Clarke while wearing her full rainbow unicorn onesie costume.
  • Aria knows she can come to her daddy for comfort, especially after a tumble.
  • Seabrook trip with the family in what would be our last family outing before Gary got sick.
  • Seeing, hugging, and having dinner with my dad after he spent five nights in the hospital.
  • Aria motioned at me to rub her back one more minute tonight. She put her little hand on my leg and promptly fell asleep.
  • Watching the progress Aria has made on her scooter since Christmas day. She has gone from timid to very confident in a week.

Because of so much difficulty this year, we didn’t just save our favorite notes. We kept them all and put them in a time capsule with the others from years past. The new year will have its own challenges and opportunities, so a new joy jar is ready to go for 2021 as a reminder of all that’s good during the next 365 days. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2020

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If there was ever a Christmas in our modern history that needs an infusion of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, this is it. From the Gospel of Luke (and the lips of Linus from Peanuts):

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Wishing my readers peace this holiday season. Take good care and be well.

2020 “Uketide” Tunes – Part IV

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After a fun debut, Aria joins me again for the grand finale of our Yuletide ukulele series, Robert Alex Anderson’s Mele Kalikimaka. There is a twist, however! For fun, I rewrote the lyrics for one verse and changed the song title to Rainy Kalikimaka, which is typical weather for Christmas in Oregon. For the record, it’s in the forecast this year.

Here are the revamped lyrics:

Rainy Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a wet and stormy Christmas day
That’s the Northwest greeting that we send to you
From the land where Doug firs sway
Here we know that Christmas will be gray and cold
Some years we may get snow but that gets quickly old
Rainy Kalikimaka is the Northwest way
To say Merry Christmas to you

Hope you get a few laughs from this. Listening to me try to hit those higher notes is definitely giggle-worthy. I need to work on transposing! That said, we enjoyed making the video:

Mahalo for watching us do songs for a third year in a row. May you have enough malasadas and shave ice to satisfy your sweet tooth…and spike your blood sugar. Ha! Mele Kalikimaka and best wishes this holiday season!