I've seen some new years come, grow old, and be replaced with other new years.  I've seen a lot of changes contained within those years.
I sit around reflecting/projecting about the coming year with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.   I anticipate the adventure of it all.  My trepidation is probably more cold feet than anything else.  At the beginning of all great adventures, there is that underlying mixture of excitement and fear. 
So much has changed in the last year and in the year before that and before that and before..........I see no reason to expect things to remain as they are now.  I'm sure a few pieces will remain, but maybe not even those few will remain.  Alan Watts said it well, "every one of us is a whirlpool in the tide of existence, ...where every cell in our body, every molecule, every atom is in constant flux, and nothing can be pinned down".  
With all the days that have passed in my life I must consider whether I'll even be here to see the birth of the next new year. Of course that eventuality will set me voyaging  on new and different plains. 
Regardless of all this, if the new year is to be truly experienced it must be felt directly, silencing words and meanings.
In the spirit of resolutions I borrowed this idea from TheOrganicSister, 11 Permissions for 2011.
"In preparation for the mind-altering, life-inspiring, beautiful madness to commence, I hereby give myself full, unapologetic permission to…."

   1. Only take and keep the photos I love.
   2. Feel shy or walk away or not.
   3. Slow down and even stop.
   4. Love myself.
   5. Be selfish as needed.
   6. Surround myself with intelligence, creativity, adventure,  inspiration and beauty.
   7. Say goodbye to people, situations, and things that hinder my progress. 
   8. Dress in ways that make me comfortable and happy.
   9. Succeed and fail.
  10. Fearlessly live up to my full potential.
  11. To always remember the word is not the thing.
  

I cooked this for Christmas dinner.

I had this instead.

 

I watched Elf last night.  I cried happy tears.    
Somewhere along the way it said the meaning of Christmas was belief or something along those lines.  That reminded me of a blog I read (I can't remember which one).  The blog posed a question about the meaning of Christmas and I said it was about people and relationships.
But after watching Elf, I think it is about belief.


Belief in many things: people, relationships, love, magic, Santa, the Easter Bunny, fun, dancing, the unimaginable, mischief, prayer, the empty space...and...and...and....

Of course all the things I listed I see as positive.  And if there is a positive there must be a negative. For every inside there is an outside.

Or is there?

Separation isn't real, it is a belief system?

  

I try to follow the middle way.  For me this means being free of the one-sidedness of perspective that takes the extremes of any polarity as objective reality.
The belief that separation is illusory must be coupled with the complete embrace of duality in all of its forms.


"'Everything exists': That is one extreme.
'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme.
Avoid these two extremes," ~ Samyutta Nikaya's Kaccāyanagotta Sutta

 
Huineng said, "Suppose there is a person who asks, ‘What is taken for and called darkness?’ Reply and say, ‘Light is the proximate cause and darkness is the contributory cause. When light is ended, then there is darkness. By the means of light, darkness manifests; by the means of darkness, light manifests. [Their] coming and going are mutually proximate causes and become the meaning of the Middle Way.’"

hmmmm...I don't know about all that.
Of course, I don't know in general.

Is there even an "I" to know?  That is a topic for another day.

Have a marvelous weekend.
 

This is a Christmas tradition that withered and died after the divorce.

  

 Each year I would cut a round off the bottom of our Christmas tree.

 After it dried, I would sand it smooth.

 

 On one side we painted a picture and the year.

 

 On the other side we would list important family events from that year.

 An eye hook is added to each end and the round is added to the chain.

  

Each Christmas the chain was part of our Christmas decorating.

 

 I saw this on phillyista's site and thought I'd try it too.

1.  Wrapping paper or gift bags? gift bags...I've never mastered the art of wrapping paper.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up your tree? It varies based on what is happening in life

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, spiked

6. Favorite gift received as a child?  I can't remember, it was too long ago

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes

8. Hardest person to buy for?  My son

9. Easiest person to buy for? My sister and her husband

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?Beats me, I repressed the memory. hahahaha

11.Xmas cards mail or email? Both

12. Favorite Christmas movie? The Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  I shop a little along all year

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  Yes 

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?   One slice of Claxton fruit cake

16. White or colored lights on the tree? I like both

17. Favorite Christmas song? Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer



18. Travel or stay home at Christmas?  It varies. I do differently different years

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?  No

20. Angel or star on top of the tree? Santa hat

21. Do you open your presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?  Christmas day

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?  Greed and consumerism

23. What is the "corniest" family tradition you do or miss doing?  I used to cut a round off the bottom of our tree.  We would let it dry out, sand it, paint a picture on one side and a list of the year's  big family events on the other.  Then we would add it to the chain with the other years. 

24. Ugliest Christmas decoration ever invented?  The big plastic blow up things that go in the yard

25. Which looks best - themed tree or homey tree? I'm a homey tree kind of guy

26. What does Christmas mean to you?  A time to share love and kindness with others
 

The junk drawer in our kitchen

What does your kitchen junk drawer have in it?