GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLFRIEND GATHERINGS

Learning from YOU to empower ME !

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly! Really?

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008Whatever happened to peaceful, joyful, and merry-making holidays?    As my sister and I drove on the highway passing in front of our local mall on Thanksgiving evening, we were stunned to see the throng of cars in the parking lots.   People had cut short their Thanksgiving meal with family/friends to start Christmas shopping by 5pm.   It seems everyone is on a quest to find the perfect gift.  Children are mesmerized by all of the advertisements and parents have their children wish lists in hand while they go into debt trying to buy everything on it.

Whatever happened to being content with a slice of Big Mama’s coconut cake or MaDear’s sweet potato pie?   Remember the joy of feeling like a big girl when you helped your mother “set” the table?  Remember the fun in playing with those cousins from out-of-town that you only saw once or twice a year?   Remember the joy of licking the cake dough from the spatula and scooping it from the mixing bowl after your mother put the cake in the oven?   Yes, receiving toys was great but it was only a part of the enjoyment.

Now, success is judged by how soon you started Christmas shopping during the year, how many gifts you bought, and how much money you spent for them.  The retailers start planting holiday shopping in our minds before the kids have gone trick-or-treating and no one has consideration for the poor retail workers who gulped down their Thanksgiving dinner so the rest of you can shop early.

In yesteryear, Thanksgiving had the appropriate reverence and no one thought of Christmas until the turkey leftovers were gone.  Parents watched their kid’s interests throughout the year to determine an appropriate gift or gifts for Christmas.   The child may not have received everything they wanted but they were content with whatever gift they received because it was truly a gift and not a fulfillment of a sense of entitlement.

The slow commercialization of the period between Halloween and New Years’ Day is a phenomenon that steadily grows each year.   Personally, I find myself rebelling against it.   As I watch people fervently shopping and traffic around the malls, all I want to do is arrive to a relaxing evening in my home or spend time with my family /friends.    I will purchase gifts for the children in my immediate family but I will not succumb to the “call” of the retailers and shop in wild abandonment.  I will pass some blessings on by donating some money to help others.   I will make some joyful noise/memories with my loved ones this season and that will be a wonderfully sufficient gift for me.

Let us put THANKS back in the last Thursday in November, GIVING back in the season,  and CHRIST back in Christmas.

QUESTION(s)

Do you feel there is too much commercialization of the holiday season?

Do you miss the old-fashioned family-value methods of celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Just When I Thought Chivalry Had Died and Gone to Hell

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I’m a native Texan – several generations deep.   This means I am a Southern Belle with Cowgirl spunk.  There are certain things that are innate in the native Texan and one of them is chivalry.    The women expect it and the men know they better deliver it.   After all, chivalry is a part of home training.

Now, I know this is the 21st century and women can do a lot of things for themselves.  However, in Texas, just because we can doesn’t mean we have to – especially when a man is near.   We still expect for our doors to be opened for us, to be helped with heavy packages, to not have our ears burned with profane language in our earshot, and to be asked if our needs are being met when we are in the company of a man.

So, imagine my dismay on the day that I thought chivalry had died and gone to hell!

It happened like this…………….

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I was out early with my biking buddies riding the trails at Deussen Park.   My girlfriends decided to ride over to the adjacent park -Eisenhower – to ride on hills and I remained at Deussen to ride the trails near Lake Houston.   As I completed the first rotation on the route and started heading east, the sun had risen and was shining directly in my eyes.   I stopped abruptly to put my sunglasses on and when I started up again my bike chain slipped off.

At that moment, I thought about that bike maintenance class I had put off for several weeks.  I quickly resigned myself to the fact my ride was over since I did not know how to repair the bike.   I decided to push my bike the 1 1/4 miles back to our starting point at the home of my girlfriend.   I texted my girlfriends to let them know of my predicament and started my trek.

As I pushed my bike out of the park entrance onto the pedestrian lane of the main road, I noticed a man riding towards me and the park entrance on his bike.   I slowed down as he got closer and to my surprise he rode right by me nodding his head at me as he passed.    I turned around and watched his back as he rode off.   All sorts of names entered my thoughts and none of them were very nice.   I surmised he was definitely not a Texan and probably had thrown out his home training because there was not one iota of chivalry in his demeanor.

So, I hung my head and trudged on as the sun beamed down on me.    Soon, I heard a couple of drawling voices calling, “M’am, M’am!”  I turned around and two young men were riding toward me.   They rode up behind me and asked, “Are you having a problem, M’am?” with that dear familiar Texas twang.   I told them what happened to my bike.  As one gently admonished me about riding alone and not being able to maintain my bike, the other one quickly repaired it.   They stayed with me as I test rode it to be sure I was completely operational and satisfied.   I thanked my “cowboys” and rode back to the park to rejoin my girlfriends.

I told my girlfriends what happened and they were appalled.  Since none of us know how to maintain our bikes we have marked the date of the next maintenance class on our calendars so we can attend together.   However, this incident has created some sadness within me.  Now, I will no longer assume that every man I encounter in my home state is chivalrous.    I wonder if I am watching the slow dissolution of something special in Southern and Texas culture.    I hope not.

QUESTION(s)

What do you think about chivalry?

Do you think it is a dying virtue?

Do you appreciate it when a man exhibits chivalrous behaviors towards you?

Girlfriend Gathering Review – “A Soulful Christmas” at the Ensemble Theatre

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Girls Night Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past weekend my girlfriends and I kicked off the 2014 holiday season by attending our first event of the season at the Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Texas (http://www.ensemblehouston.com).   As a long-time subscriber, I can always count on the Ensemble Theatre to add a different spice, a different flavor, and a different flair to the traditional offerings on the Houston theatre scene during the holiday season.    Their production of “A Soulful Christmas” is a refreshing new addition for this season.

A Soulful Christmas

When I heard the title I knew we would enjoy some great music and we were not disappointed.   The musical ensembles mesmerized us with their rendition of familiar Christmas songs from the 1940’s to the present and the story that was wrapped around the music was very original.   The talent of the singers, actors, and dancers was of stellar quality and it was difficult to keep still in our seats.

Since it is still early in the holiday season, I don’t want to be a “spoiler” about the production so this post about it will be short.   For those of you in or near Houston, I highly recommend that you get a ticket as soon as you can because I know all of the shows will sell out.

QUESTION(s):

How do you “kick-off” the holiday season in your town?

Understanding Labor Day – Celebrating the American Working Class

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USA Colours Party BackgroundYou know it occurred to me as I prepared for Labor Day 2014 that I had minimal knowledge about the holiday that I have celebrated every year with family and friends.   I had some general knowledge of why we, as a nation, celebrate it but did not know much about the origins of the holiday.   So, I decided this Labor Holiday weekend to do some research and share with others who may not have full knowledge.

Labor Day in the U.S is basically the holiday that celebrates the achievements of the American worker and their contributions to our country.   It is celebrated yearly on the first Monday in September.   Oregon was the first state to celebrate it back in 1887.  By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894 thirty other states were already celebrating it.  Also, eighty countries worldwide celebrate Labour Day (that is how they spell it!) each year but in those countries it is celebrated on May 1.

After the national adoption, the early celebrations in local cities and towns included parades, festivals, and speeches by community leaders.    Also, the holiday marked the end of the summer and a return to school for children.   Now, in more recent times, the retail community has added their flavor to the holiday by offering sales on their merchandise to the citizens that are enjoying leisure time and may want to shop.

The ingenuity of the American worker and inventor changed the world with the inventions by persons such as Orville and Wilbur Wright, Eli Whitney, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Goodyear, Granville T. Woods, Elijah McCoy (the real McCoy), Lewis Latimer, Jan Ernst Matzeliger, Garrett Morgan, and Otis Boykin – just to name a few.   We all have reason to celebrate the achievements of these workers and many more like them who have contributed much to the American way of life.

 

My Country ‘Tis of Thee – America

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USA Colours Party BackgroundDo you remember those patriotic songs we sung in our early school years?   “America, the Beautiful”, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, and, of course, “The Star Spangled Banner” were sung enthusiastically in my school and we loved those songs.   Even then I was fascinated by the words of those songs and I think this is probably how my love of history was birthed.

So, on this 238th birthday of America, I reflect back on my recent first visit to Philadelphia.  There I visited Independence Hall to see the room where the Declaration of Independence gave life to a rebellion against a mighty empire and the U.S. Constitution defined “We, the People” to unite us.    At times, it has been a very painful journey “to form a more perfect Union” and we continue to evolve as a country.  However, the beauty of it is that we eventually embrace our faults and change what is needed to become a better nation – “one nation under God”.

This is why I love my country and I just want to express it on her birthday.

Happy Birthday, America!