“These blueberries aren’t any good.” My son Alex called from the kitchen.

“Are you kidding me!” I cried as I went into the kitchen to see what he was talking about. “I just bought them yesterday!”

As I walked in Alex shrugged his shoulders and handed me the container. “They’re a little shriveled.”

I looked at the berries and sighed. “How could they turn so fast?”

I opened the refrigerator to see if the raspberries, I’d gotten yesterday, were having the same fate.

“Wait.” I moved a few things around on the shelf. “Here’s the blueberries I bought yesterday!” I held the container out to Alex.

“Oh, great!” Alex took the blueberries and put them on the counter top. “I can make my smoothie after all.” He went to get the mixer. “Do you want one?” He asked over his shoulder.

“No, I’m good.” I was holding the container of old blueberries over the trash when I looked out the kitchen window and saw all the birds clinging to our bird feeders. Each trying to get to the seeds that were in the snow covered feeders. “I think I’m going to give the birds a nice winter treat!” I said as I closed the trash drawer with my knee and headed for the back door.

“Do birds eat blueberries?” Alex asked as he poured some of his berries into the mixer.

“Of course they do!” I said with confidence but then paused and looked over at Alex. “Well, at least I thought they did.” I took my phone out of my pocket to double check with Google. After a quick search I put the phone down and picked up the blueberries again. “Yup, they love them!”

I went to the back door and was taken by surprise with the blast of cold air that hit me when I opened the door. “Wow! I’m definitely making this quick!” I crunched through the snow on the back deck and did a quick underhanded toss, releasing the berries into the air and watching as they dotted the snow with little blue specks.

The birds on the feeders scattered with the incoming berries and headed for the safety of the trees. “No worries!” I called to them. “When you come back you’ll see I’ve left you a delicious sweet treat!” I went back into the house and closed the door as fast as I could. As I stomped the snow off my shoes and looked over at Alex and smiled. “I don’t know why, but that made me feel really good!”

Alex was tossing some spinach into the blender. “You love feeding the birds.” He looked over at me and laughed. “And the chipmunks.”

“Well, my chipmunks are tucked in their warm little burrows right now. So no peanuts for them.” I headed for the couch, kicked off my shoes, and climbed under a nice warm blanket. “I know exactly how they feel.” I was still chilled from being outside.

Alex brought a glass of his smoothie into the living room. “Are you sure you don’t want some?” He tipped his head towards the kitchen. “There’s another glass still in the blender.”

“I’m not in the mood for anything cold right now.” I pulled the blanket up under my chin. “Maybe I’ll make something hot.” I got up and headed back to the kitchen.

There was a container of strawberries that Alex had left on the counter top. “Do you want me to put the strawberries away for you?” I called to him.

“I don’t think so.” He called back. “They’re almost ready to be thrown out, too.”

I pulled a knife out of the drawer and looked out the kitchen window, watching as the birds discovered the blueberries. “Hang on my friends!” I called to them as I began slicing the strawberries into smaller pieces. “More treats are on the way!”

I came out of my bedroom and headed for the kitchen to make myself my morning cup of tea.

As I came around the corner I felt a bit dizzy and grabbed a hold of the counter to steady myself.

“Are you okay?” My son Alex asked.

“Just another wave of feeling a little light headed.” I said as the swirling in my head slowed and I began to feel better.

“Why do you feel light headed?” He asked.

“This year I decided my New Year resolution wasn’t going to have anything to do with losing weight.” I looked at him and sighed. “That only depresses me by February when I haven’t dropped any weight and Valentine’s Day rolls around.” I shook my head to clear it some more as I went to fill the kettle. “Instead I’m going to do a new mental exercise that’s suppose to rewire my brain. I heard it’s life changing!” I placed the kettle on the stove. “I started it this morning!”

“Looks like it’s pretty life changing already!” Alex laugh. “You’re already having trouble walking in a straight line!” He got out a pan and placed it on the stove. “I’m making some eggs. Do you want some?” He went to the refrigerator.

“No thanks. I’m just having tea.” Secretly I was still hoping to drop a few pounds before Valentine’s day.

“So, what are you doing that’s making you dizzy first thing in the morning?”

I grabbed my cup from the cabinet. “Well, first you brush your teeth with you left hand.” I looked over and raised my eyebrows. “But only if you’re right handed.” I shrugged my shoulder. “So far not hard.”

“That made you dizzy?” He cracked an egg against the pan. “That just sounds like you aren’t going to do a good job brushing your teeth.”

“Wait,” I held up my hand. “There’s more.”

Alex grabbed a spatula and began to stir the egg.

“When I’m done brushing my teeth.” I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows. “Which, by the way, I did an awesome job. I’m supposed to look in the mirror and say to myself, ‘I love you’ ten times.” I shook my head. “I’m not going to lie. That one was a little tough to do and not feel silly.”

Alex looked skeptical. “Still not seeing where you got dizzy.”

“It was the last part of the exercise that I think I overdid.”

“Which was?” His egg was almost done.

“You’re suppose to take exaggerated deep breaths.” I shook my head again. “Like twenty five of them!” I took another deep breath and exhaled. “I’m pretty sure I hyperventilated.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

Alex slid his scrambled egg out of the pan and onto a plate. “So it was life changing for you.” He laughed.

“Yeah, in a bad way today.” I sighed. “So tomorrow I’m planning on doing about ten of the deep breaths.” I pour my hot water over my tea bag and let it steep. “I’ll keep you posted!”

Alex shook his head as he took his plate to the table. “No need for that.”

“What?” I was feeling offended. “Why?”

“Well, if it’s going to be that life changing wouldn’t I notice it?”

“Good point.” I laughed as I took a sip of tea.

My son Alex came into the kitchen and noticed that I had my elbows on our butcher’s block, with my hands resting under my chin, staring at a plant.

“What are you doing?” He asked as he opened the cabinet and took out a bag of coffee.

“I’m watching this amaryllis bulb I planted a few days ago.” I pointed to the pot of dirt with the bulb sticking up a few inches, its green leaf and stem peeking out from the bulb another inch or two.

Alex put the coffee on the counter and went to get a cup and his ceramic pour over coffee dripper out of the cabinet. “Has it grown any?”

I stood back up and shrugged my shoulders. “I’m not seeing anything.” I sighed.

Alex took the mug over to the counter and began making his coffee.

“It’s been a whole week!” I looked over at the bulb again. “I was sure something would have happened by now.” I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s changed a bit.”

“Well, it’s only been a week.” Alex leaned against the counter waiting for the water to boil. “Just give it more time.”

I had to laugh as I raised my eyebrows. “I know but my sister Liz gave me the bulb for a Christmas present and I’m just worried about my green thumb skills.”

Alex started to laugh, too. “Oh, we ALL know about your green thumb skills!” He took the now boiling water from the stove and began slowly pouring it over the coffee grounds. “You’ve given your plants some pretty awesome trims.”

“What I like to call ‘haircuts’.” I laughed.

“Yeah, not many of them survived those haircuts.” He had finished pouring the water into his cup and was ready to throw out the coffee grounds when I stopped him.

“Wait!” I cried. “Don’t throw those out!” I grabbed some paper towels and placed them on the counter. “Here. Dump them on this.”

Alex looked confused. “Why?”

“Because I read that amaryllis bulbs love used coffee grounds!”

“Really?” Alex took the wet coffee grounds and poured them on the paper towels.

“Yeah. They just need to be dried before I can put them on the plants.” I pointed over to the coffee table where my African violet plants were. “I’m pretty sure they love them, too.” I spread the coffee grounds out so they would dry quicker.

“So how much of the coffee grounds do you give each plant?” He went to the refrigerator to get some milk.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have no idea. They never say how much but I figure a little sprinkle couldn’t hurt.”

Alex laughed as he poured some milk in his coffee then took a sip. “Yeah, with your green thumb skills what could possibly go wrong with that?”

I laughed as I reached over and grabbed my phone off the counter. “Maybe I should look that up.”

It was Christmas night and everyone was getting ready to sit down for dinner.

“Okay, everybody. Before I put dinner on the table lets pop our Christmas crackers!”

My husband Steven picked his up off his plate and our son Alex took his, too.

“Didn’t we already do this at breakfast?” Alex asked.

“We did! But I had extras so…” I shrugged my shoulders. “I figured, why not?”

The three of us broke open our crackers.

“Oh wow!” Steven pulled out a pair of silver metal cuff links. “These are really nice.” He sounded surprised.

“I got a whistle!” I held mine up before putting it to my lips and blowing. A high pitched squeak came out. “It even works!” I cried.

I noticed that Alex was holding a silver binder clip in the palm of his hand. “I got office supplies.” He said before he sighed.

Steven and I looked at each other and started to laugh. “Didn’t you get something weird in your Christmas cracker this morning?”

Alex nodded his head as he handed me the binder clip. “I got some twisted metal pieces that were stuck together.” He shook his head. “I’m guessing it was suppose to be some sort of puzzle.”

I placed the clip next to my napkin then I pointed over at our sideboard. “I got that cute silver thimble.” I looked back at Steven. “I was planning on putting it in with my sewing supplies.” I shrugged my shoulders again. “I’ve never used one but it’ll look cute.” I glanced over at Steven. “I forgot, what did you get this morning?”

“A metal bottle opener that’s shaped like a fish.” He pointed to the kitchen. “I put in the drawer with all the other openers.”

I pulled out my gold paper crown from inside the cracker. As I placed it on my head I could see that both my guys had taken there’s out but weren’t putting them on. I chose to ignore that as I made a final adjusted to my crown.

“So who wants to read their joke first?” I asked.

“I guess I’ll go first.” Alex reached in his cracker and pulled out the small piece of paper. “Where do gingerbread men sleep?” He laughed and began shaking his head.

I thought for a moment and then shrugged my shoulders. “Okay, you got me. Where do they sleep?”

Alex was still shaking his head. “On cookie sheets.” He tossed the slip of paper onto the table next to his crown. “I even got the lame jokes this year.”

I tucked my whistle under the edge of my plate and picked up Alex’s binder clip. “You know this would make a nice chip clip.” I held it up for Alex to see. “Do you mind if I use this today?”

Alex laughed. “Sure. Chip clip it is!”

I got up and headed to the kitchen where I opened the cabinet and took out a new bag of chips. Attaching the clip to the bag I held it out for both my guys to see. “It’s all ready for when the bag gets opened!” I said as I tossed the chips back in the cabinet and went to the stove to open the oven door. “Now who’s ready for some chicken parm?” I called over my shoulder.

My son Alex and I were headed out to run some errands. As we got in the car and I started the engine the radio immediately came on. I didn’t even get the chance to hear what song was playing before Alex reached over and turned it off.

“Hey!” I said as I clicked my seat belt. “I have it on a station that’s only playing Christmas music right now!”

“That didn’t sound like Christmas music to me.”

I had to laugh. “How would you know? It was only on a few seconds!” I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. “I know you don’t like my music but you hum Christmas songs all year long! So I know you like them!”

“That didn’t sound like any Christmas carol I know.” Alex was shaking his head and laughing. “It sounded like someone screaming not singing.”

By now we were driving out of the neighborhood.

“Well I’ve been listening to that station since Thanksgiving and I can definitely say it’s all Christmas songs right now.”

“Okay, fine.” Alex leaned over and turned the radio back on.

“Santa Baby” was playing. We both sat listening. After a few minutes I reached over and turned it off.

Alex looked over at me surprised. “Why’d you do that? I thought you liked Christmas music?”

I shook my head and sighed. “Listening to someone sing about wanting fur coats and new cars isn’t exactly what I think the holiday should be about.”

Alex laughed again. “So what’s your favorite Christmas song?”

“Little Drummer Boy!” I cleared my throat. “Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, I like that one too.”

I began humming the rest of it softly to myself. When I was done I looked over at Alex. “Those are the songs that just make me appreciate the season.”

We were stopped at a light. Alex saw that I was looking at the radio.

“Maybe there’s a good one on now.” Alex leaned over to turn the radio back on.

I couldn’t help but smile when “Mary Did You Know?” by Pentatonix came on.

“Oh, I love this one too!”

We began driving again. A few moment later we were pulled up to our first stop. I put the car in park.

Alex unbuckled his seat belt and started to open the door when he looked over at me. “Aren’t we going in?” He asked.

“Sure.” I pointed to the radio. “Right after this song is done.”

“Oh.” Alex closed his door and sat waiting.

When the song was done I turned off the engine. “Okay. I’m ready now.”

Alex opened his door again. “I have a feeling these errands are going to take a lot longer than usual with you playing Christmas music.”

“Wait. Don’t move. You have something on your face.” My husband Steven was holding my chin as he turned my face to get a closer look. “Is that glitter?” He took his finger and brushed it away.

“Probably. It is that time of year.” I laughed.

“I thought we weren’t going to send cards with glitter this year?”

“We didn’t.” I went over to the card basket and held up a card. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t receiving cards with glitter on them!”

Steven shook his head. “Great. We’ll still be finding glitter at Easter.”

I looked at the card before I put it back in the basket. “Glitter doesn’t bother me. In fact, I kind of like it.” I went over to the tree to adjust one of the ornaments. “It feels festive!”

“Hey, I didn’t say I don’t like sparkles.” Steven said as he sat on the couch. “It’s glitter I don’t like.”

I looked over at him confused. “Sparkles and glitter are the same thing.”

Steven shook his head as he put his feet up on the coffee table. “No they’re not.”

“Glitter sparkles.” I moved another ornament on the tree.

“But sparkles aren’t glitter.” Steven countered.

I shook my head and sighed. “I agree to disagree on that one.”

Our son Alex came into the room. “What are you two up to?”

“Your Dad and I are having a disagreement.” I said over my shoulder as I adjusted a candy cane on the tree.

“Uh oh.” Alex looked as if he was trying to find a way to escape.

“Nothing big.” I reassured him. “But maybe you could tell us what you think?”

Alex shook his head. “Nope. Not getting involved in this.” He laughed.

“Your Mom thinks sparkles and glitter are the same thing.” Steven said as he looked over at Alex.

Alex looked at Steven. “Is that glitter on your face?”

“Oh great.” Steven got up to check himself in the foyer mirror. “And now it starts!”

Alex came over to the tree to grab a candy cane. He began to unwrap it when he looked at my sleeve. “You’ve got some glitter on your sleeve.

I looked down. “That’s because I was showing your Dad a Christmas card we’d gotten.” I brushed the glitter off my sleeve.

“Hey!” Alex backed up. “I don’t want any glitter on me!”

“Oh, come on you two!” I cried. “It’s Christmas! There’s going to be glitter! Get over it!”

Steven came back into the room. “But there’s still a difference between sparkles and glitter.” He reminded me.

Alex laughed as he shook his head. “You two argue about the weirdest things.” He leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek before heading back to his room.

“Uh oh!” I said as I pushed the order button.

“What’s the uh oh for?” My son Alex asked from the kitchen.

“I might have just started another collection.” I moved the laptop off my lap and headed to the kitchen.

“A collection of what?” He asked.

I walked by him as he was making a sandwich and opened the refrigerator to grab some grapes.

“A marble collection.” I leaned back against the counter and popped a grape in my mouth.

“Marbles?”

“It’s really not my fault.” I reasoned. “Remember when your Dad and I went out to dinner at Riki’s house last week?”

“Yeah.” He scooped his sandwich up and headed to the dining room.

“Well, it so happens that she collects marbles.” I said as I followed him into the dining room with my handful of grapes. “Lots of them! They’re all over her house in glass jars on bookshelves or tables and the really special ones are displayed in a smaller collection.”

“So you felt like you needed to copy her?” Alex laughed.

“What? No!” I was taken back. “That’s not what I meant at all!”

“Because they were beautiful!” I popped another grape in my mouth. “I’d always thought of marbles like the ones you’d get in the mesh bag of fifty.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess you could call them pretty with the colors swirled inside. But the ones Riki had were little works of art!”

“So then why are you collecting them?” He took a bite of his sandwich.

My husband Steven had come into the room. “What works of art are you talking about?”

“Riki’s marble collection.”

Alex looked over at his Dad and started to laugh. “Mom’s starting a marble collection now.”

“Wait.” Steven looked back at me. “When we downsized you swore you weren’t going to start any new collections!”

I smiled back at him. “That’s absolutely true!” I started to laugh. “I’ve decided I’m not going to be starting any new collections.”

Steven shook his head looking confused. “I don’t understand.”

Alex had finished his sandwich and got up from the table. “Okay. I’m with Dad on this one.” He opened the cabinet where the garbage pail was and tossed the paper towel from his sandwich in. “Didn’t you just say you ordered some marbles?”

“I did.” I nodded. “Some absolutely beautiful antique ones.” I added.

“So you are starting a new collection.” Steven said.

“Well…” I scrunched up my face. “Technically I’m not the one starting this collection.” I pointed at him and laughed. “You are.”

Steven shook his head. “How’d you figure that?”

“You said you didn’t know what to get me for Christmas so I ordered something I wanted and you can wrap it up for me and put it under the tree.” I clapped my hands together and laughed. “ And I promise I’ll look surprised when I open it!”

“Okay! I’m doing it!” I cried as I finished reading an article on ‘mindful eating’.

“What are you doing?” My husband Steven asked as he was passing through the living room and headed towards his office.

“I’m doing mindful eating during the holiday season.” I leaned back against a pillow and swung my legs up on the couch. “All I have to do is follow the five ‘S’ rules for mindful eating and I’ll be able to breeze right through this holiday season.” I tucked my hands behind my head and crossed my legs at the ankles.

“You seem pretty happy with yourself right now.” Steven laughed.

“Well, I just finished the article and it seems really easy.” I sat up and grabbed my phone. “Mindful eating is supposed to stop me from eating something just because it looks or smells good.” I looked over at Steven and raised my eyebrows. “Definitely a problem for me when all the holiday goodies start arriving.”

Steven moved my legs over and sat down next to me. “So what are the five rules?”

“Okay, the first one I’m really good at.” I laughed. “It says to Sit when you eat.” I pointed to my backside that was firmly glued to the couch. “Check!” I began to shake my head. “I haven’t wandered around eating since the boys were little and there was no sitting down!”

Steven laughed. “I remember those days.”

“The second one might be a little harder for me.” I grimaced and shook my head. “It says to eat Slowly.” I sighed. “I usually eat like I’m participating in a timed Olympic event and I’m in it for the win!”

Steven nodded as he laughed again. “We do eat fast.” He agreed.

I looked back at the article. “This next one might be a problem for me too. It kind of ties into the eating slow point.”

“What’s that?” Steven asked.

“It wants me to Savor.” I laughed again. “Do you know there have been times that I’ve actually eaten something and a few seconds later forgotten what it was?”

Steven shook his head. “That one has never been a problem for me. I can remember a meal I had years ago. Especially if it was good.” Steven noticed the confused look on my face as I was looking at the next rule. “What’s wrong?”

“Now that I’m reading the rules over again the next one seems kind of odd.”

“What is it?”

“To Simplify.” I looked back at Steven still confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I scrolled through the article. “Oh, okay. It says to simplify your eating environment by putting the food away as soon as you’re done eating, so you don’t pick.” I hit the phone with the back of my hand. “So why not just say that?” I cried.

“Maybe because it didn’t go with their ‘S’ theme?” Steven laughed.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.” I laughed as I looked at the last one. “This one can’t be serious.”

“What?”

“It says to Smile in between every bite.” I just shook my head. “So, now they’re just asking me to look stupid while I’m eating.”

“Stupid is an ‘S’ word.” Steven reminded me.

“That’s true!” I laughed. “But I think I’ll just be sticking to the first four rules this holiday season.”

My son Alex came into the living room where I was sitting on the couch smiling as I looked at my phone.

“What has you so happy?” He asked as he came over to the couch and sat next to me.

“I just got an A on my first Spanish test!” I showed him the results on my phone. “Eleven questions and I got ten right!”

“That’s great!”

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed. “Honestly, I think I’m just a good guesser.”

“What makes you say that?”

I clicked back to the first test. “Here, why don’t you take it and see what grade you get?”

“I don’t speak Spanish.” Alex argued.

“Just take it. I bet you can get an A too.” I hit start. A woman said. “Blanco”

Alex looked at me. “Isn’t that white?”

I clicked on white and a green check mark appeared. “You’re right.”

I went to the next question. “Morado.”

Alex thought about it for a second. “I’m pretty sure that’s purple.”

I clicked on purple and the green check mark appeared again.

“See! You know your colors too!”

Alex laughed as he shrugged his shoulders. “I guess.”

“Exactly! You guessed too!” I started to laugh as I put the phone down on the coffee table and got up from the couch. “I think it’s time for me to get the Christmas decorations down from the attic. Can you get your Dad to help us?”

“Sure.”

I went into the hallway and pulled the attic stairs down. Climbing up I sat on the attic floor with my feet on the top rung of ladder.

A few moments later my husband Steven appeared in the hallway.

“Feliz Navidad!” I called down to him.

He looked over at Alex with a confused look on his face.

“Mom’s decided to learn Spanish.”

Steven looked back up at me. “Como estas?”

I looked over at Alex and shook my head. “I have no clue what he just asked.”

Alex shook his head. “You two are the ones wanting to learn Spanish. Not me.”

Steven laughed. “I asked how are you doing?”

“Clearly you’re further along in your Spanish lessons than I am!” I laughed. “I’m still learning my colors.” I had dragged one of the Christmas boxes to the edge and began lowering it down. “I’ll definitely be feeling better when I finish decorating the house.”

Steven had taken the box from me and was standing there holding it. “Which room do you want this one in?”

“The rojo one goes in the living room.” I called down as I crawled further into the attic to grab another box. Pulling it to the edge I began lowering it to Alex. “This verde one can go in the dining room.”

Steven was back at the base of the ladder. He was looking up and laughing. “So what other color boxes do you have up there?”

“Lucky for me I only packed in rojo and verde boxes for Navidad.” I looked over at Alex and smiled. “And with that I’m going to consider my first lesson a success!”

My son Alex and I were walking through our neighborhood when I couldn’t help but notice all the piles of leaves at the curbside.

“It’s so weird that you never see kids jumping in leaves anymore.”

“That’s probably because everyone’s worried about mold and ticks.” Alex said as he kicked an acorn further up the sidewalk in front of us.

“It’s just sad that we have to worry about everything all the time.” I let out a small sigh. “I remember when I was a kid how much fun it was to jump in a pile of leaves we’d have raked together in the driveway right before my Dad would light them on fire.”

Alex looked over at me with a confused look on his face. “You’d light piles of leaves on fire?”

“Sure.” I nodded. “Everyone did.” I had to laugh. “That was before the days that everything had to be safe. We didn’t wear seat belts. There was no such thing as a car seat, you got thrown in the back of the station wagon and learned to hold on when your parents drove around a corner too fast. None of us even knew what a bike helmet was.” I sighed. “Back in the good old days when you could drop a match into a pile of leaves and no one gave it a second thought.”

“It doesn’t sound like the safest thing to do.” Alex countered.

“It probably wasn’t.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But my Dad was a fireman so he always had a garden hose ready.”

“But wasn’t it illegal to do that?” He asked as we rounded a corner and began walking up hill.

“Nope.” I could feel the burn in the back of my legs as the road go steeper. “Not when I was a kid! It was perfectly legal!”

We both got quiet as we walked up the rest of the hill. As we were passing another pile of leaves I stepped off the curb and kicked at the pile of leaves that came up to my knees. “Do you know how bad I want to just lean back and drop into these leaves?”

“How bad?” Alex looked up and down the street to see if anyone was watching.

“Not that bad.” I laughed as I stepped back up the curb to continue our walk. “I guess having a couple of tick borne illnesses helps change your mind on that.”

We were getting closer to home when I stopped to check the hem of my pants.

“You’re afraid you got a tick on you!” Alex laughed.

“I thought I saw something.” I said as I brushed a piece of leaf off my pant leg.

We started walking again but I had gotten quiet.

As we turned the corner on our street I could see our house up ahead. Alex could hear my sigh of relief.

Alex pulled the house key out of his pocket. “I bet you can’t wait to get inside so you can check yourself for ticks.”

“Oh, I’m not just checking for ticks I’m jumping right into the shower to make sure if one is on me it’s going down the drain!” I laughed.

Alex unlocked the door, pushed it open and stepped aside. “After you.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” I said as I went in and headed right for my bathroom. “You know,” I called over my shoulder. “I feel sorry for kids these days. They have way more stuff to worry about than when I was a kid!”