Writing prompt: "A Season of Giving."

I work with a bunch of rabid Republicans. I wish I was kidding about that, but I really do...and as much as I hate to admit it, other than that major character flaw (in my eyes, that is), they really are a great group of guys who believe in what they work on. That said, very few of them know that I am what they would refer to as a bleeding heart liberal. But see, here's the catch: I've worked in jobs and lived my life in such a way that I have walked the walk of my vote. I didn't vote for Obama because he is a Democrat or because it was fashionable...I voted for him because this country desperately needs to make some changes and if we've seen anything the last eight years, it is that the GOP are very resistant to change.

I worked for a while in a sketchy school that taught mostly unemployed and partially homeless students how to use computers. We taught them how to type, how to use Micro$oft 0ffice, and even more, we taught them how to speak and dress for interviews. It was always a huge rush to have a student come back, dressed decently, telling you that they had gotten a job!

After that I worked in a homeless shelter that housed quite a few recovering meth and drug addicts. Meth is a horrible drug and if there were one drug I wish I could erase off the face of the earth with the swoop of my hand, that would be it. To see how it ripped apart families, and to watch them going through all the steps to not only stay clean but to work to get their families back together in some kind of cohesive manner was an inspiration to me. There I was feeling sorry for myself that my husband was away in Iraq...and these women were fighting a daily battle with themselves just to keep their lives together.

At church, John and I routinely write checks for extra Thanksgiving meals at the local downtown shelter or a toy drive for Toys for Tots. We don't do it to crow about it, we do it because we can...and because we should. We all should. It isn't being a socialistic society to take care of your brother. We are all our bother's keepers...and quite frankly, some of us have been doing a pretty poor job. I don't want to take away all your expensive toys and give them to the poor. I don't want to take all your tax dollars and give them to someone who hasn't held a job in years. I just want you to go and do something good this holiday.

Go to the mall and find a giving tree and go buy presents for a kid. Buy presents for a few kids. Hell, buy presents for a whole family if you can! If Toys for Tots is holding a toy or bike drive, please consider donating, especially this year. Go to your local shelter and ask them what they need the most. Sometimes it is simple home set-up gear like cheap dishes, glassware, pots and pans, etc. Sometimes it will be clothing or toys for the kids in the programs. Sometimes they'll be honest with you and tell you that they just need money, and that's OK too. Many programs assist the elderly with utility or rent payments to keep them housed and warm. They are able to do that based on small grants and donations. Your few dollars could mean the difference in someone being in the dark and cold for the holidays, or having lights and heat.

As you sit at your computer (or however it is you are reading this), realize that just by being able to do that, you are luckier than quite a bit of the population. Can't you give up a few lattes for someone else? If you can't afford that, consider donating your time, as it will cost you next to nothing, especially with gas prices so low now!

It is the season of giving...and we all need to give just a little bit more.

Today began our "Eight Days of Grazing" at work. No rhyme or reason as to what is brought in each day. No sign-up lists. No requests for specific foods. I figured it will either be feast or famine each day! Today was a mix of various chips with dip, a bunch of cookies, and some ham/cream cheese pinwheels. Not bad for a Monday! Tonight I am making some puff pastry cookie-like things using sugar-free jams and jellies so that the diabetics in my group can enjoy some goodies. The last half hour of my day was spent sitting around with my boss and another engineer talking about our weird cats. Can I just say again that I love my job?

We are officially DONE with shopping for everyone else outside of our little family! We got the gifts for the youngest of the kids, which were the last ones needed. We had another marathon wrapping session (where, not surprisingly, I did ALL the wrapping!) and WC helped by decorating presents with ribbons and bows. I'm sure the cats will have eaten or shredded them by this weekend.

I'm off in a few minutes to go pay tuition and fees for WC's second semester of college. She's taking four real classes this time (I do NOT count the "Welcome to College" orientation class as real!) and is actually looking forward to them all. Even the math class...which really makes one wonder if she is REALLY my child. She took her finals this morning in her English classes, so she doesn't have class on Wednesday. Her math final is this Saturday morning, after which she'll meet us at her grandparent's house for Christmas with the family. It is still a little strange to have her not going places with us, meeting us places after she does whatever it is she has to do. She has moments when she seems so incredibly grown up...and other times when I wonder how it is she's managed to hold a job for more than one day.

Obviously I am no good at remembering I even have a website, let alone the fact that I should be writing every single day!

John is outside replacing yet another window regulator for WC's electric windows in her car. The 98 Jettas with electric windows are notorious for the regulators breaking on a fairly regular basis...then add to that the beating of use by a teenager...and well hers don't last for squat. John's gotten pretty good at either bracing the window up with a piece of wood inside the door panel (something she hates...but oh well, it is free!) or taking the door panel off and resetting the window in the guides. Tempting to go find her doors with hand-crank windows!!

We have spent most of the weekend so far either out buying presents, wrapping presents, talking about what presents we still need to buy, or installing a new bath vanity and sink in WC's bathroom. Because really, isn't that what most people do during the holidays? Decide that the old sink that works perfectly fine finally needs to be replaced with something that we actually like? Actually, John got the whole job done with fairly quickly, though it isn't attached to the wall yet. He needs to get another U-joint for the drain since the old one is fairly beat up, but other than that and drilling holes in the wall, it looks a thousand times better!

Today is going to be church, more shopping, come home and finishing making a gift so that I can wrap it and get it in the mail, dinner at church, and then some movie-watching time!

I'm not doing so well with the whole "write every day" thing, am I?

I do have an excuse though...I'm still recovering from a horrible cold and bronchitis and laryngitis! I do believe that I was fast asleep yesterday evening by 6pm...which didn't leave much time for writing, ya know?

Today was all about obsessively checking the weather websites and trying to determine exactly WHEN it is supposed to freeze and start snowing. So far it is just rain...but snow is still forecast!

This will be short and sweet, as I will have a child to kill upon her return home. I don't think it is too much to ask for the normal chores to be done, yet nothing was done and she's gone to hang out with friends after work. So now I will go do her chores and charge her $5!!

Writing prompt: Your most vivid memory from last year's holiday season.

Last year I was sitting in Taji, Iraq. I was extremely lucky in that one of my best friends who was also in Iraq was able to fly to Taji on Christmas Eve and visit with me. I remember finding out that she was going to be able to come visit and set about trying to make a stocking from Santa for her. Finding a stocking was easy, as quite a few had been donated to us and there were quite a few empty ones sitting in a box...but what do you put in a stocking for someone who is deployed when you are deployed yourself?

I found the "goody box" that everyone put all the candy and like that had been sent to them. I found all the chocolate that I could and put that in there. I found some small hand sanitizer containers that fit in your pocket like a pen...and put those in there. There were a few little bags of nuts, some toothpaste and a new toothbrush as well. I filled the stocking to the brim and hid it in my wall locker until that night.

Since we didn't have any extra rooms in our building, she spent the night on a mattress on the floor of my room. I woke up very early so that I could go down to my office and call John and WildChild on what would be Christmas Eve for them. I pulled the stocking out of the locker and propped it up at the foot of the mattress and made my way downstairs to use the phone and open my presents.

Now, I had been a VERY good girl, and when John and WildChild requested that I not open the large box of presents that they had mailed, I asked my boss to put it in his office and I would retrieve it when I was on the phone with them. That way it was sitting there in my office, staring me down willing it to come open the presents!

I got John and WildChild on the phone on what had to be one of the worst connections we would have the entire time I was there. I opened my presents one by one while they were on the phone, and they opened theirs as well. We won't talk about the tears or anything, OK?

I made my way upstairs and was going to go back to sleep. I opened the door and there sat my friend on the mattress, going through her stocking like a gleeful child. Her smile was the best part of the day!

I'm sure that the dining hall had a fine meal...but we didn't feel like standing in line for an hour to eat...so we went to Pizza Hut and I ordered a pepperoni pizza with green peppers...ya know, Christmas colors! My Christmas pizza was a delight..and I got a wonderful nap in that afternoon.

Well hello there! I know, almost a year is a little bit of a break, but hey, I was really busy until May, OK?

We should catch up, shouldn't we?

Since I last wrote about the snow in Taji, I completed my six month tour in Iraq. I wish I had more words to describe the experience, but for now it will just have to do with "It was one of the best things I've ever done in my life!" I will have to do a recap of what a typical day was like while I was living there.

After I got home in May, John and I took a little trip to Las Vegas for a long weekend. We stayed at the Treasure Island hotel and it was OK. We'd never stayed down toward that end of the strip, so it was nice to be able to walk to various casinos and hotels that normally we would have taken a cab to. Didn't win a million dollars but we did return with our entire bankroll, so I consider that a win!

We've made a few trips down to New Orleans to visit family, friends...and to eat! I took John to Emeril's flagship restaurant, which was actually a mediocre meal. I also took him to Restaurant August where we had one of the most memorable and awesome dinners of our life. We hit up Willie Mae's Scotch House on another trip, and honestly, I don't think I've ever had such wonderful fried chicken!

In July I got a new job and while I still work for the Army, I no longer work for the Corps of Engineers. It was way past time for me to move on, and I am still counting my lucky stars that I landed in the job that I did. I got a nice hefty raise, I work with a group of great people, and I'm learning new things all the time. I have a lot more responsibilities, and I am a thousand times happier than I was when I returned from Iraq.

John is officially a college graduate, and the WildChild is officially a high school graduate, now in her first year of classes in college. I still can't believe that I have a child in college!!

I will write more about Iraq, the job, the trips, etc., during his month. I signed up to write in Holidailies...and then promptly forgot that it started last Friday! I shall endeavor to write each day, no matter how mundane the day was!