Imagining Snow

I've long given up the dream of having a white Christmas in South Carolina. While it does snow here sometimes during the later winter months, December sees little of the fluffy stuff.

Coming out of Harris Teeter a few evenings ago, as a light rain misted the chilly air, I looked into the glowing lamp posts over the parking lot and imagined that the glinting water falling down was actually snow. The cold rain gave my cheeks a slight sting, and the way the lights reflected made the droplets look like tiny glowing snowflakes.

I felt warmed through, except my chilled nose, of course. Ah, snow for the season, even if only imaginary.

Well, Here I Go Again

It has come to my attention that I have far too many posts about Christmas. They actually took up a majority of the space in this blog last year at this time. Am I unusually obsessed with this holiday? Perhaps, but only for the sake of having something to write about...
Well, since senior year has christened December as not only the most wonderful time of the year but also the most busiest time of the year, I will allow only one (I can make no promises, however) post concerning Christmas. Here I go again.

Tomorrow the 25 day countdown begins! I'm fairly excited about this year's Christmas - we have our last day of school in the year 2010 on December 15th, and then we're off and running to finish last minute Christmas shopping, realize that we still have a whole other week until Christmas, and sleep until noon everyday. My family is doing things a bit differently this Christmas; my mom works on Christmas day, so we're celebrating early, on the 24th. So, my countdown might be a little off this year, but I'm not terribly concerned.

Our Christmas tree is beautiful and marvelously smelly (though not yet decorated - I was born into a family of procrastinators), and tonight we had our first sips of eggnog for the season.

What presents am I getting for my family? This is my question, and I alone can answer it... and possibly mother rabbit.

I'm terribly disappointed that I don't have any pictures to add, but tis the season to use your imagination. Imagine here, for instance, pictures of holly, wreaths, snowmen, sugar cookies, and my dog with a santa hat.

Merry Christmas! or Happy Holidays for whatever holiday you will celebrate in the following month!

Ode to a Web

I have a confession to make: 

I absolutely abhor spiders. 

I think they are some of the 

ugliest, 

creepiest, 

and most repulsive creatures to crawl the planet.

And yet,

I am always drawn to admire their webs.

The intricate design, 

the sparkling symmetry, 

and the fluid strength 

in each web amazes me. 

Then, the Sun hits the dew covered strands just so, 

and I'm completely captivated.

So, even though I may have an aversion to eight-legged things, 

I give a toast to a spider's web ... 

a beautiful creation, 

however disliked or misunderstood its creator may be.

A Puzzle

The first day of school ushers in a whole plethora of firsts:

The first homework assignment of the year, the first new face you discover in the class, the first freshly baked chocolate chip cookies you've eaten in quite a long time.

But even as the new year begins, or what feels like the beginning of the year to me much more than January 1st ever has, I remember things left undone in the previous year. There's a puzzle sitting on a table that is still one-third incomplete. Pieces lie around it, hoping to soon be placed.

I wonder what else I've left undone. The feelings and ideas, the problems and their solutions, what has followed me here?

But I'm not worried by the puzzles left undone. They too, will find their place in the new year, in this interesting season, this young music singing. Echoes of the past will add character to my path, perhaps more rough patches than I'd like, but they won't hold me down, won't keep me tied to yesterday.

It's a puzzling thought I know, but I rather indulge in thinking it. My puzzle is yet undone, and the growing picture is dazzling.

An Eyelash

Sometimes in this bumpy life,
I feel like I've got an eyelash stuck in my eye.
It's a terribly helpless feeling, being blind and in pain.
Just one
little hair...
And as tears come into my eyes, to wash it out, I wonder what's the use of eyelashes at all.
They're supposed to protect,
To keep foreign objects out.
And they keep my eyes safe,
Till they turn and fall into them...


A good friend tells me when
I've got an eyelash
that's loose
and wobbly
and waiting to poke me right
in the pupil.

Sometimes I need to be told that my defenses
the nets I keep around me
are about to hurt me.
That the tiny hairs I trusted
will only cause irritation
That I need to wipe them away
And let the light hit my eyes
Let it in
All the way in.