Winter is a depressing time. Lots of people get the blues, even me. Since I'm at heart an irrepressible optimist though and cannot help myself but look at the Bright Side of life, I've decided to go ahead and spread some serious cheer today.

I'm going to share some nice things that have recently happened or occured to me, and hopefully even you, valued reader, will feel a tad happier after reading them.

• For one, I'm healthy again. Green tea and rum did the trick (a grateful nod to Brian Hinderberger and Kerry Lyles for their helpful pointers...). Hallelejua.
  
  
• It's Winter Solstice today. The longest, darkest day of the year. What's cheerful about that? Hell, it's the turning point, people! From here on out, the days are only going to get longer again. Woohoo!
  
  
• I love my job.
  
  
• Central Oregon is experiencing ultra-warm temperatures right now (quite in contrast to last week), and the snow and ice are melting like butter on a hot plate. The birds and squirrels seem to be munching away at their feeders with a definite lesser air of desparation. My cats have snapped out of their semi-hibernatory state, and can now be observed again doing something else besides eat and sleep. Plus, I can actually see the gravel in my driveway again. This makes me happy. Don't ask me why - it just does.
  
  
• My almost-14-year old dog was diagnosed with cancer a couple of months ago. She's had surgery to remove a couple of tumors, but has recovered amazingly well and is pretty much back to being her old self again. The ordeal has made me realize that she won't live forever. Yet at the same time, I thank the gods every day for all the great years we've had with her, that she's in the hands of a very skilled and caring vet and not some hack, and that she might still have quite a bit of good quality of life ahead of her. It's so much more than I could have ever asked from fate.
  
  
• Christmas cards from all over the globe have been trickling into my mailbox over the past weeks. There was a lovely card from Mrs. Schaer, my English/Spanish teacher from college in Switzerland. We've stayed in touch ever since I left school, and I try to meet up with her whenever and whereever I can. It's amazing to me that she would still be interested in the life of one of her former students, given that she taught for something like 40 years (and I wasn't exactly exuding a particular eagerness about being in school or demonstrating outstanding brilliance - at least not that I was aware of ...). Getting letters and cards from her are more than a blast from the past. They remind me and help me appreciate how infinitely valuable it is to stay connected to the people that have truly made a difference in your life. And she certainly has - after all, she gave me the only A+ of my final exam, for my written English essay. It will be a source of personal pride for the rest of my life ... ;-)
  
  
• I have bought zero Christmas presents this year. And I also don't expect to receive any. Why is that a good thing? Funny thing you should ask. Last year, hubby and I exchanged a multitude of gifts. His biggest present to me was a new bathroom (I got a faucet and the instructions on how to install a new tub, in a pretty box, under the tree), which was just awesome. But we also bought eachother stuff we thought would be just fun to have - or mostly because we ran into an item at the store, got caught up in the pre-Christmas consumer-fever, and made the purchase without much thought about its actual, long-term usefulness. Ergo, we have a bunch of virtually brand-new stuff, just sitting idly around the house, taking up space.
  But not this year. I've refused to get swept up in the ideology of mindlessly buying crap, fueled by this giant news and ad machinery that tells me that I need to go spend money on a bunch of stuff - otherwise I'm a loser and should feel guilty about not giving during this religiously-mandated holiday. Never even mind that I'm not a believer. If I want to truly give a gift to someone, I can do that anytime, anywhere. If I think hard about it too, I really don't need *anything* for myself either. And most of all, I don't need a gift from someone else at Christmas just to make me feel good. Truly, all's I want is to be happy in life, work and relationship.
  
  

you've nailed the modern day gift giving ideology. as my family get's bigger from all the nephew's, nieces and their kids it becomes impossible to do gifts for everyone. we've decided that gift giving should be more about the littler kids than adults. some of my older nephews that should have regular jobs by now, but are otherwise too lazy, will probably not like this philosophy this year but they need to learn to be more responsible anyway. happy holidays and best wishes to you and your family.