One more Christmas video

I had to put up the Jingle Bells video, too. Maggie's medley is pretty epic, but the reason we started filming in the first place was because her Jingle Bells rendition was great in its own right.

Christmas Past

Given the holidays and the omnipresent Christmas music, I've been thinking of a particular memory from Christmas dinner a few years ago. I thought I'd post the video so that you can either share in the memory if you've seen it before, or witness its splendor for the first time.

I present to you, my niece, Maggie, at age (almost) 3, performing her holiday medley.

Moms

My mom is arguably one of my best friends. Sure there are small details of things I might not tell her, but mostly by her own request or to keep her from worrying too much. I talk to her almost daily, and she is usually the first person I call when I need advice or when something big happens. Last week, after the TV networks called the election for Obama, I called my mom. She had fallen asleep while watching the returns, so I woke her up. She left her phone on, though, because she knew I would call. That's just the way we work.

A few years ago, I was in a serious relationship with someone who had grown up in the town where I currently live. His parents were still in town, and we had dinner with them (separately, as they were divorced) on a regular basis. His mom and I became very close, and she helped fill this sort of missing spot that I had since my mom was so far away and only accessible by phone. She and my mom have a lot in common: ideologies, views of raising children, past experiences of being divorced and becoming single mothers... And so when my boyfriend and I broke up, I was unsure how to proceed with my friendship with his mother. After hearing advice from a number of people, some claiming that it suggests I have not moved on from the relationship, others just saying it's "weird," I decided to say "fuck it" and just did what I wanted to do. And that is to maintain our friendship. So on a somewhat regular basis, she and I still get together for dinner or for walks or just talk on the phone. I value her thoughts on things going on in my life, and I love hearing stories about her life in Germany before moving to the US. After a few months hiatus due to my ridiculously busy schedule, we had dinner last night again. And I just remembered all the reasons I am so thankful to have her in my life. No one can ever replace my mom, but to have someone who feels like family in town to share a good meal and sit by the fire with is just so great.

I didn't title this post "Story #_" because it isn't really a story. It is probably boring to most people, which makes it fit fairly nicely into the overall theme of this blog, but it's just something that had been on my mind since last night, and I felt like getting it out in some way. This whole week has been somewhat emotional for me - perhaps in part due to the profoundness of the election - and so small feelings are becoming more intense. In a good way, but instense nonetheless.