Tis the Season

I work retail, and I have worked retail for 4 years give or take. To put it mildly, working retail ruins the Christmas season. I spent 3 of the 4 years in the giant mother of all retail stores: Wal-Mart. If that doesn't kill the holiday spirit, I don't know what does. This year I have tried and tried to get into the Christmas spirit. I made myself a mix CD of Christmas music I found on iTunes, but when I got to work and listened to Christmas music for 4 hours straight, I couldn't take any more of it.

When I was eating dinner with my folks tonight (I am staying with my parents during the holiday break) we were watching A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version). While this is not my favorite version it did bring across a point to me that has been niggling at the back of my brain for the past month or so.

Whatever happened to just enjoying the holidays for what they are? The meaning of Christmas is not the gifts. It's about family and the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's about friends and home. It's about being Christlike.

I promised myself I wouldn't get too preachy on my blog, so I will refrain from that. It's just hard these days to see past the glitter and commotion in the stores to find the true meaning of Christmas. Today I spent most of the day with my parents and my beautiful niece, topped it off with a nice evening with my parents, my best friend, and his girlfriend. That is what Christmas is all about. Being with those you love.

So this Christmas, with the economy the way it is, don't fret over STUFF and THINGS. Rather...enjoy the time you get to have with your family and friends...I will try and do the same.

Motivation or Lack Thereof

I told myself I would practice restraint and not write on my blog every day, but I couldn't resist. My fingers itch to write but my mind won't let me write anything to do with school or even my usual little short stories for that matter. What the heck is my problem?

I've been going to school straight through since last fall. For some, this is probably no big deal, but my brain does not function well without some sort of release. My summer semester was really fun, but it was also really hard. I had two of my hardest semesters right in a row: winter and summer. Winter was hard for several reasons. Summer was hard because I had the dreaded English 450 class in which I had to create a magazine from the ground up. It was a great time with a very steep learning curve. (I will try and see if I can post my magazine on here so you can take a gander).

That being said...I had very little brain left by the end of summer semester. And I still have one more semester to go and then I will graduate. I have to get over this funk before next semester which promises to be another tough one.

I feel like I'm just complaining in this post.

Sitting here, I was trying to grasp that ever-elusive motivation. Lately I've been thinking about how energetic and excited I used to get about school. Don't get me wrong; I love to learn and I'm actually going to miss having so much knowledge constantly at my fingertips. But it's like looking at two different people when I consider what I was like at the beginning of my undergrad career and what I am like now.

Comfort Food

Where I work we sell chocolates and books. You can imagine there are a lot of female clientele at this little bookstore because, let's face it, guys aren't usually as big into chocolates and books as women are. Excuse me for stereotyping, but it might please you to know that I am a guy and I do love chocolate and books. I guess I just disproved my whole theory there. At any rate, this has nothing to do with what I am going to talk about.

I have been thinking a lot about comfort food today. This could possibly be one of the reasons our nation is so...obese. Then again, that could be another hasty assumption like the one I previously made (Man, I'm being hasty all over the place today...).

We all want to be comforted. Some of us find our comfort in exercise (those people are crazy) while others find comfort in a good movie or a great book (I'm in this category). I don't think we find comfort in just one thing. It just depends on our mood.

Ok...so I have had a rough year. That could be an understatement. Case in point, I've made a lot of "comfort trips" to Barnes and Noble. These little getaways have left me anything but comforted. I walk away with a little green baggy and a lighter wallet both of which leave me feeling guilty and disappointed. However, I still continue to go back to that beautiful mecca of books when I'm feeling down. Don't get me wrong, it does its job for a little while, say, when I'm in the store...possibly for a few minutes more...

My point is...my comfort trips to Barnes and Noble...not so comforting when I really think about it. This doesn't mean I'll stop going. I might just go less. Yeah. I'll keep telling myself that. We'll just stop calling them comfort trips.

Everyone has different ways of destressing and relaxing, finding comfort in activities or things. I feel confident in saying that everyone also has a comfort food. If not just one food that makes them feel great, it's multiple things.

Off the top of my head my comfort foods are:

Cookies and milk
Chocolate
Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Mom's ham
Funeral potatoes

Mmm...Great...now I'm getting hungry.

How about I just cut to the chase since you're probably salivating just as much as me.

I was thinking today about a different kind of comfort food. It is the Sabbath today, the Lord's day. Christ called Himself the living water and the bread of life. This, my friend, is the ultimate comfort food. While all the other things, activities, and food we run to for comfort are great, they will never live up to what Christ can do for you and me.

So the next time you're feeling down so you feel you have to go out and buy a bigscreen tv, or exercise for twenty hours, or buy $200 worth of books...take a moment...grab your scriptures...and partake of the ultimate comfort food.

Think about it.

Jay~

Thanksgiving

It is quite fitting that I would start my blog on a day dedicated to gratitude. I am grateful for several things in my life, and I was able to reflect on them a lot today.

As befitting the season, instead of going on some diatribe about what we did and what I ate, I am going to list just a few of the things I am grateful for.

I am thankful for (in no particular order):

My family
Good friends
Random hugs from friends
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ
Warm slippers
Beautiful beaches
Trying times
Candor
Florence's Chocolates
Pumpkin pie
Health
iTunes/iPod
Shakespeare
Great movies
Inspiring music
Laughter
Sunshine
Education
Teachers I can call Mentors
Cheese
Rough times that make you appreciate Good times
Shampoo
Girls
Emily Dickinson
Annie Dillard
Great writing & good books


That is all I could think of at this point. Stay tuned for more, kids!