Thoughts From Rosebud Lane

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 334 Posted: 18 Dec 2017 09:34 PM PST Ok, here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with your friends and neighbors. Merry Christmas everyone! I pray for peace and joy to each of you. Savor the season filled with love and miracles. Our Savior is about to be born. Sing a song for him. 1. Where have you found unexpected magic or delight this holiday season? My family think I have gone over the top, because I like all things Flamingo. It's true I do. Maybe, I am over the top, but these silly pink things make me smile. It's important for me to find reasons to smile. This year I brought the flamingos into my Christmas decor. Yes, my tree is decorated with flamingos. All different sorts. I have pink feathers and tulle around. And for a bit of tradition I have pink poinsettias on the tree too. I have a new outfit. A flamingo dress that I will wear with leggings. Flamingo socks. I have flamingos on my fingernails. I have a pair of fun flamingo glasses to wear. I even have some pink spray for my hair. Am I over the top? Maybe, but I don't care. It makes me smile. It fills me with joy. It makes me anticipation for the events even more so. I can't wait for my family to get here. 2. What's your favorite type of holiday gathering? Will you/have you gathered in your favorite way this month? My favorite type of gathering is longer possible. I remember all together,  11 of us. There was commotion, laughter, excitement, loud noise, very loud noise. A joyful noise. All but 2 of us are spending Christmas in heaven. However, my joy in Christmas has not diminished. My son and GF are going to Illinois where her family lives. They will be with us on the 30th for Christmas. My cousin is coming here on Christmas Eve. We have a mellow relaxed Christmas now. It's fine. This year though I am going to dig out the karaoke machine and my cousin will sing Christmas songs. The old traditions have passed on, and I need to make new ones. My joy in Christmas is a two part issue. I enjoy all the preparations. The gift buying, the wrapping the tree decorating, and yes, even the house cleaning. My other joy is setting up the Nativity. This makes me take pause and reflect on what Christmas is really all about. Baby Jesus is going to be born to give us life. What a miracle! 3. Time has named 'The Silence Breakers' (women who came forward with stories of harassment)  'person of the year' for 2017. Would you agree? If not, who do you think deserves the title? What an ever blanking shame! Soap box time? Just a little so bear with me. If these women were so traumatized by their so called harassment why did they wait years and years to come forward? Wouldn't they have reported it to someone immediately? How dare they use the excuse of a powerful man made them afraid to report it.. I say, so what? Report him, expose him for the lech, slime ball, pervert he must be. Don't wait! Do it now! Stop him from doing it to anyone else!  Their waiting tells me they only want their 10 minutes of fame. Shame on them! And yet the worst perpetrator sits seemingly unfazed by any of this in MY white house.  I am not saying these things didn't happen. They might have. All I am trying to get across is that it wasn't as horrifying to the women as they are now saying. Again Shame on them! How insignificant a woman who was truly terrified by such an encounter and came forward right afterward must feel. She isn't looking for the headlines. She isn't looking for a paycheck from the tabloids. All she wants is to be acknowledged and understood. She handled it the way these things should always be handled. Immediately! Not years later, NOT!! I speak from personal experience. A top executive in the company I worked for always managed to find a way to touch me whenever we happened to see each other. I repeatedly asked him not to touch me. Being respectful of his position. Eventually, I told him if he EVER touched me again I would report him. Well, he touched me again. We were in a very public area of the building when it happened for that last time. He touched me, I yelled at him with my loudest voice, "I told you not to ever touch me. Now you have, and I will have your job" I may have had a  few uncomplimentary names thrown in there. The president of the company came out of his office to see what the noise was about, the salesmen from downstairs came running up to help.  And, while he was not fired he did lose his VP job and was demoted to something with no power. Anything to keep it out of court. I was vindicated.  I am almost sure he will never make that mistake again.  Power does not make this alright.  The power lays within the woman when she reports it. And that is why these women are full of cr**! (I don't think I have used so many exclamation marks ever before. Can you tell this makes me hot under my collar?) 4. How did you spend your time this year? Are you happy about that? Elaborate I did a lot of downsizing. I got rid of approximately 35 cookbooks. Five huge lawn bags filled with clothing. I got rid of books that won't be read again. I packed up glassware, kitchen items, DVDs, Cds, sheets, and towels. My house is still too crowded, but I am not finished yet. 5. Bid farewell to 2017 in ten words or less. You weren't a bad year all things considered. Thank you. 6. Insert your own random thought here.

In October I visiting a local gift store. They were having a drawing to celebrate their 1 year in business anniversary. On December 1st they called to tell me I had won the grand prize! It is the Willow tree Nativity scene. I have loved this Nativity for many years. It feels me with peace every time I would look at it in the store. Knowing I would never be able to afford it. Their call, oh my, it made me cry. Tears of disbelief and joy.
Here it is:

Do you add Jesus on Christmas Day or when you first set your Nativity up? When do you put the Kings out? Immediately, or wait til until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th?