Tradition

It's Christmas Eve Eve. I'm sitting here right now having just finished wrapping the last of my presents and I'm watching Muppet's Christmas Carol and I'm finding my mind turning to tradition. Maybe it's just this time of year, but I find comfort in my traditions, both the ones started when I was a child and the ones I've started on my own. And yes, Muppet's Christmas Carol is part of that. We would watch both that and White Christmas on Christmas Eve, all the lights off except for the Christmas lights, me and my sisters inevitably falling asleep before White Christmas was over. Christmas morning was never a mad dash to the presents. We would have to wait for our parents to tell us it was time to come in to the living room. Me and my sisters would all gather in one bedroom giggling and talking about what we hoped we got, knowing that our parents were reading the paper and drinking coffee while we were anxious to start our holiday. Once we were released we would start with our stockings, eating the chocolate we found inside as our breakfast. Then it was time for the presents. We would all take turns opening a gift so Christmas morning really would last all morning. My dad would crack a beer mid morning and say it was his birthday so he was allowed. I have nothing but fond memories of Christmas, and to this day it is the one holiday I insist on being with family.
So now I'm an adult and I think of how I spend the holiday now. Christmas Eve I usually work and go to church afterwards. After church I come home, get in my jammies, and cuddle with the cats on the couch. I start out with Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (unless it's a late service or I'm really tired) and end with Polar Express, drinking either a glass of wine or hot chocolate depending on my mood. Christmas morning is just me and the cats but I make sure there are presents for us under the tree and a stocking stuffer. I put on Christmas music and eat Christmas cookies with my coffee and then spend the rest of the day with someone in my family.While my traditions now aren't exactly the same as then they are based in my childhood and bring me comfort and peace. And isn't that what Christmas is about? We all have our traditions, those things we do every year at Christmas time that connect us to our friends and family, put a smile on our faces, and warm our hearts. Maybe it's a movie you watch every year or a relative's house you go to, a carol you sing in church on Christmas Eve, a food you eat for breakfast. Our traditions connect us to our past and grow and evolve to include our future. Whatever your traditions are I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Happy Election Day!

Today is midterm election day and up until last night I wasn’t sure I was going to vote. I realized that aside from the ads on TV I really had no idea what the candidates stood for which meant I didn’t know who I should be voting for. Which was the lesser of two evils: voting uninformed or not voting at all? I admit I was leaning towards not voting at all since I knew my decision would affect policies for the next two years. Then I was with my mom last night and I mentioned this to her and she told me about this website vote411.org (which seems to be affiliated with The League of Women Voters). I went there, put in my address, and it showed me who was running in my district and the candidates responses to questions on the issues. I was able to read a brief sentence about where the candidates stood and then was able to make a decision on who I wanted to vote for. I wish I had more time to delve deeper in to the issues, but at least I wasn’t heading to the polls blind.

So this morning I had a nice short walk to a nearby school to exercise my right to vote. There was no wait time and as a bonus the PTA was holding a bake sale so I got a terrifically yummy piece of Pumpkin Brownie Bundt Cake for breakfast. I left and on my walk home I felt an enormous sense of pride at what I just did. This is not new, I feel this every time I’m done voting. I think of the countries who fight for their right to vote and the countries where the people have no say in their government. I think of the women who fought right here in Rochester and Western New York for the right for women to vote. And I realize how lucky I am to be able to fill in that circle and cast a vote for my government leaders.

Now, I’m sure many of you are reading this and giving all the excuses as to why you’re not voting. “I don’t have time.” Polls opened at 6 am and close at 9 pm. There’s time. “Who will watch my kids?” Take them with you and show them how cool it is to be American. “I don’t know who to vote for.” Go to the website I mentioned. And in some cases none of the candidates answered the questions so I just didn’t vote in that category. “My vote doesn’t really matter.” It does. If every person who thought that went out and voted think of how much more it would matter. “I’m not registered.” Yeah, true I can’t help you out with that one, except to say make sure you register so you’ll be ready in the next election. I’m pretty sure you can do it online. “I don’t know where to go.” They should have sent you a letter and if they didn’t I’m sure you can go online. In fact, I think vote411.org actually has a link that will tell you where to vote.

Our system isn’t perfect, this is true. But if the alternative is not having a voice at all then I don’t want that. Maybe my candidates won’t win, but at least I tried. My vote was a voice heard for the issues I believe in and stand behind (the environment, education, and women’s rights in case you’re interested). And I would rather cast my vote than sit back and complain about something I made no effort to fix. So if you’re reading this and it’s still Tuesday November 4, 2014, if you’re registered please go out and vote. It’s important.

Do You Like Scary Movies?

Okay, now how many of you read that and immediately heard the killer from Scream?

            I figured since today is Halloween it would be a good time to write about my feelings on scary movies. I think when we use the word “scary” we take it to encompass both horror films and gory films, and I do think there is a difference. Gory films are all about how many people can we kill and how gruesome can we make it. Horror films make you jump at every little noise afterwards and wonder how you’re going to go to sleep that night. So, Mr. Killer From Scream, if by scary movies you mean horror then I would have to go with yes, but if you mean gory films I have to go with no. Please don’t kill me.

            If you’re going to scare me, you need to mess with my mind. It’s not that I mind blood and guts and gore. I enjoy The Walking Dead and my favorite show Supernatural does love its blood spatter. But grossing me out is not the way scare me. It’s the unseen that causes my heart to race and my shoulders to tense up. I like that moment where you know something is about to happen but you don’t know what so you sit there getting more and more tense until finally BAM! I also like twists and turns. Surprise me. Make me guess who the killer is and then show me I’m wrong. SCARE ME!

            Perhaps if I tell you the few scary movies I enjoy you’ll get where I’m coming from. I've already mentioned Scream. It’s clever and every time you think you know who the killer is it tells you why you’re wrong. And then why you’re right. And then why you’re wrong again. Now, this may not exactly fit my category of what scares me because it definitely veers in to the gory category, but it still is included on this list because of its cleverness. The Blair Witch Project is another on my list. I know it’s cool to hate this movie but I was one of the ones who was scared by it. You never saw anything. It was all in your mind. The imagination can be scarier than reality and I think it really captured that tension of not knowing what was coming and being scared when it showed up. To keep with the theme of “found footage” I have to add Paranormal Activity next. I saw that in the movie theatres and I legit was jumping and screaming and grabbing the person next to me. Those commercials didn't lie. Again, you knew something was about to happen but didn't know what or when so when it did….. (Although I must confess a second viewing a couple years later at home did not scare me as much. Perhaps because my brain was frantically trying to remember the scary parts so I was able to mentally prepare myself before I could get too scared.) And finally I add The Cabin in the Woods. Oh Joss Whedon how I love you. I love that it takes the “scary movie” archetypes and twists them in a way that only Joss can. I can’t even describe it. I can only say you must watch it. If I could buy you a copy I would.

            By now you might be saying, “But Summer, haven’t you left off the ultimate scary movie?” I have not. I must of course finish this post by including the grandmother of those movies I mentioned: Halloween. If you haven’t seen it then what’s wrong with you? Perhaps it’s nostalgia. My mother loves this movie and watches it every year. (Or at least she used to.) I finally bought myself a copy and my plans for tonight include a bowl of popcorn and cuddling with the kitties to watch it. It’s iconic for a reason. So on this Halloween 2014 I hope you get many more treats than tricks and I hope you are able to enjoy a scary movie, whatever that may be to you.

Food, Glorious Food

                There’s a scene I see being replayed daily at the Starbucks I work in (with some minor variations). A woman comes up to order her skinny latte and asks me several times “That’s nonfat, right? The syrup is sugar free? I just can’t have the calories. You used nonfat right?” Once in a while I will go on autopilot or the nonfat isn’t marked on the cup and the drink is made with 2% milk. When asked if they want me to remake it, I hear, “Yes. I can’t have all that fat.” Or a woman will come up and stare longingly at the pastry case and sigh as she tells me, “It all looks so good but I just can’t have anything in there.” I always feel bad for these women who feel they can’t have something. And yes, 99% of the time it’s women. What have we done to ourselves that we feel forced to drink skinny drinks and refuse pastries rather than feeling that it’s a choice we make?

                I feel that this is the point in the blog where I should make a disclaimer, in case you don’t know me. To most of society I “don’t have the right” to make any comments on drinking skinny lattes or indulging in a pastry because I’m a skinny girl. Always have been, and based on the build of my mother and maternal grandmother, always will be. I have been blessed with good genes that entitle me to be considered petite and to be able to “eat whatever I want” and not be worried about gaining extra weight. Trust me, I am 100% aware of all of this. But I choose when to eat that chocolate croissant for breakfast and when to eat a yogurt instead. I choose when to have a Frappuccino and when to have a pumpkin spice latte without the whipped cream. And I guess I’m lucky that in a lot of my food choices I choose better for me choices. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel guilty when I make the bad choices. I’ve just decided to choose to own my choice and make a better one next time.

                But let me go back to my statement that I feel bad for those women who say they can’t have something. Food is supposed to make us happy. Food makes me happy. I get hangry when I don’t eat, as I’m sure many of my coworkers and guests could tell you. But if we feel forced to eat something then no wonder we don’t want to continue eating it. No wonder diets fail. It seems like we’re told that we should or shouldn’t eat something because then we’ll be skinny and people will like us. Trust me, as a skinny girl, that is definitely not true. There are plenty of people who don’t like me, no matter what size I am. Being skinny doesn’t mean I get the guy at the end of the movie. There are plenty of “fat” (I use society’s term, not mine) women who I see every day with husbands and kids. I have no boyfriend, haven’t for over two years now, and I live alone with my two cats. So if you are obsessing over making sure your latte is skinny in this delusion that somehow you will have a better life because you’ll be a certain size, listen to me when I say that it just isn’t true.

                So anyway, I look at these women and I feel sorry for them because I feel like their choices have been taken from them. Now, this is not to say that we should all feel free to eat whatever and whenever we want. That isn’t healthy. And I guess maybe that’s the key word for me: healthy. Yes, there’s a lot of crap out there that we should not put in our bodies. Now that I am firmly in my mid-thirties (hello recent 36^th birthday!) I am making much more of an effort to eat better. I’ve recently taken on a thattagurl.com challenge (a website that I absolutely love started by one of my fave soap actresses Kelly Sullivan—seriously, go check it out) to cut back on sugar. I am not ready to remove it completely, but I’m trying to be more aware of what’s going in my body. I’m eating more organic. I’m trying to stay away from Reese’s, although who am I to refuse the Reese’s pumpkins? They’re just so cute! I know I have a long way to go before the food choices I make are where they should be. But I never want to be the one denying myself an occasional Washington Apple Pound Cake at Starbucks or freaking out if I forget to tell my co-barista not to put the whipped cream on my drink. (Seriously, you would be surprised how many people insist you scrape it off if you accidentally put it on there.) I don’t want to look over at someone else’s lunch in the break room and say “I wish I could have that.” Believe me, I am guilty of saying “I shouldn’t” when faced with an unhealthy food choice. I am not preaching from a pedestal here. But I want to change my wording to “I’m not going to have that today.” I want to make the choice for me and my health. Isn’t that really what it should be about: our health? Our happiness with ourselves?