NEW YEAR WITH THE GOOD GIRL

At the brink of another New Year there's the reoccurring theme from many of my friends that it's a big deal. I hear their resolutions and promises that they swear they'll keep. Their insistence that this year, it will be different. They are more committed. It's going to happen. 2013 is THE year. And New Year's is all about the promise of a new start. A clean slate.

But on January 1st, 2013, won't it just feel the same as always? You will wake up with a groan and feel those same aches. You will complain about the weather. You will tell your children not to wipe their hands on their clothes. You will get caught in the rain. Like the holidays that come at the end of the year, with all that preparation and effort, the New Year brings so much expectation building momentum as it draws closer. Midnight strikes! The year lies ahead. The fresh start. Then it's gone. All that excitement falling to the ground like a deflated balloon. Not with a bang. Soundlessly. Drifting off into a corner, found days later.

2013 will be like every year we’ve ever known. It is the year of:

Getting too much sun even though you know you shouldn't.
A squeeze of your hand that makes everything better.
Drifting away from a long-time friend.
A great haircut.
Losing those few pounds.
A hug when you need it.
Watching a sunset.
Gaining back the weight.
A crayon drawing from your child that you tuck away.
Forgetting your umbrella.
Coming across the right pair of shoes.
Wasting too much time online.
Laughing with your children.
Crying in the shower.
Sleepless nights.
A book that you'll treasure.
The right words when you need to hear them.
A final good-bye.
The same old.
Last year was so good...and so bad. For me, 2012 was the year I watched my dad struggle with cancer. The year my boyfriend put so much at stake with a new business. The year of too many financial worries and too few professional gains. The year of my friends going through the loss of a parent. Finally acknowledging the anger I have towards my ex's family. Having my purse stolen. Visiting family. Having two summers. Spending time with dear friends and having our children play together. A sunset cruise to the Statue of Liberty. Riding every roller coaster. Another birthday. Another Valentine's Day. Another first day of school. Another Christmas.

This coming year is just like every year, isn't it? With it's struggles and it's triumphs. The joy. The heartbreak.

So I raise a toast to this New Year because it’s the same as it always has been— One where anything could happen. 

See you in 2013,
The Good Girl

LET GO TO HOLD ON

Barbara Ward-Finneran
Two days ago I lost myself in a few glasses of wine.  Not something I often do.  Just three. Three small glasses. Way more then enough for me. It was enough to push the tears.  To allow my guard to go down and the tears to silently slide shinny paths across my cheeks.  Sometimes you cry for nothing.  Sometimes you cry for everything.  Sometimes you don't even know exactly why.  Sometimes your heart aches for everything that is and everything that isn't.  Sometimes you are just plain overwhelmed by every little thing.  Keeping yourself together can be exhausting at times and it's only when you pause, that the inertia breaks and the dam busts.  When you keep going, going, going and it's all "good".  Stop and you might melt in a puddle.  Might stall.  Might not be able to start again. It takes more effort to keep it all together then to fall apart. Yet, so rarely do we allow ourselves to fall... the pieces scatter where they may... and sometimes amazingly, if you actually allow them to fall... then the pieces fit back together again. Then you feel lighter, freer, better.

Doesn't matter what your tears are for and where they come from; anger, sadness, loss, despair, missing an old friend, or even when they are joyfully happy - you deserve to take the time to feel them. Slow down. Breathe, just breathe. Sometimes before you can move forward you have to stop and catch you balance.  Take care of the moment, take care of  yourself.  Be authentic and true to yourself and your feelings.  Sometimes you have to let go to once again be in control.  If you allow your tears to cleanse your heart and free your soul... wash away the worries and the what ifs...  Then you can look with fresh eyes and once again find your wine glass half full.  Find the beauty in every situation. Focusing on those things that rejuvenate you and give you hope amid all the other "stuff" that life deals you.  Remind yourself to never stop believing that you can always have a new beginning.  A few tears, a new moment, a new day, a new week, or new year --- All bring a fresh start and infinite possibilities.  Choose between turning the page or closing the book.  You are the author of what comes next.  Let go, to hold on. Find your footing on this amazing journey before you called life.  The best is yet unwritten... Feel it, live it, love it!  

WHAT MATTERS

Barbara Ward-Finneran

Hugs from your kids.

Sleeping in during christmas break.

Leftovers that you like to nibble on.

Remembering it's never to late to dreaming BIG.

Sharing a smile with a stranger. 

The ache in your heart because you love someone enough to miss them.

When you fall down, get up laughing.

Hearing your son's voice crack and change and bursting with pride at the young man he is becoming.

Memories that warm your heart.

A glass a wine with time for you and it to breathe.

Family. Especially the family that you choose. 

Giving tears their time.

Friends, the once that will forever be there - ALWAYS BE THERE!

Keeping the promises that you make to yourself!

MERRY & BRIGHT... and filed with love and faith

Christmas Singing Flash Mob

CHARLES DURNING: HE DID A LITTLE SIDESTEP

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

 

 

One of my favorite character actors passed away on Christmas Eve. Charles Durning, 89, whose film credits include "The Sting", "Tootsie","Dick Tracy," "Home for the Holidays," "The Muppet Movie," "North Dallas Forty" and "O Brother Where Art Thou?", and my personal favorite : Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", leaves behind more than just a legacy of film and TV roles.   Durning appeared in almost 200 movies, countless television shows and dozens of plays, portraying a range of characters from Shakespearean fools to crooked cops to military veterans and even a priest. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and nine Emmy Awards and won a Tony Award for his performance as Big Daddy in a 1990 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

 

 But the thing I found most admirable about this man was not his acting career . The fact is,

Durning was a true, blue, WWII hero. According to Yahoo News: Durning was part of the U.S. force that landed at Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion in June 1944. A few days later he was shot in the hip - he said he carried the bullet in his body thereafter - and after six months of recovery was sent to the Battle of the Bulge.

Durning, who was wounded twice more, was captured and was one of the few survivors of the Malmedy massacre when German troops opened fire on dozens of American prisoners. In addition to three Purple Heart medals for his wounds, Durning was presented the Silver Star for valor.

At an observation of the 60th anniversary of D-Day in Washington, Durning told of the terror he felt and carnage he saw when hitting the beach on D-Day. He said he had to jettison his weapon and gear in order to swim ashore and saw mortally wounded comrades offering themselves as human shields.

"I forget a lot of stuff now but I still wake up once in a while and it's still there," he said. "I can't count how many of my buddies are in the cemetery at Normandy."

Before his acting career, Durning worked as a professional ballroom dancer and teacher.
His other jobs included working as a comedian, night watchman, dishwasher, sightseeing guide, bridge painter, bricklayer, plumber’s helper, bartender and cabdriver. At 30, he was delivering telegrams, while appearing in plays where his payment came from the passing of a hat. With all these life experiences, it's no wonder he became such an amazing character actor.

The world has lost a great actor and an outstanding human being. Rest in Peace Charles, you've earned it! 
 


JOY TO THE WORLD... THE LORD IS COME!

LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING!

Many blessings & love to everyone!  

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

SOUL FOOD

Barbara Ward-Finneran

Miracles occur all around us. It can be as simple as an act of compassion, a kind word, something unexplainable, or as grand as a defining moment filled with light to break up the dark. 

Sometimes it's fostering the power to believe in yourself enough to move forward. 

Look for your miracles. They happen if you hold onto faith and hope. They are all around us... Just believe!

Keep the promises that you make to yourself!

©  All Rights Reserved

WHAT MATTERS

Barbara Ward-Finneran

Being with people you love

The memories that run down your cheeks

The sound of laughter & the feeling of hugs

Giving from the heart

The sparkle in a child's eyes

Making the most of this moment

The gift of the Lord's love and the magic of Christmas

Remembering those who aren't with you

Faith, Hope & Love

Being Jesus to others

Tears because they mean you "feel"

Everyone whose ever meant anything to you

The blessings that you forget to count

Being old enough to know that it's never about the presents under the tree

The stars that break up the darkness

Knowing Jesus is the Light of the World

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL 

AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT!

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-20.

The Conception of Jesus Foretold

Mary, a virgin, was living in Galilee of Nazareth and was engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. An angel visited her and explained to her that she would conceive a son by thepower of the Holy Spirit. She would carry and give birth to this child and she would name him Jesus.

At first Mary was afraid and troubled by the angel's words. Being a virgin, Mary questioned the angel, "How will this be?" The angel explained that the child would be God's own Son and, therefore, "nothing is impossible with God." Humbled and in awe, Mary believed the angel of the Lord and rejoiced in God her Savior.
Surely Mary reflected with wonder on the words found in Isaiah 7:14 foretelling this event, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus:

While Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant through the Holy Spirit, as foretold to her by the angel. When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, he had every right to feel disgraced. He knew the child was not his own, and Mary's apparent unfaithfulness carried a grave social stigma. Joseph not only had the right to divorce Mary, under Jewish law she could be put to death by stoning.

Although Joseph's initial reaction was to break the engagement, the appropriate thing for a righteous man to do, he treated Mary with extreme kindness. He did not want to cause her further shame, so he decided to act quietly. But God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to verify Mary's story and reassure him that his marriage to her was God's will. The angel explained that the child within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that his name would be Jesus and that he was the Messiah, God with us.

When Joseph woke from his dream, he willingly obeyed God and took Mary home to be his wife, in spite of the public humiliation he would face. Perhaps this noble quality is one of the reasons God chose him to be the Messiah's earthly father.
Joseph too must have wondered in awe as he remembered the words found in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." (NIV)

At that time, Caesar Augustus decreed that a census be taken, and every person in the entire Roman world had to go to his own town to register. Joseph, being of the line of David, was required to go to Bethlehem to register with Mary. While in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Probably due to the census, the inn was too crowded, and Mary gave birth in a crude stable. She wrapped the baby in cloths and placed him in a manger.

The Shepherd's Worship the Savior:

Out in the fields, an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep by night. The angel announced that the Savior had been born in the town of David. Suddenly a great host of heavenly beings appeared with the angels and began singing praises to God. As the angelic beings departed, the shepherds decided to travel to Bethlehem and see the Christ-child.

There they found Mary, Joseph and the baby, in the stable. After their visit, they began to spread the word about this amazing child and everything the angel had said about him. They went on their way still praising and glorifying God. But Mary kept quiet, treasuring their words and pondering them in her heart. It must have been beyond her ability to grasp, that sleeping in her arms—the tender child she had just borne—was the Savior of the world.

The Magi Bring Gifts:

After Jesus' birth, Herod was king of Judea. At this time wise men (Magi) from the east saw a star, they came in search, knowing the star signified the birth of the king of the Jews. The wise men came to the Jewish rulers in Jerusalem and asked where the Christ was to be born. The rulers explained, "In Bethlehem in Judea," referring to Micah 5:2. Herod secretly met with the Magi and asked them to report back after they had found the child. Herod told the Magi that he too wanted to go and worship the babe. But secretly Herod was plotting to kill the child. So the wise men continued to follow the star in search of the new born king and found Jesus with his mother in Bethlehem. (Most likely Jesus was already two years of age by this time.) They bowed and worshipped him, offering treasures of gold, incense, and myrrh. When they left, they did not return to Herod. They had been warned in a dream of his plot to destroy the child.

O' HOLY NIGHT

Wishing all our readers a very Merry Christmas!
 May the peace, love, and joy of the season be yours!