Christmas lights !!!!!!!

This is well worth watching make sure you have your speakers on

The Mystery of Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Well it’s the start of the New Year and an end to the old year and what a good end I had in the end. Following our busy time at work with our Christmas festival, I decided to have myself a long break and spend some quality time with my family, especially with it being the first Christmas Mum had had a home for a while. As it was approaching the day I knew that everything was going to work out just fine. Mum attended her last hospital appointment at the limb centre and they were pleased with her progress and I had attended the wheelchair clinic and I was allowed to have a new powerchair, way to go!!!! Christmas had come early, well 3 days early. The Wheelchair Therapist has ordered me the new Quickie Salsa powerchair and I have had a look on the internet and it looks rather smart.

Then the days leading to Christmas we had visits from the family and I started to chill out, it was great catching up with friends and family and have a good laugh and some fun. Christmas eve came and Mum and I sorted out all the things for dinner so that it wasn’t a huge task on the day itself and then on the afternoon family came around with some pressies for us and the tree was slowly filling up and both Mum and I settled down with the tree lights on and watched Fred Claus, if you haven’t see it yet I would recommend it.




One of the presents that was on my Christmas list was Professor Layton and the Curious Village and my family spent a couple of weeks trying to get hold of it to no avail and then I just happened to pop into Woolworths and I saw lots of them on the shelve and I thought yes we have finally found it, but to my huge disappointment I didn’t read the small print on the shelve that said it was sold out!!!!!. What a shame so I thought ok I will see if I can get it online, I thought I am bound to be able to get it and every site I went on it was out of stock.
I went onto Amazon and it was in stock although the price was really expensive and I thought no its way to high and then to my amazement I managed to find it at a reasonable price so I purchased it and I thought it might just come for Christmas so that I try and solve the mystery, and sure enough it did arrive just in time for a Christmas mystery.



I was really impressed by the quality of the game and the graphics were great, I bet you are thinking I thought that was for Christmas, and you would be right in thinking that, but I had to check it was working didn’t I so I settled down in my armchair and tried the first part out, and it was great and I knew it was going to be a fabulous time and as you will read you will see how right I was

The Lighting of the Candles

For the last couple of weeks, I have thought much of what I wanted to write for this holiday season. I thought of what I wanted to say and nothing really came to me till right now. Since I celebrate both holidays, and am Jewish, I began reflecting. I reflected on the here and now, and also the past. Additionally, I reflected on when I was a little girl, and how I use to love celebrating Chanukah. For some reason, lighting the candles brought me much peace.
Not only because there was something about the candles being lit that memorized me. But because of the prayers being said during the lighting, and my grandma teaching me in Hebrew what the prayers meant. It gave me a sense of my heritage and who I was. It made me have a sense of pride and dignity. It made me feel good about myself. It also made me wonder of all those many, thousands of years ago, and what all my people before me went through.
I thought about the story of the candles. I thought about how my people thought they would only have enough oil to last for one night. The miracle of the story was that the oil burned for eight days and eight nights. I guess you could say wow, huh! Its a beautiful story. It’s a story I will always cherish.
Although, I also remember as a little girl wanting to have a Christmas tree too. I remember during the holiday season, my elementary school would bring in the Booster Club, and the Shriners; as they would put on a huge Christmas gala for the children.
Although, my Mama Katie would sweetly remind me of my up-bringing, tradition, and customs. She and my grandma both would teach me about my legacy, my roots, and my background. They would speak in both Jewish and English to my sister and me. While we don’t speak it ourselves, my sister and I still understand the language and speak somewhat at time.. I guess you could say I have been blessed. Now I have the best of both worlds. 21 years ago, I married into a catholic family, of German decent. They not only speak their German dialect, but I understand a lot of what they are saying because of my mother and grandmother speaking it fluently in our house-hold. I also get to celebrate both holidays, now. I put up not only my dreidal an menorah, but I put up the most beautiful Christmas tree and decorations you could think of. I am not only reminded of the days long ago as the lyrics ring out in the Chanukah song. But I am reminded of who I am, how I want to share my gift of light, the light that shins forth from my being, and, I am reminded daily, that the gift of giving is not just one day out of the year. It is every day of the year. It is the hope and belief to carry on.