VISION BOARD

I was busy flipping through a magazine and tearing out pages that interested me when Steven walked into the room. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I'm getting pictures for my vision board.” I ripped a picture of tulips from a page and placed it on the coffee table. “This one's for my trip to Holland this spring.” I crossed my fingers and looked at Steven. “But anything could happen so I thought if I put it on the board it will definitely come true.”

“What's a vision board?”

“I'm glad you asked that! Because I hadn't heard of it either until about 20 minutes ago!” I was flipping the pages and saw a jar of money. “Oh that's definitely going on the board!” As I was ripping the page out I looked over at Steven. “I was on the phone with my girlfriend Anna Marie and she said a friend of ours is doing one. It's where you make a board of things you'd like to see happen in the coming year.”

Steven started to laugh. “So a picture of money is going to have us make more next year.”

“Hey...” I looked over at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.” I tore out a picture of the beach and held it up for him to see. “Maybe a trip to Cape May will be in our future next summer.” I placed it on the coffee table next to all my other dreams and hopes.

“How big is your board going to be?” Steven looked at the growing pile on the table.

“I figured I'd collect everything that interested me and decide later.” I grabbed the next magazine off the pile and began leafing through it. “Do you want to make one with me?”

Steven laughed and shook his head. “No, I think I'm good, thanks.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Suit yourself, but I'm getting a good feeling about this upcoming year.” I ripped out the word MEDITATION. “Oh, I can definitely use more of that!”

“So where did this idea come from again?”

“It seems Oprah talked about it years ago when she read the book The Secret. She does one all the time.” I looked up at Steven. “Clearly I live under a rock because it's the first I'm hearing about it.”

I kept flipping through the magazine. “Now I just have to find a typewriter to remind me to write more.” I stopped at a page. “Oh! Yoga!” I began ripping. “I should really get back to doing that!”

“So where are you planning on hanging it?” Steven leafed through the pile I'd already collected.

“I'm thinking about taping it to the inside of our closet door.”

I looked over at Steven and could see he seemed surprised. “Why there?”

“Because I'd see it every morning while I was getting ready for work and it would remind me to think about it during the day.” I smiled at him. “Then I'd see it again at night and I could go to sleep visualizing it for my dreams.”

“So I get to see it while I'm getting dressed too?
“Exactly! That's just a perfect bonus for me!” I collected up my pile to begin sorting through them.

“How's that a bonus for you?” Steven looked confused.

“Well, seeing that you're not doing one for yourself maybe you could look at mine, while your getting ready in the morning, and cheer me on with mine!”

Steven shook his head. “Whatever happened to plain old New Year resolutions?”

“I've never been able to keep those.” I reached for the scissors. “That's why I'm hoping this might do the trick this year!”

ALREADY UNDER THE TREE

I was in our laundry room, busy wrapping some last minute gifts, when my husband Steven came into the room. “How's it going in here?” he asked as he looked over my shoulder to see what I was wrapping. I'd set up my wrapping station on my ironing board.

“I'm almost finished.” I said as I went through my ribbon box to see what I had left. “Of course, I said I was almost finished a week ago but then I keep remembering just one more thing.” I sighed.

“Speaking of one more thing, is there anything special you want for Christmas?” he asked. “It's been bothering me for days. I've got a few small things for you but I can't come up with anything that says 'Wow'.”

I looked over and could see how concerned he looked.

“Don't worry about it.” I reassured him as I pulled out a red satin spool of ribbon. “You already got me a really nice Brighton set.”

Steven looked confused. “I did?”

“Yup.” I unraveled the ribbon watching it pool on the floor until I was ready to snip the length I wanted. “A couple of weeks ago, remember?”

“No.” He was leaned against the dryer trying to remember. “What's a Brighton set?”

“It's a brand name. They make purses and accessories.” I looked around for the scissors. “You got me a necklace, earring and bracelet set from them.”

“Did I order it on-line?” He was shaking his head. “I can't believe I don't remember.”

“You were going to but I wanted to pick it out myself.” I twisted the ribbon around the box. “We talked about this a few weeks ago when you couldn't think of anything to get me. I was headed to the mall so I told you I would pick it up.” I'd tied a knot in the ribbon. “Can I borrow your finger for a minute?” I stepped to the side so he could hold down my ribbon while I made the bow.

“Well, did I pick out a nice set?”

“It's beautiful.” I leaned over and gave him a kiss. “You have very good taste.”

“Can I see it?” he laughed as he looked around the laundry room where I'd been stashing the presents that needed to be wrapped. “I'd like to see what I got you before Christmas morning.”

“Sorry but it's already ready wrapped and under the tree!” I smiled at him as I looked around for a name tag for the gift I was wrapping.

“You had to wrap your own present?” Steven shook his head. “That's just sad.”

“No.” I said quickly. “The store offered free wrapping so I thought I'd save you the trouble.”

Steven leaned back against the dryer again. “Well, I have to say it was an easy shopping year for me.”

I held up my wrapped package. “I'm glad.” I headed for the living room with the gift. “Another one ready for under the tree.”

“Oh good, maybe you could point out the one I got for you.”

“Sure.” I put the new gift under the tree then picked up my gift from the front of the tree and handed it to him. “You wanted to see how they gift wrapped it?”

Steven took the tissue paper filled gift bag and peeked inside. “I want to at least know what the package looks like so I can hand it to you on Christmas morning.”

I smiled as I took the bag from him and placed it back under the tree. “You're very thoughtful.”

STOCKING STUFFERS

Alex was sitting at the kitchen table, peeling an orange when I came into the room. “Oh my gosh, that smells so good.”

Alex pointed to the bowl of oranges sitting on the counter. “A whole bowl of them showed up today if you want one.”

“Showed up?” I had to laugh. “Who do you think bought them and put them in that bowl?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Well, now that you mention it I guess that would be you.” He'd finished peeling it and handed me a segment.

“Thanks.” I took a bite and it tasted as good as it smelled. “You know every time I smell an orange it reminds me of Christmas.”

Alex looked confused. “Why?”

“Because we didn't have oranges very often, but we'd get one in the toe of our Christmas stocking every year.” I smiled at the memory. “All my brothers and sisters would dump our stockings out and I don't know about them, but the first thing I would do is peel that orange.”

I looked over at him and saw the confused look on his face. “What?” I asked.

“You got an orange in your stocking?”

“Sure. We got an orange and an apple.”

“Well, that's just sad.” He said biting into another segment. “Your parents just emptied out the fruit bowl from the counter?”

“No.” I corrected him. “We didn't have a fruit bowl on our counter. In fact it was a big treat to get the oranges.”

“Why?”

I had to think about it for a moment. “I don't know.” Now I was confused. I picked up the phone and called my sister. When she picked up and didn't even bother saying hi I just raced right into the question I wanted to ask. “Was it weird that we got oranges in our stockings?”

“No.” she answered. “I thought it was a sweet tradition. In fact, just the smell of an orange makes me think of Christmas morning.”

“Me too!” I cried. I looked over at Alex. “See, your Aunt thought it was a sweet tradition too.”

Alex didn't look convinced. “I'll pass on the orange in my stocking, thanks.” He looked over at the bowl on the counter. “If I want an orange I'll just get one from the bowl.”

My sister had overheard him. “Tell him that when we were kids oranges were expensive and there were seven kids in our family so getting an orange in our stocking was a treat.” I said.

“I'm not telling him that.” I whispered.

“Why?”

“Because now I feel like a Grandpa telling a story about how he had to walk three miles to school, in a blizzard, with a hole in his shoe!”

“Well, it's the truth.” she reminded me.

I looked at Alex as he collected up the orange peels and went over to the garbage to throw them out.

“Oranges were just a sweet tradition our parents had that they passed on to us.” I told him.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Well, thanks for not passing that tradition down to me.” he closed the drawer to the garbage. “I'm pretty happy with gift cards and candy.” he gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “We should make that our tradition.”

I watched him walk down the hall then went back to the conversation with my sister. “Somehow the tradition I've started doesn't seem nearly as sweet as the one we grew up with.” I said with a sigh.

THE PHONE'S FAULT

“What are you up to today?” my husband Steven asked as he passed through the living room where I was cuddled up on the couch playing a game of Solitaire on my phone.

“Oh, I have a long list of things I have to get done today.” I said as I reached for my cup of tea and took a sip. “I want to get a few things at the mall, then go grocery shopping, laundry and I promised Alex I'd bake a cake for dessert tonight.” I pulled my robe tighter around my neck and settled back to finish my game. “I just want to finish this last hand of Solitaire.”

“Well you better get started soon if you're going to get all that done in one day.” Steven sat down next to me a reached for the newspaper.

“I know. That's why I got up early today.” I put my phone down next to me and leaned back to stretch out my back.

“Well, it not early anymore.” Steven nodded over to the clock on the table.

I glanced over. “Eleven-thirty! Are you kidding me!” I sat up and squinted to make sure I was seeing the right time. “What happened to the morning?”

Steven laughed as he picked up my phone, took a quick look at it, then held it up for me to see. “Well, seeing that your battery is almost dead I'm going to say you were busy on your phone.”

I took the phone from him and checked it myself. “It can't be.” But sure enough the battery had a little sliver of red left. “Wow.” I shook my head.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “That's a lot of time playing Solitaire.”

“Hey, even I couldn't play Solitaire for three hours.” I countered.

“So what else have you been doing on your phone?” he asked as he looked over the front page of the paper.

I thought about it for a moment. “Well, when I first got up, before I even got out of bed, I checked my e-mail. Then I moved on to Facebook to see what everyone's been up to since I went to sleep...”

Steven nodded. “Ah hum.”

“Then I checked my Horoscope App to see what kind of day I'm going to have.”

Steven looked confused. “Do you really believe in that?”

“Well, no.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Not really, but it's always nice when it tells me I'm going to have a good day.”

Steven finished scanning the newspaper, dropped it back on the coffee table, and looked over at me. “Well you better get going if you want to get to all the things on your list done today.”

“You're right.” I picked up my teacup and brought it out into the kitchen, then went back into the living room to scoop my phone up off the coffee table along with it's charger. “I'm going in to take a shower.”

“If you're going to take a shower, why do you need your phone?”

“Because I'm going to charge it in there and play another hand or two of Solitaire while the shower's heating up.” I said as I slipped the phone and charger into the pocket of my bathrobe.

Steven groaned. “Great. An hour from now you'll still be playing Solitaire in there and all the hot water will be gone.”

I smiled and I put one hand on my heart and the other up in the air. “I swear I'll only play two hands while the water gets warm.”

Steven didn't seem convinced. “I'll check on you in five minutes to make sure.”

I shrugged my shoulders and knew I really couldn't argue with him. “Yeah, maybe you should.” I admitted.

FIRST, BUT I CHEATED

“Yes!” I cried as I looked at the text on my phone. “I'm the first again this year!” I smiled as I looked over at my husband Steven, who was sitting next to me on the couch.

“First? What?” he asked as he muted the television and moved a pillow behind his head.

“I was my sister's first Christmas card.” I leaned back and smiled.

“Okay, well congratulations.” Steven didn't sound very impressed.

“Hey, do you know how early you have to send the cards out to be first nowadays?”

Steven just shook his head. “Nope, not a clue.”

“Before Thanksgiving!” I cried. “It's ridiculous! I used to be able to mail them the day after Thanksgiving and I'd be first, no problem. Now I have to start a week before!” I looked over at him and shook my head. “I couldn't even find cards this year. No one had them out yet. It took me three stops just to find some!”

“So why do you do it?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Because it's tradition.”

“Tradition?”

I put my feet up on the coffee table. “Okay,” I admitted. “It's my tradition.” I took the pillow that was behind me and tossed it further down the couch. “I remember the first time it happened. My sister called and said I was her first card.” I smiled at the memory. “I don't know what it was, but somehow I felt I had won.” I looked over at him. “I was first for a few years but then one year she said someone had beaten me.” I frowned. “That year was a very disappointing card year for me.”

I picked up my phone and smiled as I looked at my messages again. I held it up for Steven to see... “Any mail?” Was my text to her. Then I scrolled down to her answer: “She said her husband just brought it in, I'm their first again!”

Then I clicked on to my other sister: “Hi – I received your card today (along with 2 others) but I'm sure you were the first. Thanks!”

I looked at Steven. “She doesn't get her mail everyday so I'm definitely saying I'm her first card too.” I settled back into the couch content with my win.

Steven pointed to the stack of cards on the coffee table. “So whose are those?”

“Oh, they're everybody else's Christmas cards.” The stack was next to my address book waiting to be done.

“But didn't you just tell me you need to be the first card out?”

“I just finished telling you how early everybody else is sending them out! If I tried to be everyone's first card I'd have to start writing them out the day after Halloween!”

“So you only did your two sisters?”

“Hey,” I shrugged my shoulders. “They were the only ones that ever noticed I was the first.”

“So you cheated?”

“No! What are you talking about?” I was sitting up now, feeling offended. “That's not cheating!”

Steven looked doubtful as he reached for the remote and turned the sound back on the television. “If you say so.”

I sat back and thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I cheated.” I admitted. “But this was the first year I ever did that! I swear.”

Steven just patted me on the knee. “Whatever you have to tell yourself is fine with me.”