Home (Or Not) for the Holidays

December 16, 2014Doggies, EventsAngelina OberdanComment

Home for me is St. Louis, Missouri.

It's where I spent the first 17 years of my life; it's where my grandparents live; it's where my cousins are raising their children. However, since my parents don't live there anymore, it makes it a little strange to go home. I still try to get back every couple of years.

Dan and I went back for Thanksgiving, but we'll be spending Christmas and New Years in Charlotte.

While in St. Louis, we got to see my family, to meet a lot of new additions, eat toasted ravioli, drink beer, go to the Zoo, and stuff ourselves with IMOs pizza.

As much as I miss my family's Christmas traditions, Dan and I have created some of our own.

We bake enough cookies to feed an army;
We fill our Christmas tree ornaments with candy and dog treats;
We eat panettone and breakfast burritos for breakfast;
We sing all the songs from White Christmas and gush about how much we love Danny Kaye;
We watch Christmas Carol with his mom and debate which version is the best; and
We let the dogs rip open most of the presents.

So instead of "going home" for Christmas, I'm "staying home." And I'm looking forward to doing lots of projects during my two week break so check back for updates!

A Little About Angelina-

Angelina is a poet, a writer, a teacher, and a creator. She is everyday a creator of comfy outfits, of reckless hair buns, of garden patches, of food, and of decorating schemes. She is a creator of her own strength: strength of body and strength of soul. She is a creator of the life she loves.

Featured

Finding Delight in 2018

I did sort of make a resolution for 2018, but it is not quantifiable at all. And thus it doesn’t demand anything like: Write one blog per week.

Instead my 2018 focus is on finding delight.

So I Wrote a Thing About My Aunt Sue: Oh-- Sue

I wrote a thing about my aunt, Sue, who passed away last summer.... I still don't know what to do with this, really, but sharing it feels right today, especially as my grading slows at the end of the term, and I have some time to reorient my life, to find my way back to creating a life I love.

My Mom's Perfect Gift

While Dan and I sat outside, my mom’s most recent, sweet gift sat on our kitchen table. It was a box of hot chocolate from Amazon. It was simple but so considerate, and it's the perfect illustration of how gracious my mom is.

The Most Positive Person in the Room - Not Anymore

I have always been a billboard for positive thinking. But not anymore.

I know how I got here, how I became this positive-thinking evangelical. I got here by combating anxiety with positive affirmations, moving toward success through imagining it, beginning with the end in mind.

George Saunders--Be A Dog for 15 Minutes Each Day

A Little About Layla-

Layla is an 8 year-old, somewhat grumpy, Carolina Dog. Despite her grumbling and growling and barking, no one listens to her at home, and so she blogs. She is much smarter than her people, and she manipulates them into, usually, doing whatever she wants: giving her bones, giving her pancakes, giving her all the room on the couch. Yes, she's been carried home from walks because she didn't feel like walking anymore, and yes, she was saving her energy to chase that squirrel in the backyard. She also lives with a cat named Trouble and two other dogs named Finley and Bogart. (Finley's instagram account is linked up top.) She whines in the middle of the night to make her people scoot over so that she has enough room on the bed, and she has her own chair in the den because she is a princess. And that's how it should be.

Featured