Lily's Locutions

oddly mixed brothers and sisters and the occasional red-headed step-child (which in this case is

literally me). But, as I wrote before, I love my family in all our patchwork glory and there is little

else that makes me happier than spending time with them.

I can’t say that my family has many Christmas traditions in the well..traditional…sense. My mom 

tried to start one in which she made a yule log cake every year, but I think we all - silently - agreed

that it was pretty unsuccessful.  I do get a bear ornament every year from my Grandmother which

is a small yet much appreciated seasonal thing…does that count? 

We used to have a soup party every Christmas eve, but it grew smaller every year until eventually

it dwindled away to nothing and just my dad and I would have a lot of soup to eat, maybe thats why 

I don’t like most soups…hmmm…

All of this tradition naysaying aside, here is one tradition that we do seem to observe yearly. Thanks to 

my sister-in-law we have watched Elf, the movie, every year since she’s been part of the family. Yes, the 

movie is one of the most ridiculous Christmas movies out there and Christmas movies are definitely the 

most ridiculous genre out there, but all this aside we have watched Elf for at least the past six years. 

And no! We don’t just watch it the one time, a few times at least! And there’s always a quote-a-long viewing.

Whatever the action, whomever you’re with, I wish everyone out there the best of Christmas traditions,

and if you ever question how to spread your Christmas cheer, in the words of Buddy the Elf, “The best

way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud, for all to hear.” 

Thanksgiving, however, gives me an excellent opportunity to express my gratitude, which on some cosmic level I think is beneficial to my karma.  See? I’m acknowledging all I am given. (That’s what I’m saying to karma).

I am thankful first and foremost for my family.  I feel so saddened when individuals struggle to connect with his or her own family.  I love that my father and soon to be step mother are people whom I genuinely enjoy spending time with, and support me not only in a parental way, but also in a human to human way. By that I mean I feel as though they have a vested interest in helping me to become a quality member of our global community.  And I am grateful for my brothers and sisters and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone who is at some level my family.  I am grateful that they are all open-minded and loving and seeking to better what is around them for not only themselves but for also our future generations.  I am grateful that these people most close to me set a prime example of how to be pleasant and beautiful and kind so that I have no excuse not to be. 

I am grateful too for my friends who have both the most patient listening ears and the most well-spoken mouths and choose to spend hours collaborating with me on thoughts and visions.  I am so glad that they are of a strong philosophy and have motivations and aspirations to, like my family, make what is in the present more stunning in the future.  I am grateful for their companionship and friendship which is the ultimate reflection of myself and in the most brutal yet eloquent way displays my imperfections. 

I am grateful that I have found a passion that I hope to chase to the ends of the earth.  I am thrilled to know I have the means to do this, a mind that is easily focused, the funds to pay for the education and the teachers who are available to instruct me. I am grateful that I can do what I want without feeling ostracized or judged because of my race, gender or economic background, I am glad that this is an issue for few these days in this country, and grateful that I can aid to eleviate what is left of these stigmas. 

I am filled with gratitude, with graciousness, with thankfulness when I think of what I have, for whom I know, for what is to come. I am humbled by these graces and propelled by them to do more, do better. 

I hope that everyone can take a moment - every night, every week, maybe every Thanksgiving - to acknowledge what already is in one’s life.  I think it is okay to just be content with what we have, just simply, in the moment.  I think it is okay to just say, ‘yes, here I am, thank you’ and not worry about the extraneous toxins we collect. I think it is okay to forget the struggles, the pain, the strife and pause and remember that we are loved, and just be thankful for that.  

And mustaches too. 

Delving into this might be best saved for another post, but I would like to mention that November is in fact Movember, also known as No-Shave-November (the ‘m’ in Movember comes from moustache). 

I always hear people talk about this but I didn’t really know what it was, so I did a little research and here’s what I learned. 

It was started in 1999 (I know! Long time running!) by some fellows in Australia to raise awareness for ‘men’s  issues’, like prostate health etc. The rules are:

1. Once registered at movember.com each mo bro must begin the 1st of Movember with a clean shaven face.
2. For the entire month of Movember each mo bro must grow and groom a moustache.
3. There is to be no joining of the mo to your side burns. (That’s considered a beard.)
4. There is to be no joining of the handlebars to your chin. (That’s considered a goatee)
5. Each mo bro must conduct himself like a true country gentleman.

I want to go to the Communication College, but unfortunately they do not take Spring transfers. So I applied to the Liberal Arts college as a Rhetoric major and the Undergraduate College as ‘undecided.’ I was very, very excited to discover that I was accepted into the Liberal Arts college.  

I’m not sure how long I will have to be a rhetoric major, also please don’t ask what one does as a rhetoric major because I chose that major fairly arbitrarily. I spoke with an admission advisor before I applied and she said that I should be able to transfer inter-college-wise to the Communications College pretty quickly, maybe even within the first semester! 

I am feeling very grateful for whomever read my application and decided I was a good fit for UT. I remember before I was going to Mount Holyoke everyone kept asking me, “are you so excited?” and I honestly wasn’t! I wasn’t dreading it but I felt so ambivalent about it. But I am really, really excited to head to the ‘big U’ (as my astronomy professor says).