Blogger: Andrea Chapman

I had a moment of quiet this morning. After the Christmas clean up, and being roused from sleep at 5:53am by my insistent son, making coffee and getting the morning paper I sat down at the kitchen table and looked outside and it was QUIET. A fresh layer of snow, hoar frost on the trees, predawn light peeking through, my son not being his usual nonstop self and I realized that moments like this exist in between the chaos, I just don’t acknowledge them. I get propelled into activity, overwhelmed by the mundane and miss them.

Today I will attempt to consciously look for the opportunities for quiet and savor them, no matter how brief.

When are your moments?

Guest Blogger:  Veera

This is my son’s 2nd Christmas, and he will be 3 in a few weeks.  Last year, he didn’t really “get” it.  I mean, it was fun to rip paper and try and pull decorations off the tree, but it cannot compare to the wonder and absolute glee he is experiencing this year.  The discovery of all the mechanical singing Santas and snowmen coincide nicely with his obsession to “press the button?”  Throwing snow at me is wonderful fun (for him, definitely not me).  And thanks to some early Christmas celebrations with family, he has also been well trained in unwrapping gifts, be they his or not.  This does lead to some confusion and frustration when the unwrapped toy is NOT for him but his easily distractable nature comes in handy when this happens.

And I am thankful for his excitement, especially since this Christmas is one of the financially leanest I can remember in my adult life.  I am glad I don’t have to explain why he only has 3 presents to open from me, why he didn’t get the newest electronic gadget, why there are no cookies or as many candies as previous years (ok, this has little to do with financial leanness and more with my conscious attempt to keep them out of the house).  He will be happy to spend time with family, get spoiled with attention, put bows on his head and make a car out of a box.  And although he is more concerned with the getting and not the giving of Christmas, he will have a wonderful time.  And so will I.

Guest Blogger:  Diana VanderWoerd

Originally posted www.westcoastgrace.blogspot.com

Juliet was talking about the simple fact that Romeo was only her enemy because of his last name… if he was a Fitzgerald her Daddy wouldn’t have a problem… But would we really have as much love for Romeo had he been named Hubert? “Wherefore art thou Hubert” just doesn’t have the same ring.

Shakespeare knew what he was about when he was writing the names for his characters… which just goes to show you how important it is to pick the right name for your child.

I have always had the conviction that the name you give your child sets him/her up for life… A name should have a meaning, whether by naming after a loved one or an important historical figure or just the meaning of the name itself. I was almost a Pamela (inward shudder… and apologies to those bearing that name)… thankfully, Diana was a family name and my parents chose to call me that.

Baby #2 is on the way and M and I find ourselves in the same boat as with Annie – trying to find a suitable name. And as usual, we are finding it very difficult. I took a book out of the library entitled 10,000 Baby Names. We didn’t find any we liked. You would think this would be an easy task, given that we both agree that we like more traditional names and veer away from the trendy, popular names. It’s not as if I’m at Anastasia and he’s at Jane, so one would think the gap between us is very narrow. It seems a veritable chasm.

And since I became a Medical Transcriptionist, a whole host of names have just dropped from being options. Certain medical terms that I hear daily sound the same as personal names. Colin makes me think of colon. Brady makes me think of bradycardia (slow heartbeat). Melena is black, tarry stool. Ainsley just sounds too close to anus. I apologise if you or any loved ones have the names above or ones similar in sound or spelling. This is just me. I’m sure each specialty, from engineering to literature has its own words or names that become taboo. For instance, those knowing their Bible stories well (and even those who don’t) would not willingly sentence their dear daughter to life with the name Delilah, no matter how beautifully it might roll off the tongue. I would never name my daughter Morgan ever since I took a literature course on the King Arthur stories; three months of hearing how maligned Morgan of the Fairies is as a literary character will turn you off of that name, now much how much you might have liked it before. And I did. It was at the top of my list for girls names before then, but now it’s just ruined for me.

So, what’s in a name? Plenty, if you’re an over-analyzer like me. I happen to agree with another literary character who said something to the effect that if a rose was named something dreadful like a skunk cabbage, it wouldn’t smell as sweet…