December | 2013 | BulgingButtons

December 12, 2013
by BulgingButtons 8 Comments

Jewish Gingerbread and other Christmas Memories (Throwback Thursday)

Let me start by saying that I was raised Jewish. We did not have a Christmas tree, Santa Claus never made it to our house, and we had no illusions that Christmas was for us in any way, shape, or form. No tinsel decked our halls, no lights twinkled from our house, and December 25 brought no gifts, unless it happened to fall during Hanukkah that year. Still, I have many warm Christmas memories from my childhood, and they all seem to stem from my dad. Here are a few that stand out.

1. Driving around to look at lights. My father especially enjoyed a pretty light display, and I remember riding around the neighborhood in his car, listening to Christmas music on the radio, and taking in the glow of the multi-colored displays. Nobody had white lights in those days.

2. Shopping at Park Edge. Again, this was a dad thing. He would bring me along to this large grocery store that had items from all over the world and he would pile the cart with treats that wouldn’t enter our house any other time of year. He was born in Germany and especially liked the German cookies. I thought they were disgusting. He would also buy lots of liquor as gifts for his many doctor colleagues. It’s just what they did in those days.

3. The giant gingerbread house. One year my father got the idea that we should have a gingerbread house, so he designed and built one. It was quite large, maybe one foot by two feet by one foot, and decorated with a bunch of those nasty German cookies and some candy. It was beautiful and spent the Christmas season on the coffee table in the living room.

4. The Santa candle holder. This little ceramic candle holder appeared one season as a gift from one of my father’s patients. It was small and cute and 100% Christmas in the way that a holly wreath or evergreen centerpiece wasn’t. I loved it. It was on our kitchen table every night at dinner that season. I don’t think it lasted more than one Christmas.

5. Christmas in Bethlehem. When I was a kid our family, along with my grandmother, took a trip to the Holy Land with a group from our synagogue. On Christmas Eve two kids had B’nai Mitzvot. Everyone in the group attended this event, but my dad and me. We hopped a bus to Bethlehem and entered the small city amidst heavy security (and this was in the 1970’s, I can only imagine what it must be like now). It was magical. There were choirs from all over the world in Manger Square singing to celebrate the birth of Christ. It was peaceful and holy and I’m eternally grateful to my father for letting me experience it, rather than sitting in a hotel ballroom listening to 13 year olds mumble their way through their Torah portions. He took some heat for that move, but he didn’t care. It was Christmas in Israel, and he knew where and how to spend it.

December 11, 2013
by BulgingButtons 15 Comments

More Simple Things – Car Related

These are some of the things that, while not huge, make me happy. I try to be mindful of all the simple pleasures life has to offer, but there are simply too many!

1. Finding the perfect parking spot. It is a pleasure not to have to drive around a crowded parking lot or worse, a crowded parking ramp. Sometimes the perfect spot is just waiting for me to arrive, and it makes me smile when that happens.

2. The HOV lane on a busy morning. I’m not a morning person, and budgeting my time is not my greatest strength (those of you who know me personally can stop snorting now). That being said, sometimes, very occasionally, we leave the house slightly later than we perhaps ought to. On those mornings, when the right three lanes are crawling, I’m grateful for the HOV (or carpool) lane on the left. It moves along swiftly so I can get my son to school, then myself to work, on time. Of course on the days I don’t have him I’m in the other three lanes with the rest of the suckers, so that leads me to the number 3.

3. Sharing part of my commute with my son. On most days we ride together to and from school, and I really enjoy and appreciate the time we get to spend together, one on one. We may not have a deep conversation, but that’s okay. Just being together is good.

4. I’m thankful each and every time my car starts and takes me from place to place safely. It has about 123,000 miles on it, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will get many more before it earns its retirement. Hey, it’s a terrific car, and it’s paid for!

5. Singing along to the car radio makes me happy. I don’t pick the songs, they just show up, and they sometimes surprise and delight me. I’m not shy about singing along, even though I have a lousy singing voice. I turn it up loud enough so I blend in (at least in my mind). If I’m going to be stuck in traffic, I might as well enjoy it.

December 9, 2013
by BulgingButtons 11 Comments

Gamer? Hardly, Unless You Count Candy Crush Saga

Do you remember Space Invaders? I do. It was a giant machine that found its way into pizza parlors, drug stores, movie theaters, and of course, arcades. I was never good at it, I always got zapped too soon for my taste. For the price of a quarter, I preferred good old fashioned pinball.

Over time Space Invaders gave way to newer, faster, and cooler games, and as they did there were a few that I liked and played , but only very occasionally. The Star Wars game urged me to, “use the force,” and I did my best to zap those brightly colored centipedes as they worked their way down the screen. Still, I found video games to be mostly a waste of money, so I didn’t play them much. Then I grew up and never gave those games another thought.

Never, that is, until the internet. I found new games on my computer. Games that an older person (with terrible reflexes, who tends toward anxiety under pressure) could enjoy. I spent time playing Boggle and Word Whomp and others whose names escape me. But I could stop whenever I wanted.

Then came Facebook and Farmville. Ah, I see the head nods, some of you know what I’m talking about. What a sweet little farm I had. I had adorable animals, fun candy trees, funky accessories, and crops galore. I was a heck of a virtual farmer, by golly. I did have to sometimes schedule my activities around harvest time, but what farmer doesn’t? The crops need tending, and they don’t care what else is going on in your life. A small sacrifice really, especially if there was a challenge or a quest at stake.

But then Farmville got crazy (as if it wasn’t already, but read on). They added new farms. The New England Farm, the English Farm, the Hawaiian Farm, the Polar Farm, and so on. Before I extricated myself from this ~~cancer~~ game, I had five farms going. Five sets of crops, five sets of animals, five times the crazy. Holy moly. Needless to say, I decided that enough was enough (but not before I set up a farm for my dog so she and I could send each other things – I know, I hang my head in shame).

I was fine for a while, but then my son introduced me to Angry Birds. Oh, those birds, they made me angry. Then I discovered Words With Friends, and I learned that you didn’t actually need to bother your real friends in order to play. Again, I got in over my head. Running more than ten games at once started to take its toll. I had to stop.

Now there’s Candy Crush and it’s cousin Pet Rescue. Yes, I play them, but I LOVE the fact that after a short while they make me stop. They tell me I must pay or come back later. Thank you, that was the reminder I needed to get off the computer, rejoin real life, and keep my quarter in my pocket.

Am I a gamer? Absolutely not, but I did just clear a new level. Wanna send me an extra life?