The Holiday Season

Like most people, I love the holidays. As much as I’m a summer person, November and December are two of my favorite months of the year. Everyone seems a little more happy and friendly. I like to take my time and buy presents for people that I know they will really love. Shay and I are also making wine again this year as gifts which people really seem to enjoy.

The best part of the whole holiday season for me is the kick off – Thanksgiving! I know it seems strange, but I think I like Thanksgiving more than Christmas. Thanksgiving is a day to relax, be around family, eat and do a craft (an after dinner tradition of ours!).

Shay and I are very lucky to have most of our family very close to where we live. The downside to that is that everyone expects to see us on Christmas day. That’s a lot of visiting to do! I like the relaxing atmosphere of Thanksgiving and not having to stress about going to a bunch of places and bringing gifts for everyone.

No matter what happens on the holidays, enjoy them! They go by way too fast!

No proposal pictures… and that’s ok

My fiancé (Shay) proposed over the summer. Condensed version: We were camping and he got down on his knee in front of the campfire. Then he had his friends set off a fireworks show just for us. (Insert “awww” here). 

It was very special and I will always remember it, but we have no pictures. No surprised shots, no pictures after with him on his knee, none of the fireworks, none of me right after staring at my hand. It was such a whirlwind I forgot to document everything! In a way though, I’m glad. I’m happy I was truly in the moment. It was just us. I didn’t care about anything else. 

It’s ok to just stop and enjoy something. Stop worrying about remembering every detail through photos. Stay in the moment and you’ll have just as vivid of memories. You just won’t have any pictures.

Winning isn't Everything

I hope this isn't too whiny for a first post. I'm not really a complainer! 

Everyone likes to win, right? Well not exactly. If I’m on a team of some sort then of course I will do my best to help my team win, and I’m happy if we do. It’s when I’m on my own that I don’t feel the same way.

I’ve never been super competitive to begin with. I played (the bench) in basketball, knowing that I wasn’t the best anyway. I danced in recitals, where everyone tells you “you did great! I didn’t see any of those mistakes that you claim you made!” I tried in gym class and at other competitions, but never expected to be the best. Maybe I have low expectations for myself. Maybe that’s why I don’t care so much about winning: because I never think that I really will.

I’ll state the obvious: If I win, then the other person loses. They become upset or disappointed. I am uncomfortable celebrating when the other person feels this way. I would rather have them be excited and pretend to be upset. I guess I like to win, but I don’t like the other person has to lose. I know this makes me sound kind of pathetic. I sound like the next thing I’m going to say is I want world peace and everyone to get along. But what I mean is that if other people get so much more joy out of winning than I do, why deny them of that?

Despite how I feel, I give my best effort at everything I do, or at least try to. I don’t let people win. I’m not a good liar and people could probably tell if I did that anyway, so I don’t bother. However, if I do lose, I’m totally ok with it. For me, winning isn’t everything.

Stop and Think!

Hi! My name is Adele. I'm a special education math teacher at a high school outside of Buffalo. Every once in a while, things come across my mind that make me stop and think about them. These aren’t really life altering events, but are important to me at the time. I write about them because I want to think about them further. I am also getting married in June, so I’m sure wedding things will come up along the way!

This is going to be a blog about what comes across my mind. It might not mean anything to anyone else, but then again maybe it will! Hope you enjoy reading. If not, it was nice of you to stop by anyway.