December, 2009
Dear Around Wellington Readers,
Happy Holidays!
Although this is our December issue, I’m in “Thanksgiving mode” as I write this on the evening before Thanksgiving. Here are a few things I’m grateful for on this strange and beautiful day, when it’s been pouring outside, finally beginning to (and I don’t want to jinx anything by saying this) get colder!
I’m grateful for family. If you have young children, you’re quickly aware that no one’s going to step in and help you more than members of your own family. No one is going to be more delighted to see your children more than your family. Whether you all get along well or not around the holiday table, just remember that these people love you and you love them.
I’m grateful for friends, old and new. I’m grateful for my friend who encouraged me to join in with our kids and do a log-roll down a grassy hill the other day. “Are you kidding?” I checked first, just to be cautious. She knew I was having a bad day and saw how much fun our children were having as they did it. She did her own log roll first, just to demonstrate. “Sometimes it really fixes everything. Just try it,” she said. And so a difficult day of kids arguing, not napping and preventing me from working was rolled away and flattened in a matter of five seconds, as I remembered how fun it is to do a log roll. Over and over again.
Speaking of enjoying the outdoors, I’m grateful for that child-like type of play that I get to “drink in” sometimes. Today when the rain was coming down at its strongest, looking like a tropical storm, my daughter wanted to go outside and play with her next-door friend. “Are you crazy?” I asked. The next-door Mom and I agreed that we hadn’t seen rain like this in a few months, so why not let these girls have some fun? So they got their raincoats and rain boots on. And they went puddle-jumping. Splashing was great, but they came up with something even better. They took off their boots and filled them with puddle water, pouring the water over each other’s heads and giggling to no end. What a beautiful mess!
We have a fun issue for you this month in celebration of the holidays! I will attempt – already too late it seems – to be brief in giving you a taste of the assortment of articles for our December issue. In “As I Was Saying,” tough guy Alan Williamson gives us some straight talk about what it’s like to climb modest-sized mountains in “Mountain Men.” Check out Karola Crawford’s “Astrology at Work in Your Life” to predict your near future, especially if you happen to be a Capricorn! Don’t forget to check out our cute AW Birthday kids this month … and to send in your birthday photos if you have any January birthdays coming up. For a handle on what’s going on in our local community, visit our Calendar page or, for more detailed information, visit our Press Releases page.
Our really great Contest continues! Enter to win between December 1st and 10th, and you could be the lucky recipient of a one-hour massage at Massage Envy Royal Palm Beach, valued at $75! Visit the Contest link for guidelines. Then please come back again to AroundWellington.com for another great contest between Dec. 15th – 20th. Enter to win a gift certificate from the beautiful children’s store Hillary’s Heart! THANKS to our wonderful advertisers for supplying the prizes for our contests!
In Cultural Corner, Glenn Swift gives us a quick history of the Temptations and gets us ready for their upcoming appearance on December 30th in Fort Pierce the Sunrise Theatre. Thanks to Health & Fitness writer Cheryl Alker, we can attack the holidays with a strategy, and ideally without gaining weight! Check out her “Around Wellington Guide to Surviving the Holidays in your Skinniest Jeans.” In her “Tis the Season for Magic, Miracles and Marshmallows,” Lisa Dawn Wax gets us into the holiday spirit with this month’s Lighten Up with Lisa.
For those planning on traveling this holiday season, especially to the N.Y.C. or D.C. areas, Terri Farris gives us a taste of some wonderful “Holiday Sights and Sounds” in Travel with Terri.
If you have an interest in writing or theater, you will love this month’s interview with playwright Theresa Rebeck, thanks to Marla Schwartz.
I’m grateful for being introduced to this poem (by Mary Oliver) that I’ve only heard one line from…until now. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” OK, so it happens to be called “The Summer Day,” but I am taken with its “seize the day” message that comes through loud and clear, any time of year. Can you tell?
And this is all just the beginning, not even covering the articles included in our December online issue. Please make yourself at home and poke around our menus on the home page for more timely articles.
If you would like to, please send your best wishes to Wendell Abern this month, writer of Cantankerously Yours. His wife Carol, who he had been married to for 53 years, passed away last month. He is taking the only break I’ve ever seen him take in his writing life this month, but never fear – I have seen a glimpse of what he has written for January and he will be back in rare form.
I’m grateful for you, dear Readers and for you, dear Advertisers! Thanks for your interaction with and support of Around Wellington! Our wonderful Writers and Photographers are the keys in making this “music” that we call the best in community news!
Happy Holidays to you and your families! I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and a very Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Krista Martinelli
Editor