Category: Personal

My Favorite Christmas Commercials

Today was a hard day after a hard week, and once again, I’m wiped out. Therefore I will reach into my bag of emergency entries, er, classic holiday cheer, and attest that these are my favorite Christmas commercials of all time.

This one came out the year I was born. I love it because of its simple animation and of course, the birds. The story gets me every time. Birds bring us their music. How lovely to offer them some of ours in return, instead of taking their homes. Birds LOVE music, too, so this story isn’t too far off the mark. If I go out on the balcony and my little friends are not around, I need only to whistle a tune and the Sparrows emerge from the holly bushes, fly up into the tree, and look down at me with their heads cocked in curiosity as they wait for their snacks.

Then there is this classic, the Hershey’s Kisses commercial. I feel like it’s not the holiday season until I see it. The original came out in the late 1980s. I loved it then, and I love it now.

And finally, this commercial for Coke from 1970. It was right on time, coming out of the 1960s with their call for peace, love, happiness, and civil rights. But given how far this country still has to go, in some ways, it seems ahead of its time. It’s also the only song I can play on the piano.

The One Who Lives

Today at the cardiology practice, the nurse and I discussed the thing that burns itself into every heart attack survivor’s mind: What are the chances of it happening again?

“Very low.”

Oh, “And you WILL get back to those big walks with your friends. Just be patient. You’ll do everything you did before.”

See, there is an ugly statistic that has had me on edge since it happened: 47% of women who have a heart attack die within 5 years (page e493 of the PDF)—nearly one in two. However, I suspected, and she confirmed, that the 47% are largely those who smoke and don’t quit, who don’t exercise, who need to lose weight but don’t (argh, stuck at 10 pounds, come on, just 12 more…), who don’t take their medications, who don’t eat right, etc., and also those who are considerably older than I am or have comorbidities like uncontrolled diabetes.

So I am relieved. I’ll always be mindful and careful, and it will always be something to consider in many things I do (i.e., choosing which foods, if any, I can have while out with friends), but I am ready to look at my heart attack as one step removed from a freak occurrence.

Here’s the tree in the lobby of the cardiology practice:

Purple Christmas

I’m feeling a little wiped out today, so here’s a Christmas tree from down the hill from me.

A Christmas tree

I love that the star is purple. That’s my favorite color.

One time, years ago, I went holiday shopping with a relative and we came upon some Christmas decorations and ornaments. They were purple and silver, and loving purple like I do. I picked up a set ornaments and my relative barked at me, “NO,” like I was a toddler in need of correction.

I looked at her and she said, “NO. Christmas isn’t purple. NO.”

I was in my 40s, long past the age of being told what to buy, yet I put the ornaments down because I didn’t want to hear her commentary. I thought I could just go back and get them later.

I didn’t though, and really, I should have. Who is anyone to tell anyone else what color their holiday decor should be? But I also knew that seeing those particular ornaments on my tree would have reminded me of her obnoxiousness, which would have defeated the purpose. I haven’t put up a tree in 10 years, but when I did, my ornaments were all secular and either belonged to my parents, were gifts from people I cherished, or were amassed over my travels, celebrations with friends, or other people, events, or things I wanted to remember. I didn’t want to remember her barking at me like that.

And yet here I am, 11 years later, being reminded of it. Well, this tree has a purple star, so Christmas can SO be purple. NYAHH!