Erma Bombeck on Christmas

Posted by: gretchen on December 30, 2007 | 1 Comment

Originally published January 1, 1987…

No one loves a Christmas tree on Jan. 1. The wonderful soft branches that the family couldn’t wait to get inside to smell have turned into rapiers that jab you. The wonderful blinking lights that Daddy arranged by branch and color have knotted themselves hopelessly around crumbling brownery and have to be severed with a bread knife. The stockings that hung by the chimney with care are hanging out of sofa cushions, and they smell like clam dip. And the angel that everyone fought to put on top of the tree can only be removed with an extension ladder that is in the garage, and no one can remember how to fit it through the door. Next to the presidency, detrimming a tree has to be the loneliest job in the world. It has fallen to women for centuries and is considered a skill only they can do, like replacing the roll on the toilet tissue spindle, painting baseboards, holding a wet washcloth for a child who is throwing up or taking out a splinter with a needle.

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Christmas Wisdom from Grace Noll Crowell

Posted by: gretchen on December 12, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Continuing with Christmas wisdom from women of the past, Grace Noll Crowell (1877-1969) writes:

Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing;
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
It’s poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.

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Christmas Quotes by Women

Posted by: gretchen on December 7, 2007 | Leave a Comment

My obsession with quotations has recently found me surfing through Google while pondering what women of the past might have had to say about Christmas. Today I ran across an interesting quote by Erma Bombeck:

There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child…. Time, self-pity, apathy, bitterness, and exhaustion can take the Christmas out of the child, but you cannot take the child out of Christmas.

How true.

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Cultivating Our Powers

Posted by: gretchen on November 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

When I logged into Girls Can’t WHAT? this morning, the random quote from the top of the page that greeted me was this:

“Let her [woman] receive encouragement for the proper cultivation of all her powers, so that she may enter profitably into the active business of life.” ~ Lucretia Mott

I don’t know the exact context of this statement. If I recall correctly, I found it in a book somewhere and wrote it down. It sounds a bit like a prayer to me, and perhaps it is. I think the part that smacked me in the face this morning was the word “proper”. As women, we have lots of powers. Some we use for good and others we squander or don’t use at all. Ultimately we are the ones choosing which powers to exercise and whether we will use them for good or evil. We are all constantly trying to “cultivate our powers” but are we receiving the right materials to prosper?

Ms. Mott suggests we should receive encouragement in order for the proper cultivation to take place. Much like a plant that needs water, sunlight and other nutrients to grow, encouragement is essential to our own growth. Without it, we may cultivate power, but is it proper? We can still grow and have power but it will be weak, wilted and poorly formed much like a plant that doesn’t get enough sunlight. Without the positive influence of encouragement, we cannot grow properly.

What can we do to ensure that we are properly cultivating power to others today?

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Problem or Potential?

Posted by: gretchen on October 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I wanted to cheat today and pick another quote, but I didn’t. I just think today’s words of wisdom need no explanation:

“If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities.” ~ Barbara Bush

When I loaded the home page and first read this morning’s random quote, I immediately thought of the “Girls Can’t Play Football” thread. Here are some girls who really enjoy the game and would love nothing more than an opportunity to play. They aren’t trying to break up the boys club. They’d gladly play on a girls team if one existed. If you read through the thread, you will see some girls are perceived as potentials and other are perceived as problems. You can also see which ones are thriving and which ones aren’t. Notice a pattern?

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