Monday, December 28, 2009

Holidays.... and the thoughtfulness of family

So my family has been slowly accepting of my strange, eco, ways. Don't get me wrong, I still get the "Oh Lisa..." look with a smile and a head shake, but they've really been quite supportive. (my wrapping supplies- magazine paper and kitchen cooking string)


Take the holidays. I arrived home from a three hour drive (I know, so environmentally friendly. At least my car is uber fuel efficient) with my magazine wrapped gifts. I had two more presents to wrap, and my mom declared that unfortunately she didn't have any more newspaper left. She had wrapped ALL of mine and Andrew's presents in newspaper. YAY!

We wrapped quickly and booted it to the nursing home where my grandmère is now staying with guitar in tow. Since we arrived right when she was in mass (it's owned by nuns) we sat and waited for a while. I'll most likely write about that experience in another space... it was, extremely emotional to be there. I did end up playing a few songs in French for her after mass finished and she was so happy. I really wish it would have stayed with her longer than that day...


The following morning I discovered that my mom had put a LOT of thought into each gift, from natural trail mix to snack on, to LOCAL hand made soaps to a fair trade bracelet and earrings made by widows in Sri Lanka. I will admit that reading the story behind the bracelet made me tear up (I am such a sap).

My Tante B. had even wrapped her gift to me in tea towels! I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. It was a sewing kit, which is fantastic since I actually don't own a single needle or thread.


And how was yoga? Well, I managed to take my advice and "LET GO" a lot of my expectations for when to practice. I got in one, fantastic 45 minute practice in the living room of all places. I had forgotten that "my" room would have a mattress that wasn't easily movable, so kitchen or living room it was. Mom was vacuuming and dad was chatting, but it was fine. I dealt with mom's several photo moments "but I just wanted to get a picture of you doing yoga next to the tree!" (me ignoring the flash, second- a little wobbly since I had to hold it FOREVER as dad's camera took awhile to reboot) and even showed them a few wall handstand stuff I had been practicing :)


The best parts were those before and after the gift opening. My favourite part of this Christmas: my grand-mère's ridiculously large happy smile when she realized I was there to play and sing for her.


Blessings!


article and photos copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com


11 comments:

  1. oh....what a lovely holiday you had. Hearing about your grand-mere made ME get all teary-eyed -- I'm a sap too!!

    xo

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  2. Your family rocks. My mom called me while we we were driving there and asked if I'd flip if we used paper cups the whole week. But they're slowly (very slowly) coming around.

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  3. What a lovely Yule you had :)

    And such awesome photos.

    I haven't been practicing due to having bronchitis all holiday. Yoga for me right now is just focussing on getting better!

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  4. Hmm, you are way ahead of my on the family thing, I dont even know where to start with mine. And my other half's family would be even worse.

    Im glad you had a good time with them all and even got in some yoga

    Jen

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  5. How wonderful...and how very supportive of your family.

    Looking forward to hearing more about your visit with your grandmere.

    Love,
    Tina

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  6. Looks like your family is getting the hang of it! :) Maybe they will start taking the jump themselves!

    I teared up thinking about your grandmere. What a beautiful thing you did for her. I miss mine, I wish I could play one last round of cards and chat all night with her. I wish I had gotten to know her as an adult, so many questions, so many things left unsaid. She passed away many years ago on the 21st of December. The holidays are a bittersweet time but I always feel that she is there with me when I bake all the goodies she used to bake using her recipes (only better since I added my flare!). I look forward to hearing more about your visit.

    Hugs,
    Alli

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  7. Great photos! I am always blown away by people's thoughtfulness. That was so nice of your family!

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  8. I LOVE it! I love that you did yoga by the X-mas tree...that is so "mom" to want a pic of it!
    And I love love love that your family is going with your green-ness.
    I wrapped everything in recycled brown paper bags and just kind of got treated like the oddball hippie that I am.

    Nice post, and it sounds like you had an awesome Christmas...gonna go read about your grandmere....sniff.

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  9. I'm a big fan of the magazine wrapping paper myself ;)

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  10. Love the pics of you in front of the tree!

    I still have a great challenge maintaining my meditation practice when traveling. I bought an inflatable zafu hoping that would help, but I still have yet to pull it off regularly. Your post inspires me!

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  11. Absolutely lovely--all the way around.

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