I went to this exercise class yesterday called zumba. Its probably old news to people who are in to fitness techniques but to me it was a revelation. Exercise can be fun in the winter while indoors too. Technically zumba is called Latin dance and aerobics put together. But that is like calling ice cream frozen milk with a little extra sugar. I’d call zumba something more like a hip hop attitude while attending Carnival all night and running in to a Mexican oompah band and a few bellydancers along the way. Ouch. And it was an hour long. After about 5 minutes I had long passed my target heartrate and I wondered vaguely if I would keel over and die on the floor in front of all of those lovely fit people who just couldn’t stop their feet. They all seemed to have natural rythym and hours of professional dance under their exercise belts, whereas I stared in the mirror at a girl who was clearly winging it and turning various shades pink. Nevertheless, don’t get the idea that I didn’t have a good time. In fact, I am certain I would have been smiling the whole hour if it weren’t for the fact that all of my other muscles were engaged and I couldn’t manage the extra brain power to make me smile. I tried a few times but it kept creeping away as I focused one more time on left, forward, shimmy, roll it, roll it , now reverse, clap clap clap, jump type stuff. The instructor was awesome too. He had memorized all of the songs lyrics, wore a headset, blasted the music and was so into the dance and singing that he actually closed his eyes in happiniess when he wasn’t too busy shouting encouraging things to us. All in all, it was incredibly corny, yet hilarious and exciting like being at a party where everyone is pals and a little tipsy and playing their favorite song of the summer at top volume. I’m definately going back because it beats doing sit ups and jogging in place. After the class a few friendly folks came by to encourage my return. One lady had a fancy watch that kept track of her heart rate and calorie burning. She informed us that we had burned 500 calories.  I am imagining next time already. Maybe I’ll only turn light purple and I’ll remember some of the steps.

Inspired by all of the new yearsy stuff, I have come to celebrate here on the blog. The end of 2008 seemed slightly chaotic for us, devoid of any structure but full of family and friends and big changes.

So I am starting the new year with a few hopeful gestures. I exercised, ate crepes for breakfast (hopefully a new tradition for the new year) and am blogging. Facebook stole me away for a few months when whole sentences couldn’t  emanate from my head down to the clacking fingers on the keyboard. My journal suffered a blank in history also. I was telling a friend about this the other day and she said “Well, maybe it is time to write something else.” It is just a germinating thought, but it is growing. Maybe it is time to write elsewhere. I’ll think on it this year. I do have those Scrabble games to complete on Facebook and all.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful new year, my hearties.

Lenore over at Free Range Kids had an epiphany on the day she was called by the police because her son was riding the train to a friend’s house. This is a movement. Children have rights and brains and as parents we have a responsibility not just to protect them but also to guide them to independence and to teach them how to protect themselves when they are ready. I think this has been the job of adult mammals for a few billion years but somehow we humans lost sight of it for a few generations. Now if only I could find how to strike that balance on a daily basis. I believe it is up to each of us to know ourselves and our kids well enough to find that balance.

This year the Christmas tree has taken a beating like no other symbol of Christmas ever has.

“Earlier in the afternoon, 150 young people attacked the Christmas tree at Syntagma Square in central Athens, hanging rubbish bags from its branches before clashing with riot police. The original Christmas tree was burned to the ground on 8 December, during the worst night of rioting.”

That lovely tree in our living rooms has been a surprising source of dispute this season from being set on fire to demonstrate safety, to being anarchistically set on fire, from being hurled at parents to its very name being semantically debated. Its almost as if there were some huge crisis going on worldwide that we all needed to distract ourselves from, so we have picked a wordless scapegoat to obliterate….

Show your willingness to be distracted from global economic mayhem by doing something weird, sweet, happy, loving, mad, cherished, corny, off the wall or otherwise disruptive to your Christmas tree and post a picture on your blog or facebook and link here in comments and you will be part of the Tree Meme!

I’ll do a wrap up post on X-mas eve linking to all who have participated. C’mon, join the twisted x-mas mayhem.

There seems to be a new trend, one in which we get to go to the thrift store and seek out the goofiest looking holiday sweaters there are or hit the craft store for some appliques and whip out the glue gun and try to outdo one another. I went to my second annual ugly X-mas sweater party last weekend, and it looks like my cousin in Philly went to one that day too if you believe the pictures in her Facebook status.

If you can’t be bothered to organize one of these special events, you can always view some of the gems here.

Just a few tips to keep your from the hideous specter of your tree bursting in to flames.

The economy has surely caused some holiday cut backs for us all. But this guy has been forced to scale back his everyday Christmas celebration. Look how small that uh cheesball, er, roast is. Who would have thought the economic decline could play such a vital role in forcing someone out of a creepy, ritualistic rut?

An aside: wow, it sure is different in England. I guess wearing a garland, ringing a bell and drinking Moet just never caught on here.

I can see it now. The kids were jumping around. Tossing wads of paper. Screaming at one another. Being totally insensitive to the substitute’s meager attempts to start the lesson plan on fractions. At first she probably made a few attempts, you know, “Santa is watching you, so pipe down.” But, as we parents soon discover, idle threats soon have to be ramped up to have any impact. Which is why this substitute teacher eventually found herself screaming that Santa was a myth. That parents did it all. That children need to know the truth. I’m sure the whirlwind of energy of the 7 and 8 year-olds ground to a halt. I’m sure you could here the whistling in the stuffed nose of the teacher’s pet up front.

Now a job is lost and letters have to be written and Santa probably has to be trotted out to this elementary school to hand out candy canes. All because of one doubter. Its almost like a Lifetime special, or an old classic. The teacher who didn’t believe, and the students whose bad behavior, soon reformed in an effort to win over the trust of her withered heart and show her the true meaning of Christmas. It just proves that much can be learned by people of all ages for all of the wrong reasons. They’ll excel at fractions to please her. I think she’ll need a secret admirer in the balding science teacher that the kids set her up on a blind date in the cafeteria with. Her love of pragmatism and shocking logic, and his devotion to evolution as a concept will bring them together, even though their mutual affection for the students will prompt them to dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Santa every school assembly from thence forth. Then and only then will the children have exacted their penance. Oh, wait, the teacher was fired.

Many years ago I had a boyfriend from another country who used to enjoy driving around to look at the display of Christmas lights in the USA. In his land, folks opted for candles and more reserved expressions of holiday cheer through the medium of straw and ribbon. I’ve never lost my fascination for those dainty decorations either, not since I spent a year in Germany and learned how a Christmas tree with candles can look so gorgeous and needs constant supervision.

I’ve also never lost the fervor to walk or drive around and inspect everyone’s light show. There are beautiful ones and over the top ones in our neighborhood. My favorites are almost alway houses that have simple lights out front if any, and a sparkling tree showing from their window. Call me a Christmas luddite. Oh, but I still enjoy a good light show….