Thoughts On Gift Giving For the Bah Humbuggers

For those who bah humbug the commercialism of the season, THIS VIDEO is how I view gift giving.

A thoughtful way to CONNECT -- beautiful for the giver, and the receiver. You have been thinking of them, specifically, and out of your love and care for them, you search for - or make -the thing they might like, need or delight in. And you give it. It does not have to cost anything.

You hope for a smile, a laugh, that it's useful or good for them. Sometimes it brings a tear too. Because there is a wonderful, powerful creation of meaning and feeling between two people from the gesture. Receive with grace. Give with grace. Allow it to be about the OPPORTUNITY for LOVE.

This is a time of year where there is much joy to be had simply by letting the kid in you enjoy the freaking lights, and bows and the candy, even if it's just in the CVS aisle. As we close a year together, reflect back for lessons and memories, and if it's been very very hard, take comfort that there is a fresh year ahead, and with it, the possibility for things to get better. Focus on the good, find a good person to spend some time with or something rewarding to do when you're blue, so while life may be throwing you some serious curve balls, that will get you through.

I've been through the wringer, and it can't kill my spirit. Like the birthday candle that won't really blow out...let yourself relight! Because, just like the leaves and the flowers come back again in spring, that is your true nature.

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Paris Was Burning

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Excerpts from Notes from Paris: A Work in Progress, Part One

When I turned 30, I went to Paris for the first time, under circumstances far from what I'd envisioned when, sprawled across my bed as a teenager, I dreamt up a romantic vision of my adult life that included going there. But... I went, and it felt like home from the moment the plane wheels met the tarmac at Orly. Soon after, I made a decision to put all my spare hours into writing, to see what was there. Though I had written almost every day since I was 10, I wanted to try my hand at all it's forms in a disciplined way, and set the stage to discover once and for all if it was my calling. I was living in Hollywood then and so ripe to leave, but I had a few commitments there, keeping me from a wish to move to New York. To cope, I began to go to Paris on a regular basis, even rented an apartment for the span that a long-stay visa would allow (6 months), to see where it took me. By the time I arrived, unexpected developments caused me to cut that plan short. But the time I

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