Last night was our all-night Yule vigil at CedarLight Grove. I technically didn’t stay all night because the pain in my knee was becoming quite unbearable (I think due to the cold). But I stuck it out till about 3am.

It was done with the Norse Hearth Culture, honoring Odin, Frigga, with Heimdall as the Gatekeeper. We also called the 12 handmaidens of Frigga throughout various parts of the ritual.

We honored our outgoing Witan and Senior Druid, who handed out special celtic beads for our pins to the outgoing Witan and then introduced the new Witan. Caryn even made up certificates to give the outgoing Witan for their service to the Grove. I think it’s important to acknowledge these things like this.

We also held a Grove raffle that I ended up running, where people brought in items to be raffled off. We had large ticket and small ticket items (Caryn made some ponchos for the large ticket items, and there was a big down comforter that I won for my dad). We raised about $260, which isn’t bad. I hope do to another fundraiser in the spring, I’m just not sure what kind yet.

It was a good ritual, and one I wish I could have stayed until the closing of the gates at 7am, but I was beyond my comfort level of pain already. There’s no telling if I could walk or drive with my knee the way it was by 7am.

The dream started out on the border a thickly wooded area, with a field of some type of soybean or something, and then a dirt path. On the other side of the path started a decline grassy field with several large rocks and boulders throughout. Me and several people from my “army” were on the path, when we noticed another army coming for us through the woods. They were dressed in shiny plate and leather kilts and armor.

We started to flee down the boulder-ridden decline, diving into another wooded area on the other side. We were caught by surprise and nowhere near ready to take on a fierce army like the one that was racing behind us.

We made it to a large rocky cave, which we followed into the basement of the “mansion” that I work in IRL (only I’ve never actually seen the basement). The mouth of the other end of the cave was protected by old iron bars, which we closed and locked to give us more time to get out.

I ran upstairs and got onto a PA system to announce to my co-workers and some other strangers that were in the building that they had to get out because the enemy was coming. Our Systems IT guy kept turning off the PA system because he thought I was fooling around. I finally convinced him that we were really going to be attacked so he’d leave me alone.

Then we started figuring out the best way to get everyone to safety with the enemy so close behind. We had a central core of tunnels that all met up in the basement and went in 4 different directions that lead fairly far away. However the tunnels were actually those enclosed slides that you see at amusement parks. So whichever tunnel we chose we’d slide all the way to our destination in the dark and hope that they didn’t realize where we went.

So I gathered everyone together and started putting people through one of the tunnels that lead westward. By this time the army had reached the end of the cave and were hoarding at the iron gate. They started shaking the gate and using tools to try and saw or push through. We started using archers to pick off the ones in the front, and they started using archers to pick us off the large winding iron staircase that we were hiding on.

I finally got everyone into the tunnel and hopped in myself, and once I reached the other side we started herding everyone into the woods just in case they came out through this tunnel as well.

And then I woke up.

I celebrate Christmas with my father because it means a lot to him (and it doesn’t bother me, despite the fact that I’m not Christian). The videos following will show you why it’s worth making as much of a deal of it as I do.

Dad and I were both up at 4am cause neither of us could sleep. We finished opening presents around 5:30, covering our floor in newspaper wrappings like good little recyclers.

My father loved all of his gifts, and teared up from several of them, and actually started crying when he opened up the calendar I made for him, which of course made me start crying. I almost felt bad and could feel my heart breaking watching my dad get so emotional and sentimental about the calendar. I guess when you’re used to having nothing, and then given something, it makes for a lot of emotion. It was one of the hardest as well as one of the most awesome things I’ve ever experienced. I get teary just thinking about it (like now).

Dad opening his calendar.
Dad opening the pipe my sweetheart and I gave him

Between him and my sweetheart I was given a 19″ flatscreen monitor to replace my ugly old CRT energy sucking monitor I’m using now. A new Case hunting knife, several DVD’s including Pathfinder and Stardust, organic chocolate, jumper cables, skull floormats, a new tire iron for my mustang, new gloves, and a book on natural cleaning recipes.

Right now I have some henna sitting in my hair, not a full application, but maybe 3/4’s worth since that’s what I had left. Dad is working on Christmas dinner, and we’ve already watched 1 and a half of the DVD’s I was given.

Stardust started out a bit slow as far as getting my attention, but in the end it was pretty well done. Your typical romantic fantasy movie, but with a lot of new fantasy elements to make it interesting.

Pathfinder started skipping halfway through so we have to take it back, but I wasn’t all too impressed with what I could see, beyond seeing Karl Urban in a loin cloth wielding swords and the mixture of supposed Vikings and Native Americans. They feel of the movie was done in the same dark apocalyptic feel of 300, which I don’t all too like. It distracts from the movie too much, and I wish people would stop trying to use it for dramatic emphasis.

I also wasn’t sure why the Natives didn’t speak in their native tongue, yet the Vikings did. I think that also took away from the depth of the Native American culture by forcing it into the dark setting and then having them speak clear english. While the dark setting fit well with the vikings or “dragon people”, they had the Vikings speak their native tongue. I guess -someone- had to speak English for the purpose of the movie, but I’d have rather it was the other way around. After all, nordic accents in english -are- pretty hot.

We might be driving up to Gettysburg spontaneously since we ate so early (noonish) to visit my uncle’s farm.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a vivid enough dream to write down.

This particular dream takes place in a hanging classroom, that looked much like the oval window-lined conference rooms at my job. The building was suspended a hundred feet (maybe more?) over the ground, and would sway with a heavy wind. I have no clue what the class was studying, but I remember a few of my old highschool classmates being in it.

The assignment was to study the breast, I believe, and we were all asked to expose our right breast. I don’t know why, because the weather started to pick up at this point and the classroom was struggling to stay together.

The weather got bad enough that we could no longer exit the classroom because it was swaying so much (one would think we’d be evacuated before this happens). But in case of such an emergency, there were crappy parachute/lifejackets available.

So we were all given one of these, and then opened the back door in order to jump out to safety (in a storm no less). The landing was not very safe, the parachutes were pathetic, but I think we all made it out unscathed. Of course I left my bag/keys in the classroom, so I had to wait until the storm was over to retrieve them. I waited in a small diner till the storm passed, but could not eat or drink because I had no cash.

And that’s pretty much it.

My father and I went out to get our tree today to decorate. We went to a farm owned by a friend of my fathers. The father of the farm owners was tending the tree stand, along with his new wife. Apparently the wife is from the Philippines, brought over recently and quite young considering the father had to be in his early 70’s. She was a very beautiful Philippine woman and had apparently never seen snow before. I was actually quite taken by her and wanted to talk to her more but we had to go.

On the way home we stopped by the store so my father could get some brown sugar for baking, and we ran across some other friends of his, the ones that are trying to help us buy this place. I haven’t seen them since I was a baby, so they were excited to meet me. The lady kept going on and on about my dad (she calls him Eddie) and how he’s a real life John Wayne. She’s the same one that called him a hero a few weeks back, because of how he was in his younger days. She said anytime someone tried to harass her, all she had to do was mention Eddie’s name and they’d back off instantly, that’s what type of reputation my father had.

I know I talk a lot about my father, I admire him so much I can’t help it. But I also post these types of things so that I can remember them after he is long gone. So I can share them with my children and they aren’t forgotten by time. My father is the type of person that -should- be remembered throughout history.

She called him a legend.

Time to do the obligatory Year in Review post. Last year I went through each month and posted the first line of each entry as well as going through what happened throughout the year.

The year before I think I just posted the first line of my journal for each month. And I even posted the good and bad of 2003.

This year, I’m just going to list my accomplishments for 2007. I don’t want to post resolutions for the New Year, because I have resolutions already for life. And I’ll acknowledge my accomplishments that way I don’t feel like I’ve failed a resolution, I’ve only gotten further to my completed goals.

Accomplishments for 2007:

Spiritual:
- Completed my ADF Dedicant’s Program, all 36 fuckin essays
- Elected Naturalist’s Guild Registrar (Membership Coordinator)
- Elected Senior Druid (President) of CedarLight Grove
- Attended my first of many Sweatlodges and connected with a new spiritual group
- Met with a Lakota Sioux Elder (twice) from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
- Reconnected with my ancestors through genealogy, which also introduced me to a distant cousin from Georgia
- Our Grove fought the City of Baltimore for zoning rights to have our apartments in the Grove space and WON
- Reconnected with friends at the Trillium Festival in April
- Made great friends within ADF in general
- Not only met my year pledge to the Grove, I went $100 over my pledge of donations to CedarLight Grove that I made at Yule 2006, not too shabby!

Mundane:
- Got a 10% raise at my first year review at work
- Learned more about CSS/HTML every day, enough to make me proud of what I know
- Was told by the boss that they couldn’t live without me
- Did a complete overhaul on the CedarLight Grove library
- My MUD continues to prosper, and even receive donations from players that love it so much
- Started dying my hair with natural henna, and as a result have the healthiest hair that I’ve had since I was a child
- Became close with several individuals that I can now call the best friends I’ve ever had
- Was asked to be maid of honor
- Went without paper towels as one of our eco-tasks and have successfully continued to do so
- I reconnected with my old mentor who is in prison
- Am still madly in love

Father:
- Paid off one of my fathers debts
- Started up a savings account to pay off another of my fathers debts for fathers day 2008
- Got my father a used car and got it inspected and tagged for him as a gift
- Despite our landlord dying and us finding out our place of residency is up in the air, three friends came forth to help out. 2 of which said they would help us buy the place, and 1 that said they had a place for us to stay for little to no money
- Dad was treated on a trip to Graceland, and I was able to help by doing all of his chores for a little over a week
- I took my father to see Bluegrass old-timer Doc Watson as a Father/Daughter date
- My fathers leg continues to remain ulcer free, even though he’s received several cuts and scratches (which we’ve been treating with tea tree oil)

Financial:
- Remained DEBT FREE besides my car payment
- Started my 401k and my Roth IRA
- Continued to fund my Emergency Savings to make it up to $5k at the minimum (Still working on it!)
- Started a Christmas Fund ensuring that I wouldn’t have to worry about having enough money for the holidays.
- Finished my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving
- Started keeping track of my dads finances, preventing him from being overdrawn since June
- I called my credit card companies and asked that they lower my APR and they DID

Not a bad year, probably not as inspiring as 2006 was, but it was also a lot better in many other ways. I look forward to 2008

The last few years I’ve struggled with art sets and my sister’s desire for bratz dolls, that I’ve finally decided I no longer wish to spend money on crap. You just never know what to get a 13 year old for Christmas. I imagine it’s going to be like that for the next couple of years.

I had made considerations on some girlie things from LUSH which were expensive and I wasn’t impressed with anyway.

I thought about starting up a CD or Bond or something in her name, but decided this money would better go towards paying off my fathers debt for now. And in reality, shouldn’t her parents be doing this?

I thought about doing what I did last year and buying her organic bath products that she wanted (and apparently loved). But I didn’t want to just buy the same thing.

I’ve finally resolved to 2 things:
1. A giftcard to Target. I hate Wal-Mart and everything that it stands for. If I must support a large chain, I’m going to do so with a semi-conscience. I figure any teenager appreciates the ability to have the freedom to go shopping and buy what they want. It shoulders a little responsibility on them to make a smart decision (usually).

2. Two books on finances geared towards pre-teens and teenagers. The Consumerist recently posted an article on Great Finance Books for All Ages, which switched on that dusty lightbulb in my brain. Here I’ve been working so hard on my own finances, why not encourage my sister to learn a little more about hers at an early age? Isn’t that what I’ve been preaching?

I ordered The Totally Awesome Money Book for Kids and The Motley Fool Investment Guide for Teens: 8 Steps to Having More Money Than Your Parents Ever Dreamed Of. I don’t know if she’s actually going to read and enjoy these books, but I want to give her an opportunity I didn’t have until a lot later. Both of her parents are normal middle-class people when it comes to finances, but I’m fairly certain neither of them has ever talked to her about finances, as they never did for me growing up either. The money I could have saved.

To note, I also saved money by ordering used copies of these books, not brand new.