December 29, 2020 - Mid-Columbia Senior Center

This is the time of the year for new beginnings (and to leave 2020 behind!) and the tradition of making resolutions for a new year. Now hold on. Don’t turn the page! You might believe resolutions are just a waste of time: you’ve lived this long, so why change now.

But think about it. There might be some new habits you want to make or some old ones you want to break. What was your doctor telling you? Maybe join an exercise class when they return or start walking with a friend? Or eat better – by reducing your salt and fat intake? Things you never worried about before, but are now realizing how important they are.

If you decide that New Year’s resolutions might not be such a bad idea, here are nine tips to help from the book Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

1. Write your resolution down and be specific. Instead of “make new friends” describe how – such as “start a movie group” or “join an exercise class”.
2. Review your resolution constantly so you won’t forget.
3. Hold yourself accountable. Don’t make excuses.
4. Think big. Make your resolution inspiring and exciting.
5. Or think small. Something simple and doable.
6. Separate your resolution, no matter how small, into manageable tasks.
7. Work on your resolution every day. It is easier to do something consistently than to skip days
8. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The best exercise is the one you will actually do.
9. As mentioned before, don’t make excuses, BUT if you keep breaking your resolution, no use constantly beating yourself up. Try a different approach that will get you to the same goal.

These are some suggestions to help you set and achieve your goals for a new year. Because as Carl Bard said, “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending”.

And now a fable you may find appropriate for the end of this challenging year.

A Middle Eastern potentate called a meeting of the wise men in his kingdom and he said, ‘I want you to gather all the world’s knowledge together in one place so that my sons can read it and learn.’ The wise men went off, and after a year, they came back with twenty-five volumes of knowledge. The potentate looked at it and he said, ‘No. It’s too long. Make it shorter.’ So the wise men went off for another year and they came back with one single volume. The potentate looked at it and said, ‘No. Still too long.’ So the wise men went off for another year. When they came back, they gave the potentate a piece of paper with one sentence on it. The single sentence was: ‘This too shall pass.’

Since I’m finishing this week’s column early because of the Christmas holiday, next week I will mention all those who correctly answered last week’s “Remember When” question. But I do know that last week I missed Patty Burnet, Ruth Radcliffe, Alan Winans, and Jerry Phillips.

In 1974 Dick Clark became the host of New Year’s Rockin’ Eve – a younger focused competitor to the popular and long-running New Year’s Eve big band broadcasts on CBS. For this week’s “Remember When” question, who was the bandleader for the Royal Canadians that for fifty years at the stroke of midnight played Auld Lang Syne from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Email your answer to www.mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788 or send it with an album of “the sweetest music this side of Heaven.”

Well, it has been another week looking for the funny side of the street. Until we meet again, be safe, be kind and be amazing.

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” Michael Altshuler

(But Michael, where are the flight controls!!)

Nutritious Home delivered meals and pick-ups for anyone over 60.

The Sherman County Senior and Community Center – Call 541-565-3191 by 10:30 AM and leave a message with the number of meals needed and the names of each person.

The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels – Call 541-298-8333 to sign up for home delivered meals. Call before 10:30 AM, to pick up a meal at noon at the Mid-Columbia Senior Center.

Hood River Valley Adult Center – To sign up for Meals-on-Wheels call 541-386-2060 and ask for Eric. You can also pick up a drive-thru meal from 11:30 AM until 12:45 PM.

Skamania County Senior Services – Call 509-427-3990.

Klickitat County Senior Services – For home-delivered meals call the Goldendale office (509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-306).

Pioneer Potlatch meal sites in Wasco and Sherman Counties call 541-298-4354.

This Christmas Present certainly looks different, doesn’t it? We are learning to manage without the Christmas parties, large family Christmas dinners and for many the friendly exchanges and warm embraces after the Christmas Eve church service.

But we can still relish those special memories of Christmas Pasts: the family searching for that perfect Christmas tree, judging and debating which tree would look best in the living room – and afterwards spending the evening decorating it with handmade ornaments saved from the children’s elementary school Christmas projects. (I still have most of those ornaments!)

Or driving around town after the Christmas Eve service to “ohhh” and “ahhh” at the houses illuminated with festive colors; first began when it was the only way to get the little ones to fall asleep on the “night before”.

Or on Christmas eve when the children still believed in Santa and after they fell asleep, frantically wrapping their presents, so they could magically appear under the Christmas tree – just as Santa would have left them.

Do these sound familiar? Do you have your own special memories of Christmas Pasts so clear you can relive them in your mind?

And yet, during these challenging times we can also anticipate Christmas Future when we can celebrate the joy of the Christmas Season: drinking eggnog and eating Christmas cookies with family and friends, playing games with our grandchildren – all without having to look over our shoulder for any unwanted invisible guests.

This season I wish you a wonderful and joyous Christmas – while we look forward to when this Christmas Present becomes next year’s Christmas Past.

“I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” Charles Dickens

According to the NCPHD website, it’s not too late to get your flu shot. Ideally you should get a flu vaccine by the end of October, but since the flu usually hits hardest from December through February, vaccinations should continue throughout the flu season, even in January or later.

The answer to last week’s question is tinsel – which brought back many memories and not always pleasant one’s: taking HOURS decorating the tree one tinsel strand at a time (I preferred the “throw it at the tree” method!); and afterwards cleaning it all up. I received correct answers from Diane Allen, Chuck Rice, Sam Bilyeu, Penny Lopez, Virginia Johnson, Barbara Cadwell, Rhonda Spies, Lana Tepfer, Jess Birge, Tina Castanares, Margo Dameier, Elaine Kirby, Pat Kelly, Marlene Clymer, Linda Frizzell, Jim Ayers, Rose Schulz, Anne Saxby, and Penny Lopez this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket.

Every Christmas season you can watch timeless holiday movies: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Miracle on 34^thStreet (1947) and Frosty the Snowman (1969). Another classic holiday movie released in 1954 featured two army buddies trying to save the lodge run and owned by their WWII commanding officer. For the last Christmas “Remember When” question, what was the title of the movie in which Phil Davis tells Bob Wallace, “When what’s left of you gets around to what’s left to be gotten, what’s left to be gotten won’t be worth getting, whatever it is you’ve got left.” and Bob replies “When I figure out what that means I’ll come up with a crushing reply.”? Email your answer to the mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or bring it to the Center with a box of phonograph records of songs written by Irving Berlin.

Well, it’s been another week, waiting for snowflakes to paint a picture of white. Until we meet again, if you believe, you can never cancel the spirit of Christmas!

“The magical dust of Christmas glittered on the cheeks of humanity ever so briefly, reminding us of what is worth having and what we were intended to be,” Max Lucado