Oh my god, people, I totally forgot about Part Two of this series! Sorry. It’s from last year when Jamie was still channeling for CE. I also had Kim channel Erik about the holidays, so we’ll get to that before long.
Saturday, we went to Dallas for the CMRA awards banquet. Rune got two trophies in spite of missing a couple of races. In talking with his buddies, it’s clear that people are flummoxed by how fast he is considering his age. He can lap kids a third his age. Of course, they probably get sponsors like Pennzoil while Rune would probably get someone like Geritol, but…
Enjoy today’s post, finally!
Me: We used to have the Medhus Day of Charity and pass out blankets, gloves and jackets to the homeless, and then we’d also not forget about the animal kingdom. We would thread all sorts of things that birds could eat and make all sorts of stuff that animals could eat and then use those to decorate a tree in the forest to give them a little Christmas present. It was so awesome, wasn’t it, Erik?
Erik: It fulfilled every need that I had to take care of the world. That was the moment where I felt, “You know what? This is good to me.”
Me: Yeah. Of course the siblings would always squabble and squabble so sometimes it was like, “Okay, this was supposed to be a cool moment,” but that’s little kids for you! That’s okay. We got it done. Is there anything else people should do outside of the family to help those less fortunate or otherwise?
(Long pause)
Jamie: Uh, I don’t know what that image is, Erik. Tell me in words.
Erik: Well, you don’t really need to do anything, but if I’m throwing out advice or homework of a solid day of no judgment, I would look at where you are in life and what you have and really start looking at where you want to be. Look at the material items around you. What do you have too much of? What do you not need anymore? Think in terms of what your definition of simplicity is. Simplify. Sometimes when we end up with a collection of things, it starts to rule us rather than allowing us to enjoy those items, and you might find more joy in passing those items on to be loved and used rather than keeping them to yourself and feeling like you have to serve them because you invested in them.
Me: You’ve said that simple moments are to be treasured because that’s when you really connect to yourself, and that’s also when you feel connected to the Whole. Well, actually, you said tapping into your inner humility is when you feel connected to the Whole.
Erik: Yes.
Me: Okay. Anything else about Christmas?
Jamie: No, he’s making strange kissing sounds.
Me: Well, give me some more because we have time.
Erik: What? We have time?
Me: Yes.
He starts to talk about New Years but I stop him and say we’re going to cover that in a December session.
Erik: Some of my favorite things to give to people are handmade because I’m so good at that!
He laughs. He’s was terrible at it!
Me: Right. Aw, you made some cute stuff. I have a plate that you painted that said, “Christmas 1996” but the 9s were Ps. You were so cute! And you had all sorts of weird things drawn on it like a yin-yang symbol and some other stuff.
Erik (Trying to shut me up): Okay, okay. That’s nice.
Jamie: He’s just making fun of that.
Erik: Print out a picture that you love from your past or that has the other person in it, and write a story about what you remember or were told about the picture on the back. Something as simple as that—documentation of what you remembered and how you felt at that moment is priceless for people to be able to know that they can always turn to that and find the missing pieces to what people thought, or you can find one big family picture and have everyone write a story on it, put it in a box and give it to Grandma. What the hell? That’s the best thing ever!
Me: I know, and it doesn’t cost anything but is meaningful. What other gift ideas do you have? That’s a wonderful one!
Erik: Yeah, I like that one a lot. My arts and crafts mom always enjoyed handmade ornaments, but I don’t know how to coach people in making that shit. If we’re looking at hand making something, there are computer programs that have tons of origami—
Jamie: Oh, you’re saying “origami!” Who hears that world every day?
Me: I know!
Jamie: I was trying to make it all sorts of other things.
Erik: They have programs that are origami-based that you can drag your photos into—
Me: Oh, I didn’t know that!
Jamie: I’ve never heard of this.
Erik: You print it out, cut it and fold it up, and it has your family pictures and everything on the origami piece. It’s really easy to make because the shape is already there so you don’t have to paste or glue. You just have to fold it and put on the string.
Jamie: Okay, that’s super cool if that’s real.
Me: It is [cool]!
Erik: It’s a free program.
Me: That’s awesome. You can make ornaments. Okay, one more gift idea, one that provides that connection that’s so important around Christmas.
Erik: Like rolling joints for people.
Jamie laughs.
Me: Okay. It’s like the little Cuban cigar guy rolling cigars behind a little desk. Have one of those.
Erik: Yes. That really creates community.
I don’t think I’m signing up for that one. Sorry, Erik.
Me: Mm hm. Next!
Jamie: He’s talking about sending—these are audio clips?
(Pause)
Jamie: No. They’re playlists of collections of movies, podcasts and music that you like and want your loved one to have. It can be downloaded and purchased, so it’s not just the names that the person has to type in and purchase. It looks like a complete, downloadable gift. So it has the movie embedded into a link, and you can just watch it. The podcasts are embedded; the music is embedded. That’s kind of cool. I like that. I don’t know that program either.
Me: Wow, you’re all into these computer programs! We have folks in Norway, and a lot of people have family who are not able to join in on the Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanza festivities. What’s a good gift for them?
Erik: You Skype them.
Me: Okay, that’s good.
Erik: But I’d set up an agenda first almost like a business meeting. “Six PM your time, we’re Skyping you. We’re going to start by singing three Christmas carols and so-and-so is going to be on the piano, so get your shit together and get ready to sing, ready to dance, or whatever.” Set the camera up high. Go ahead and prep that shit. “Then from 6:30 to 7:00 we’ll just share and talk and we’ll kind of rotate in the room from person to person so that you don’t get overwhelmed. Then we’ll going to cut the cake or eat this danish together.” So you feel like not only are you seeing each other, you’re doing the same activity together. What’s nice is you can record that, right, Mom? You should teach people how to record this shit.
Me: Oh, you just download Call Recorder for Skype. It’s awesome!
Jamie: There you go, Erik.
Me: Well, this was awesome. Thank you so much, everybody.
We end off with our usual closing.
