I notice that people frequently search for quotes on my site, so I’m hoping this little hack will work…  Here is a listing of all the quotes that display randomly in the header: Read more

Originally published January 1, 1987…

No one loves a Christmas tree on Jan. 1. The wonderful soft branches that the family couldn’t wait to get inside to smell have turned into rapiers that jab you. The wonderful blinking lights that Daddy arranged by branch and color have knotted themselves hopelessly around crumbling brownery and have to be severed with a bread knife. The stockings that hung by the chimney with care are hanging out of sofa cushions, and they smell like clam dip. And the angel that everyone fought to put on top of the tree can only be removed with an extension ladder that is in the garage, and no one can remember how to fit it through the door. Next to the presidency, detrimming a tree has to be the loneliest job in the world. It has fallen to women for centuries and is considered a skill only they can do, like replacing the roll on the toilet tissue spindle, painting baseboards, holding a wet washcloth for a child who is throwing up or taking out a splinter with a needle.

Today’s random quote:

“The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.” ~ Pearl S. Buck

I’m honestly not in the mindset to write this morning and for the life of me I’m not coming up with anything to say about this one. Maybe it’s because I think it’s a bit backwards. Don’t people usually make up lies in order to create excitement because the truth seems boring to them? Maybe she means the truth is really more exciting than we actually realize. I don’t know. What are your thoughts on this one?

By the way, if you don’t know who Pearl S. Buck is, you’re missing out. She’s a great author who wrote many, many books and often about women’s rights. I encourage you to find out more about her.

Another favorite quote of mine comes from one of the world’s most-loved comediennes:

“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.” ~ Lucille Ball

While I do agree that optimism is the way to go, I think that discouragement can also be a good thing for us at times. Sometimes we have to sit in the bottom of the pit in and wallow around in the muck for a while until we can’t stand it anymore. Eventually you will get to a point where you can’t stand the darkness anymore. From that vantage point, we can study our options and decide the next move to get out of the pit.

Discouragement can often be catalyst for making a change. If you don’t see the negative, then how are you going to tell the difference between what is good and what is bad? If I were Lucille Ball, I would have changed that statement to say it doesn’t pay to STAY discouraged. Just my two cents.