It’s funny how things become vintage. I remember when my Aunt Alice (my Grandmother’s sister) came to visit me in the hospital and gave me my first pair of dangly earrings. They were not expensive made but they were gold and elegant looking and most of all, when I wore them I could feel them swaying just under my earlobes. It meant a lot to me.

Now here we are, about 30 years later, I still have those earrings tucked away in my jewelry box with all the other stuff I don’t wear. (I never became the girly type to wear make up or jewelry). Now those earrings could be called vintage. It makes me feel older than I really am. My Aunt Alice isn’t here any longer. I miss her but I do think about that day now and then, and many others.

Do you have a special pair of earrings or something other jewelry? Is there something in your jewel box that makes you remember someone else, especially a family member? Even though my earrings aren’t especially valuable I would like to have someone in the family to give them to. It’s a shame that none of the younger generation in the family now will have any memory of my Aunt Alice. So the earrings will never be special to them in the same way they are special to me. That’s kind of sad.

It's nice to come home after being away. You might be off on a safari or just away to the grocery store. But that feeling of being home again when you walk in the door is a nice one.

My family used to have Welcome Home parties when we were a lot younger. My Dad sometimes traveled for his business. But any time one of the kids were away on a class trip, summer camp, etc. we would draw a big banner, make a cake and have a party on the day or evening they got back home again.

Can you write a poem in whatever style or length you choose, a welcome home poem. Try to write one as an ode to your home and then try to write one as if your home were welcoming you as well. How would a home welcome back it's people?

Use the word of the day in a tweet and include #definethis. Daily winners when 3 or more ppl play. Prize goes to monthly winners.

Try this as a writing exercise. Each word is unusual, not well known. Don't feel less than brilliant if you have to look them up. So many are words I have heard and assumed I understood what they mean from the context they were used in. But, that doesn't mean I really understand the word.

Learn something new every day.

If you were able to see the top of my desk you would consider me a great candidate for Hoarders, the TV show.

I have various pens, a highlighter, one still unused straw in it's paper wrapper, the USB cable for my digital camera, the battery charger for the digital camera, a Christmas angel, hand sanitizer, a chocolate truffle recipe, tiny flower beads, travel sized toothpaste, a pink shoe key chain, a few business cards, a few bits of sparkly glass/crystals/rhinestones, a few colours of thread, poppies from Remembrance Day, a bookmark, one necklace with a polished jasper rock, face cream, vitamins, Midol, hair clips, coupons, Chinese cookie fortunes, 2 packages of buttons to be sewn on, scissors, vanilla lip balm, computer games I played and did not put away (yet), an elastic from the newspaper, 2 small Bratz dolls, one pink ribbon, my extra glasses case, USB ports, my hair brush, paper I have scribbled notes and drawings on, a rock I liked and other assorted debris, flotsam and jetsam. I have earned the merit badge for Invisible Desk and then some.

You can find your own merit badges for writers, readers and assorted others at Merit Badger.  Have fun.

Watching replays of Corner Gas this morning. I think the Comedy Channel is running them 24 hours a day over the New Year.

The one on right now is where Brent goes on vacation, a staycation. He is sitting right at the gas station, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, but ignoring everyone. He even sends postcards from Dog River as if he was sending them from exotic locations.

If you were taking a vacation like Brent how would you make sure no one knew you were actually home? Could you hide in plain sight? Write yourself into the ultimate staycation.