You can’t expect to hit the jackpot if you don’t PUT a few nickels in the machine. (Flip Wilson)
You can PUT wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle. (William J. Clinton)
This morning I awoke with the odd little question “where can I put Christmas?”, and then drifted back off to sleep, dreaming of my family of origin going out for ice cream, but in the dream I first had to catch and secure my mother’s dog Sunshine.
Securing Sunshine and where to put Christmas. It doesn’t take a Jungian to figure out that the Dreammaker is maybe suggesting the adoption of a more positive frame of reference. Maybe . . .
When I was little, and saw my mother was worried, I would often try to distract her with the suggestion. “Let’s talk about Christmas,” which for me at that time was the most cheerful possibility I could think of. And it often worked.
Physician, heal thyself! Let’s talk about Christmas. And where can I “put” it (Christmas) in my life? To put means to “place or move into a particular position” or “bring into a particular state or condition.” Such a small, seemingly inconsequential word, PUT. With such big ramifications.
Just think of the certainty of always knowing where to put things — the sofa — the dog — our money, time and attention — our words — our feelings —
Put your money where your mouth is . . . Don’t put all your eggs in one basket . . . The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain ( Dolly Parton) . . . Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm (Abraham Lincoln) . . . Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put (Winston Churchill) . . .
Oh, my. Where to PUT Christmas is no small matter. On this day, I shall keep the question close.
