Poinsettia.  A word I always dreaded come Christmastime as a child.  I distinctly remember in first grade when we were learning holiday-themed words in class to be tested on and I always struggled with poinsettia.  Christmas was fine, Santa Claus and reindeer and wreath and holly were all too, but poinsettia – that dreaded flower!  I mean, they’re nice enough to look at and all, but really, who came up with that name?!  Was it in their agenda to make my childhood December uncomfortable and awkward?  If so, they were quite successful.

I’ve always prided myself in being an excellent speller.  Not the best, but enough to win the spelling bee in my second grade class with the word chimney.  Though I wasn’t able to win the overall school competition, I wasn’t that crushed – I never expected to be a prodigy or genius of any sort.  I was just a natural at spelling, that’s all.  But oooh when I had to spell POINSETTIA the year before, I lost some of my confidence.  Perhaps it was because I always had it in my mind that it was “poinsetta” (and thus always got docked on my quiz).  In retrospect, it seems such a silly little thing that I should have been able to pick up easily enough, but then again it’s been 16 years since those days.

I guess I’ve learned something since then.  😛

P.S. – Happy 50th to my mommy!  🙂  As I told her, halfway there.  😉