Merry Christmas!

Tip of the day:
  Remember (or Google, if you don't know) what today is all about & act accordingly. 
Love,
Me

Ps.  I'm posting this as a reminder to myself as well.

The lucky girl (pt 3)

This lucky girl wants to brag about the lucky GUY!

The man of the house won 25 town bucks in a drawing!  Yep, 25!!  Saaaa-weeeeet!!

  I proudly picked them up for him at the chamber office today. 

We live in such a lovely town. 

I will *try* to force him to spend them on himself.  He's such a do-gooder.   He will probably want to spend the money on the kids, but he so deserves this, he like never buys stuff for himself.

The lucky girl series (pt. 2)

The smell of fresh bread is filling the house while it bakes in the other room.
I was blessed with a bread maker from a very sweet woman this year.
I'm a lucky girl!  & I should really make some bread for her soon!

The lucky girl series

I am so thankful for the garbage man who comes once a week & hauls away whatever I put out, no questions asked. 
This morning I filled a bag with expired car seats & couldn't even tie it shut.  He just swoops the bag up and tosses it in the truck. 
After a good month of feeling like I should let them go, not knowing where to take them, and mostly being tired of looking at them, he really came through for me. 

Wow,   I'm a lucky gal.

I'm Embarrassed. Sorry-Not Sorry

I am so tired of this scenario:

Store clerk: "What do you think Santa is going to bring you this year?"  Or "Have you been a good kid this year? Is Santa going to visit your house ?"

My child: *scowling*

Me: *embarrassed, turning red, but smiling & stumbling on my words*

"Oh, we don't do Santa, but we are really excited for Christmas" or my worst one yet that just came out "He actually doesn't believe in Santa" (talking about my 4 year old).

 

The look on the faces of these innocent people just trying to make conversation is enough to make me want to burst into tears and yell "I'm sorry!".
But if I'm being honest, I'm really not sorry, not even a little bit.
I grew up believing in  santa at our house, actually there is probably still a homemade santa suit in my dad's closet.  My husband and I led our daughter to believe in santa for years and years, and even did for a of couple years with our son.

I just got tired of it all.  Personally, I know that it is exciting to wait up, wishing and hoping for santa and listening carefully  to hear his sleigh on the rooftop.
There are so many truly great experiences in life.  I don't think I'm depriving my children by telling them that Christmas time is about the birth of Jesus Christ , our Lord and Savior and really so much more.

I guess I don't really know why I'm writing this other than to get my embarrassed feelings out there on the table and say:
I don't judge you.
I don't think any less of you.
I would like the same respect. Please quit dropping your jaws & treating me like I'm screwing up my kids. I'm happy and excited for you guys to all celebrate having Santa at your house.

  I remember the thrill of putting out reindeer food at night and waking up early in the morning to make sure the camcorder was ready to catch the smiles of children excited to see what Santa had brought for us. 

I just wish I could tell the store clerk of all the wonderful things my children do for other children, maybe even for their children.  From donating their own boots, shoes, coats, hats, gloves countless toys, packing up shoe boxes for operation christmas child & giving with a gracious heart that is so rarely seen in school age children these days.
Instead, I stumble over my words I feel embarrassed and I leave everyone feeling very uncomfortable. For that awkward feeling, I am sorry. I'm not sorry for telling my children that Christmas is about Jesus Christ and making that the main focus. It works for us.

There's an app for that.

I've had my smartphone for a good part of the year now.  There are so many great apps, from educational, to games, to organizational. 
My most loved app is the Bible.   I still much prefer my real bible, however I love the feature of listening to the scripture.

Last night before bed my husband and I read together while listening.  We paused after a few minutes & talked about what we heard.  It was time well spent.
He has been spending so much time with his Bible lately.  I love it.

Learning something new.

My friend J came over last weekend and taught me how to knit. 

I'm thankful for this new activity, & getting to spend time with her. 

I'm not sure if it is something I will keep up, but it has been fun to try.

As I struggled with how to hold the needles and where to put the yarn, I realized what my daughter must be going through as she is so often trying to learn something new in school.  I must begin to show more compassion.  Learning something totally foreign is difficult & takes time, but is not impossible.

Glovely rhymes with lovely

While I was driving up town today I felt something poke at my finger inside of the mitten part of my glove. The half glove/half mitten thing was a great invention.
I pulled back the mitten to feel inside and see what was poking me, it felt like a piece of wood.
I smiled when I realized that yes indeed it was a little piece of wood.
It reminded me that I have a wonderful husband who has built so many great things out of wood for our family.  Even when it was too cold for my hands to be out, he hauled all of his tools to the garage & built us bookshelves & cubbies.
This year I will try not to let it bother me when he borrows my gloves & doesn't return them to the proper spot.  He's probably just finished a big project outside for us & from his perspective, it feels so good to be back in the warmth of our home.

Want vs. Need

A timely reminder.