Whiners, Occupiers, and Wal-mart Shoppers

I've got to stop complaining. I have kept thinking about what I wrote a couple of posts back about not liking my job. I sound like a whiner, and I'm too old for that. I don't always like my job, but who doesn't? The more I hear about the state of the country, the more I am thankful that my husband and I still do have jobs.

At any rate, since my dad is the only one presently reading this blog (and I'm totally okay with that), I think I owe him an apology for having to read my grumbling and complaining. So, I'm sorry, Dad. I will try to be more positive and uplifting.

Oh, who am I kidding? I probably won't be positive because I seem to only blog when something is bothering me, but I can try not to grumble about my trivial personal issues.

So, I guess I'll just grumble about current events though I can't say I stay too current on what's happening in the world. My own world occupies my immediate attention most of the time, but when I do have time to catch up on what's going on, I find myself discouraged and want to stick my head even further in the sand.

Take this Occupy Wall Street thing. It has me perplexed. I mean, I certainly don't claim to be any kind of economic expert. Far from it, but I'm not sure why they are occupying. Frankly, it sounds like a lot of grown ups acting like spoiled kids who aren't getting their fair share of the candy. But we all know life isn't fair. Now, some of those people may actually have legitimate concerns. However, from what I gather, most of them are upset that big corporations, banks, what-have-you are controlling this country. So, the Occupiers want big government instead? Is that what they are saying? How is that going to be any better. Are there greedy big corporations out there? Well, sure, but isn't it the big businesses that create jobs for the middle and even lower classes? How many people would be out of jobs if McDonald's closed up shop? I really wish I could get an objective opinion from both sides of the issue, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I recently bought Halloween costumes for my kids to go trick-or-treating this year. (This really isn't a totally random topic change. I promise.) Originally, I was going to be all Martha Stewart and make my kids their costumes. I found patterns for $.99 at Jo Ann's, but when I went to buy the material and notions, I realized I was going to be spending a whole heck of a lot more than I wanteed to; plus, I was going to have to make it, too. Not only was it going to be expensive but also time consuming. This was just for one kid. My other kid hadn't yet decided what she wanted to be yet. To make a long story short, I happened to be in Wal-Mart with the kid who had set her heart on being Cleopatra. Sure, I told her, we'll look at the costumes, but we are not buying one. I ate those words in a hurry when we found the perfect Cleopatra costume with all the adornments, and it was on sale! Later I took my other kid back who found a ladybug costume that she liked. (She's 13. It's her last year of trick-or-treating, and she wants to be a ladybug. I didn't see that coming at all.) Plus, it was on sale, too. Woohoo! All said and done, I got two costumes that I do not have to make for a lot less than it would have cost me to buy all of the stuff to make one. Granted I could have spent no money and let my kids figure something out for themselves as a friend of mine is doing, but that's not me. Anyway, I came away from the whole experience in praise of cheap Chinese manufacturing--I, who used to be so critical of Wal-Mart. (Okay, I still am on some points but I'll save that for another post.) Oh, I didn't mention that I had already bought material from Jo Ann's to make the cleopatra costume when I came across the one at Wal-Mart? Well, since Jo Ann's is one of those big box chain craft stores, I was able to return it (unused, of course) for a full refund. Not too many mom and pop stores can offer that kind of service, unfortunately.

My point being that I think many of these people opposed to big business, opposed to capitalism, etc. would not be really happy with the results should their ideology be put into practice. We enjoy a lot of customer service benefits at these big box stores. Now, not being of any kind of business or economic intelligence, I may be completely off base as to what these occupiers of Wall Street really mean. Based on what I have read and heard and my own experience, I can't say as I'm very sympathetic to them right now. I would invite someone to try to convince me otherwise. I am always open to enlightenment.

This Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2008--here is what it looked like at our house: Most of the day the girls and I spent puttering about the house while my husband and brother-in-law braved the congested roads and crowded stores, at least I assume they were congested and crowded. I wasn't with them. My brother-in-law had flown in to town on Tuesday and had not had a chance to get his nieces a Christmas present yet, and today being the last opportunity, he and my husband headed out early to find something.

I spent the morning finishing up some last minute gift wrapping while Little Munchkin and Doodlebug waited eagerly outside the bedroom door, ready to take each gift downstairs and place it under the tree. Did you know that gifts have to be given a vigorous shaking before they can be placed under the Christmas tree? Little Munchkin and Doodlebug undoubtedly knew this and strictly observed this rule. What good little elves they are.

The girls watched a movie, wrapped and decorated presents for each other, took over the wrapping of their cousins gifts, abandoned the wrapping of their cousins gifts, and were playing in the bathtub when their dad and uncle returned from their foray into town. When the girls finished their bath, I got them started on a painting project to keep them busy while I wrapped the newly purchased gifts and finished up a couple of handmade gift projects I had been working on. Afterwards the girls watched the Barbie Nutcracker and ate Turkish Delight. Later, the girls and I cut out paper snowflakes which is the only way we will be able to enjoy a white Christmas here in the deep South. When I took the dog out around 9:30p.m. tonight, I noticed that it was quite muggy and not at all cold or even cool, yet it was in the 20's the other night (that's pretty cold for us). It just seems like it should at least be cold and blustery for Christmas if it can't be snowy. But then again, if I lived in Australia, it would be summer time now.

After taking pictures of the girls putting out cookies and milk for Santa (they love to pretend though they know he's not real), and posing in front of the tree, we settled into a comfortable snuggle on the sofa and read Christmas stories until bedtime. Of course I made sure to include a reading of the real Christmas story which I happen to have in a lovely picture book format accompanied by gorgeous artwork. The words are taken directly from the Bible which I like, and the beautiful illustrations really bring the story to life. Little Munchkin commented that she liked the pictures. Doodlebug, my budding artist, concurred. At one point I stopped reading and asked the girls why they thought Herod was "troubled" at the thought of Jesus' birth. Doodlebug gave a couple of vague answers then quickly gave up in frustration. She wasn't feeling well and didn't want to think about answers to questions. She just wanted to here the story. Then, Little Munchkin suddendly piped up, "Because he didn't want Jesus to be king!" Awesome! My baby was tuned in to the details of the story! Sure she's heard it before, but no one had explained this particular aspect of the story to her to my knowledge. Based on her own understanding, she put two and two together and figured it out. I love it when my kids do that.

All in all, it was quite a cozy Christmas Eve day as far as I was concerned which is one of the reasons I wanted to post about it--to help me remember that it doesn't take much to make a memory. A very satisfying day indeed.

Two Weeks

It's been almost two months since I visited my blog. Things are looking a little dusty around here even though the newness hasn't really worn off this here little baby blog of mine.

Christmas is in exactly two weeks. I am once again inwardly scolding myself for my lack of preparation for the season. I don't feel I do nearly enough to keep myself and especially my kids focused on the real reason for celebrating Christmas. Oh, of course they know Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, but it's so hard to escape the materialism that bombards us from every angle this time of year. Each year after the holidays, I vow to do better the following year, to celebrate the season in all of its true meaning, to give my kids a thorough grounding in what it really means to celebrate the birth of Jesus, this awesome, miraculous event in which God became man, a perfect sinless man, in order to take upon Him our sins, to go to hell for us, to suffer immeasurably so that we do not have to. How does one impart that knowledge to her children adequately?

I know of families that don't celebrate Christmas with gifts at all. I also know of those who don't do Santa Claus but still give gifts to their kids. (I fall into this group though my reason for not doing Santa is primarily because I don't like the idea of convincing my children something is true when it isn't. In other words, I don't like to lie to my kids. I realize plenty of people, Christian people, do the Santa thing. I'm not passing judgment just explaining my reason for not doing it with my kids.) I know of other families who make a big birthday celebration for baby Jesus out of Christmas complete with birthday cake and party decorations. Yet, I'm not sure any of these approaches are adequate.

I can't just not celebrate Christmas though. I like what Beck said about celebrating in little ways over the course of advent so that all of the anticipation is not focused on just one day and then dispelled with a tremendous feeling of letdown when that day is over. At any rate I'm currently in the process of doing some more research on the history behind some of our Christmas traditions. It's rather surprising how many pagan traditions are mixed in with the Christian ones. I found a book on the subject at the library--a book by Clement A. Miles that I think was the authoritative work on the history of Christmas around the turn of the century, the last century, that is.

In my somewhat feeble attempt to find fun things for my kids to do leading up to Christmas, I came across some fun-looking Christmas craft ideas online that use woodsy, outdoorsy stuff such as twigs and pinecones and such. Seeing as how we have boocoodles of pinecones and twigs I thought this would be perfect. I had visions of tramping through the woods with my two kids in tow, bundled against the semi-cold, collecting stuff for our project. After which, we would burst into the warm kitchen, rosy-cheeked and laughing, ready for some hot chocolate and anticipating a cozy evening by the fire crafting quaint little pinecone angels. Well, the past few days of constant, drizzly rain have pretty much shot that vision of homeyness right down. I'll have to come up with an alternate plan. In the meantime I think we'll have the hot chocolate anyway.

I'm Dreaming of a Cool, Brisk Fall

As I was driving home earlier this afternoon, I was taken with a feeling of fall being just around the corner. I had a fall-ish feeling about me. The world about me, the same world I see everyday, was tinged with a fall-ish sort of glow. Well, it was for me. No, there are no trees changing colors yet. It is still hot here and will be for awhile likely. But, for whatever reason, I had a delicious sense of fall-ishness. I love fall, autumn if you will. I actually do prefer the term autumn, but I'm in such a habit saying fall, maybe perhaps because that is the term most people around here use. Nevertheless, no matter what you call it, I like it! Yes, indeed. Autumn is my season, a time when I feel my creative juices flowing. I don't necessarily make use of those creative juices, but they sure do get to flowing. I anticipate the holidays--fall festivals, Thanksgiving, Little Munchkin's birthday the first week of December, and, of course Christmas.

Although autumn may be officially a few weeks away, I'm totally ready for it--the brisk mornings, the earthy colors, the pumpkins and scarecrows and sweaters. I would say football, too, but I don't watch football.

Come on, Autumn, bring it all on! And make it snappy. I'm tired of sweltering.

In Celebration of the Fourth of July (and Canada Day, Too)

July 4th! A holiday I don't usually give a lot of thought. But my very sociable Doodlebug wanted to celebrate. So we invited our Canadian friends over for swimming and a cookout. Nothing like celebrating an American holiday with Canadians! They got a kick out of it, too. Just to make it fair, though, I told them that we would make it a combined Canada Day/Fourth of July celebration. I had the girls' color Canadian and American flags and make a banner to hang up. I also found online a picture of a beaver wearing a shirt with a maple leaf on it for the girls' to color. They loved that.

Our friends are great sports and really, and, as they themselves pointed out, they've lived here in the U.S. of A. the vast majority of their married life; plus, their adorable little baby was born here. So there you go.

Hooray for the red, white and blue! And the red and white, too! And hooray for me, I made a rhyme!