When I was a little kid, I remember being able to turn on the TV weeks before Christmas, and there was always a Christmas movie on. It was fun! As a child, it really helped to put me in the “Christmas Spirit.” This year, I was excited that for the first time in years, we had cable and we could watch all the oldies but goodies like I did as a child. It’s a Wonderful Life. A Christmas Story. Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find any on the 800ish channels we have! When I searched for Christmas movies I found they were all…On Demand. Is that what Christmas has really turned into? Sadly, yes. It’s all about the money and instant gratification.
Jimmy Kimmel asked parents to give their children a bad gift, tape it and then post it on Youtube for the world to see. It was sad to see these children break down, cry and throw fits because their parents got them “bad gifts.” Apparently if you were on Twitter, you would have seen a whole bunch of people complaining about their gifts too. Sadly, that’s what this Christmas season has been reduced to. Why should I be surprised? We live in a nation where we want and want and want and have confused NEED with WANT. We demand to be given everything we want and don’t care what it costs others to give it to us. We demand it.
Well I refuse to have a Christmas On Demand and I am refusing to raise my children to have On Demand Christmases too! This year I was feeling convicted about letting my children believe in Santa instead of the REAL reason for Christmas. It’s not like I wasn’t teaching them that. In fact, thanks to my sweet friend, Marcie, we were memorizing the Christmas story. However, my kiddos would talk nonstop about what they wanted from Santa and not the excitement of Jesus’s birthday. I almost threw Santa under the bus a few weeks before Christmas because I had enough. However, seeing how devastated Gwynn was when she discovered that her claps weren’t magically turning on the Christmas lights, but rather a remote was, I couldn’t do it to her. This point was really driven home Christmas morning in service when Connor was too excited to come home and open presents that he couldn’t sit still.
This year we told the kiddos the real story of St. Nicholas; who he was and what he is believed to have done. How he was just a kind and generous man who helped those in need. I am going to continue to drive that point home. This next year I am going to make Christmas all about Jesus. Our advent calendar is going to be Crimsons. We are going to give Jesus a gift. He is going to be the center of our Christmas. I am going to try to emphasize giving rather than receiving…which I know may be a stretch for my kiddos, but you can’t grow without stretching. I should say that my kiddos really aren't extremely selfish. They were excited to give gifts to children in Nigeria who don't have any and were very thankful for what they received. I guess it was more me...realizing that I really need to make an effort to keep the Reason for the Season alive and refuse to have a Christmas on Demand.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
2x2
Some pretty great things come in pairs.
Aces, fuzzy dice, hands, coffee and creamer, lips, flip-flops, love birds…or in my case…
**A pair of mommy blessings. Upon opening Connor’s school folder, I received my first blessing when I found out that he will once again be named Student of the Quarter :0) I really have tried to instill good work ethics in him. I try to encourage him to do the best he can do. Things like this make all the chats, lessons, erasing, rewriting, and frustration over homework so worth it! It brought a tear of joy to my eye. The second blessing was Gwynn. I love listening to her pray. She is so sweet. Tonight at dinner she insisted she needed to pray and she prayed, “Dear Jesus, thank you for all this great food and for all our grateful stuff.” This is her prayer every dinner, actually :0) Then she insisted she needed to pray for forgiveness. She prayed, “Dear Jesus, I am so sorry that I yelled at Daddy and that I got out of time out that Connor put me in (they must have been playing???), and that I didn’t clean when Mommy told me to. Please forgive me. Amen.” HOW STINKING SWEET IS THAT?? What a fabulous pair of blessings!
**A pair of 2s. 2 warm, wet and sunny months in Hawaii and 2 wonderful, busy weeks in our new home!! We were so thankful to move in 6 days early and not have to spend Thanksgiving in the hotel :0) We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to be here and to finally have our own roof.
**A pair of rugs!! I am SO excited about this. It took me forever to find rugs that Dustin and I both liked and then forever to find a place that would even ship it to us! Finally I found Barnes and Nobel that shipped them to us for $30!! Very exciting!
**A pair of amazing discoveries! The power of communication and Pinterest!! While happily hanging my calendar, I was greeted by pounding on my wall. I had to put in another nail and the response was the same. My heart was pounding. I had no idea what to do. I thought well maybe this is just a bad time for me to be pounding nails into the wall. So, I put on my big girl panties and went next door to ask. As it turned out, her hubby is deployed, she is really stressed out and had just opened up a huge bill as I began my hammering. After a chat, she had a smile on her face and told me I could hammer all day. Just to think, I could have sat here, been angry at her, she would have stayed angry at me and we could have been bitter towards each other for 3 years…instead, we both may have made a new friend :0) Now, Pinterest…AMAZING! The Crafters/DIYs dream!! Oh my. That’s just all I can say. I have a list of things I want to make and fantastic ideas for organizing my new home! YAY!
**A pair of Contracts! One fell through, but we’re under contract again!! We are trusting that this one will go all the way to the end! They are asking for some really silly stuff, but we’re just so ready to be done with this house, that we’ll probably give it to them. That’s the bummer of a buyer’s market. Oh well, we’re just happy to be blessing someone else with it.
Sadly, yucky things come in pairs too.
Sweaty socks, liver and onions, long nights and early mornings…or in my case…
**A pair of croupy kiddos. They both had it last year so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised they got it again this year. Connor missed 3 days of school because of fever and Gwynn’s fever went on for over a week. Thankfully they are both much better now!
**A pair of pests. We love our new house, but it has TONS of ants! Every room on the first floor had a colony as did our bathroom and Gwynn’s room. I think we got them under control for now, but from what I hear, it is just a matter of time before they are back! The other pest is a cat…or a former cat that left its stink everywhere! We can’t close a closet door without opening to a waft of kitty pheromone! Thankfully I found Pinterest to give me tips on how to get rid of the ants and the kitty stink ;0)
Aces, fuzzy dice, hands, coffee and creamer, lips, flip-flops, love birds…or in my case…
**A pair of mommy blessings. Upon opening Connor’s school folder, I received my first blessing when I found out that he will once again be named Student of the Quarter :0) I really have tried to instill good work ethics in him. I try to encourage him to do the best he can do. Things like this make all the chats, lessons, erasing, rewriting, and frustration over homework so worth it! It brought a tear of joy to my eye. The second blessing was Gwynn. I love listening to her pray. She is so sweet. Tonight at dinner she insisted she needed to pray and she prayed, “Dear Jesus, thank you for all this great food and for all our grateful stuff.” This is her prayer every dinner, actually :0) Then she insisted she needed to pray for forgiveness. She prayed, “Dear Jesus, I am so sorry that I yelled at Daddy and that I got out of time out that Connor put me in (they must have been playing???), and that I didn’t clean when Mommy told me to. Please forgive me. Amen.” HOW STINKING SWEET IS THAT?? What a fabulous pair of blessings!
**A pair of 2s. 2 warm, wet and sunny months in Hawaii and 2 wonderful, busy weeks in our new home!! We were so thankful to move in 6 days early and not have to spend Thanksgiving in the hotel :0) We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to be here and to finally have our own roof.
**A pair of rugs!! I am SO excited about this. It took me forever to find rugs that Dustin and I both liked and then forever to find a place that would even ship it to us! Finally I found Barnes and Nobel that shipped them to us for $30!! Very exciting!
**A pair of amazing discoveries! The power of communication and Pinterest!! While happily hanging my calendar, I was greeted by pounding on my wall. I had to put in another nail and the response was the same. My heart was pounding. I had no idea what to do. I thought well maybe this is just a bad time for me to be pounding nails into the wall. So, I put on my big girl panties and went next door to ask. As it turned out, her hubby is deployed, she is really stressed out and had just opened up a huge bill as I began my hammering. After a chat, she had a smile on her face and told me I could hammer all day. Just to think, I could have sat here, been angry at her, she would have stayed angry at me and we could have been bitter towards each other for 3 years…instead, we both may have made a new friend :0) Now, Pinterest…AMAZING! The Crafters/DIYs dream!! Oh my. That’s just all I can say. I have a list of things I want to make and fantastic ideas for organizing my new home! YAY!
**A pair of Contracts! One fell through, but we’re under contract again!! We are trusting that this one will go all the way to the end! They are asking for some really silly stuff, but we’re just so ready to be done with this house, that we’ll probably give it to them. That’s the bummer of a buyer’s market. Oh well, we’re just happy to be blessing someone else with it.
Sadly, yucky things come in pairs too.
Sweaty socks, liver and onions, long nights and early mornings…or in my case…
**A pair of croupy kiddos. They both had it last year so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised they got it again this year. Connor missed 3 days of school because of fever and Gwynn’s fever went on for over a week. Thankfully they are both much better now!
**A pair of pests. We love our new house, but it has TONS of ants! Every room on the first floor had a colony as did our bathroom and Gwynn’s room. I think we got them under control for now, but from what I hear, it is just a matter of time before they are back! The other pest is a cat…or a former cat that left its stink everywhere! We can’t close a closet door without opening to a waft of kitty pheromone! Thankfully I found Pinterest to give me tips on how to get rid of the ants and the kitty stink ;0)
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