Surviving The Jollies

Oh, the time to be jolly is upon us once again. I pulled the tote out from under the camper and we are all decorated up! Yes, it is possible to decorate a camper. And yes, my husband and I fought about keeping the decorations or not. I won. Well, come on! Christmas has to happen whether you move out of your house or not. And, true, you can't take EVERYTHING with you on the road, but....the Christmas tote stays!

I don't remember caring about Christmas much before we had the kids. They are really what it's all about. But I also don't believe in buying them every single thing in Wally World. It's important to make the seasons about more than presents. It helps if you don't have TV. Just seclude them on a mountain top and give them pretty rocks in their stockings.

No, really I do like to make things for the kids. I am not the most organized crafter, however. I had some pillow cases last year that got done around........... Valentines Day. But, I go around the house and find cute little tins and baskets to fill with pretty necklaces or beaded bracelets. My mom started that tradition. And it's amazing how she could turn "nothing" into something special. We may have seen the little hair tie basket a million times in the bathroom, but once she lined it with colorful cloth, placed a pretty trinket inside, and put our names on it....it was SO cool!

Of course we have to get them more than baskets filled with stuff. And this usually involves a drive to the city. I hate those big stores. Wal-mart, K-mart, Save-mart....and all the other Marts. Too much crappy plastic for me. There has to be another way. I never leave with a very good feeling. We always spend FAR too much money and come away with some major buyer's remorse and STILL feel like we didn't get it all. The truck is a sea of bags and boxes, empty cups, dry cereal, plastic wrappers, maybe a little pair of pee pee pants wadded up on the floor...hopefully not. The city outing has it's place, but as for me, I am going to try and avoid the spontaneous MAD spending this year.

Crafts. That's where it's at. I'm gonna surf the Martha Stuart website like it's my job! That'll give me some dandy ideas. Then I'm gonna make sure the kids standards are REALLY low. Maybe hide all their toys and feed em beans and rice for a couple weeks. Then...bam! They will think they hit the jack pot. "Thanks Mom!! An orange!!" "Wow, look at my bean bag, thanks guys!"

For really real, kids ARE easy to please. And, no, I won't really put them on a pioneer diet...not any more than normal.

I have been around kids that were NOT easily pleased, satisfied, or even slightly thankful for their gifts. I wanted to smack them, and their apologizing gift giver, in the face. My best friend told me a story once about her cousin's birthday. She said that he was whining about all of his gifts and generally being a @#$%. His mom grabbed up all of his gifts and handed them out, one by one, to all of the other kids at the party! For real! Now THAT is gonna teach a kid to either be thankful, scared of parties, or dang quiet about their disappointment.

Every family has their own traditions. We make new ones every once in awhile. Travis's newest is the take-all-the-decorations-down-the-day-after-Christmas-tradition. That one is a little shocking. Especially if you are HOSTING Christmas for the first time. I knew this one would freak everybody out but there is no fighting that man when he gets that look on his face. At that point...the new tradition is set.

We were renting a small 950 sq ft house. Trav went and bought like $300 worth of lights from the Riggins One Stop!! He also SANG Christmas Carols while putting them up....not on purpose, I'm sure, but because that's what happens when one is bit by the Elf Bug. I matched his spending out at the River Song Gallery with garland and fake poinsettias, aplenty. Then we purged Christmas all over North Riggins. Our breaker actually kept shorting out and every morning I had to plug in this extension cord so the freezer would turn back on. Hmmmmm, priorities.

So when my husband decided to take Christmas away on the 26th.....he had every right. He had played Santa long enough. When you live in small spaces and the tree blocks your passage to the potty, it's time to move on into the new year....with a pre-tree bon fire.

At this time every year I start thinking about money. I get worried about spending too much. I get worried about not spending enough. I wonder if it's all worth it in the end. I watch the stupid commercials and decide that I want nothing to do with it all. That's not very realistic, though. So I try to balance in the middle somewhere.

I am surrounded by blessings. I don't recognize them as blessings sometimes because I am distracted by their screaming and bouncing. But blessings they are indeed. They are the blessings of Christmas. That little hand pulling on my pant leg, those little pleading eyes, and that big fussing mouth. They all just want my TIME. And that is my LOVE. And that I can do. They think I am the bees knees and they just want me to want to BE with them. And guess what? One day I am going to want the same thing from them!! SO I hope that the gift I can give is patience when I want to scream, a snuggle when I'm "too" busy to sit, and a reading a book when all I want to do is close my eyes. May we all make choices that allow us to notice, enjoy and make time for our little blessings.