sunday

mood: achey--stinkin curse of eve man.
listening to: jack johnson
last read: dreamer's comment (happy december to you too!)

i am going to let out angst over tree decorating. so we pulled out our decorations totes, all geared up to put the trimmings on the tree that has been in our living room for a week now. i had bought two extra strands of lights to make sure we had enough lights for the delightful beast of a tree. well, one and half of the three strands we already had didnt work. one of the new strands i bought has a white cord instead of green, and the three working strands put together only cover the top third of the tree. i know its my own dang fault, but still.

perspective? i do realize that in the light of all things perilous, my lights do not top the list. i give thanks for the fact that i have electricity. oh--and we spent $60 on lights, decorations, and extension cords for the outside of the house, only to find that they dont stay on for more than two minutes before they trigger some electical switch to flip and the lights go out. (we really are not all clark griswald or anything. we only have 4 strands of energy efficient led lights, one reindeer and five candy canes. what gives???)

oh yeah, perspective... "And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime. the greatest gift they'll get this year is life. where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow. do they know it's Christmastime at all?"

stinkin lights.

saturday

mood: almost exhausted
listening to: noah play "shark slayer" with his plastic marine mammals
last read: jenn's bliggity blog

so, i did not realize it had been so long since i blogged. my sincerest apologies to all my fans, all two of you!!

had a nice day. shopped for and put up christmas lights. we have five candy canes, 4 strands of energy efficient led c9 lights, and one reindeer. it is definitely humble compared to our neighborhood, but it is a definite step up from our one strand of mini lights last year. noah loves and cherishes every bit of it, which brings me so much joy.

i am disappointed, but not dwelling on, because of the "things" and traditions we have yet to impart. but i'm giving myself grace because this year i am swamped beyond sanity with other commitments. but, here is my list of christmas time comings and goings that i would like to see as part of our traditions and celebrations:

*once a week community service as a family beginning two weeks before thanksgiving (this is my attempt to really try and turn the focus off of the actual day of christmas and the whole gift shebang and turn the focus on to giving and serving others. my goal in this is to raise children who appreciate what they have and not to be disappointed with what they do not have)

*an advent calendar

*do something christmas-y or winter-y every day in december leading up to the 25th. (for instance on 12/1 we put up the christmas lights, on 12/2 we get hot cocoa and walk around the duck pond, on 12/3 we drive up to candy cane lane and look at lights, on 12/4 we....) i first need to find 25 things to do.

*have a holiday open house

that's it for now. i'm officially exhausted now. good night