It's funny how some days run more smoothly than others, and often I'm not even sure of the reason. Moods, I suppose. I strained a muscle in my mid-back, and it keeps waking me up in the middle of the night. Every shift causes a shooting pain. Lack of quality sleep definitely impacts my patience and the quality of my days.
That said, I'm still in a pretty positive space. We are enjoying all the usual activities of the season - cookies, hot chocolate, sledding, Christmas movies… It's hard for me to be in a bad mood this time of year. We got our first proper snow yesterday - just a couple inches, but enough for the boys to spend hours outside, sledding and playing and throwing snowballs. Enough to blanket the trees with a coat of white.
I'm also so happy that our family does a good job of blocking out a lot of the commercialism of the season. We spend money on good wine, chocolate and other cookie ingredients, beef tenderloin for the big day, lobster for Christmas Eve… And we love spending time together. I watch the commercials…so much crappy stuff. I see the news stories…people literally fighting each other to buy things. It makes no sense to me. Don't get me wrong…Santa treats the boys well, I send a little something to nieces and nephews, I love sending out Christmas cards, and I spend money mailing packages of something homemade to my siblings. That's a lot, and it definitely adds up. But it's nothing I stress over, and if I ever couldn't do any of those things, everybody would be totally fine with it. (I've skipped years of cards, and sending packages to my siblings is a recent activity.) Simplicity is a beautiful thing.
Speaking of Christmas, I have to admit that there is a part of me that is uncomfortable with telling my kids about Santa Claus. I love the magic of Christmas, and I love the openness of the kids to believe in it so fully. But there are times...I feel like I'm lying to my kids. Yikes. When I caught my mom filling the stockings at age five, she told me the truth. I used to be a little mad at her for not allowing me to believe just a while longer, but now I think I understand. Aaron is a solid believer - he told me this week that some people don't believe in Santa, but that he totally does. I am going to watch Miracle on 34th Street again and smile at the beauty of his belief in magic.
found via pinterest…source unknown
Oh - lucky you to have snow! Hope your back is better soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about keeping things simple for Christmas. We've always bought gifts we could afford and never got caught up with confusing buying stuff for caring. I love the food, the decorations, the time spent together. My son had his doubts about Santa from an early age and on discovering the truth, asked why we had lied and pretended that someone else had given the presents we had bought. But I still like the magic which Santa brings into young lives and maybe it paves the way for dispelling other myths.
love it. keeping it simple is hard enough, right? sorry about your back...hope it heels up in time for skiing. for me, sleep is the key to happiness, patience, good parenting, and harmony at home...hope you get caught up on yours! xoxoxo
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