All of my friends have written super cute Christmas blogs as of late. I guess I haven’t jumped on board because I am not yet ready for Christmas. Of course, I love this season. I love the sights, and the smells, the music and how excited my kids are for all of the presents that are to come. Yes, that is fun. I try not to get too legalistic. I rolled over about 10 seconds before Paul and I had dozed off the other night to remind him that we have no Christmas ornaments. Our last house was fully stocked with Christmas décor and we took that for granted as we moved into a house where we’d have to supply most of our own things. I have to say, I’m grateful for the thrift stores in this area, Red Church thrift in particular. It was a one-stop-shop kinda deal. The best part was all of the handmade things that we found. Sure, there is little to no sentimental value but I am what you would call a sucker for things that have been crafted by hand. I didn’t make the ornaments (who has time for that?), but I imagine some precious old lady rocking in front of a fireplace knitting a miniature stocking thinking, “if only I had grandchildren…I guess I could donate it?”
Or better yet, a family that enjoyed Grandma’s knick knacks for many years, but just couldn’t fit it on the tree anymore, what, with all of the handmade ornaments they make with their children?
I tried to paint with my kids the other day and we just ended up covered in red and green. Along with my table. I didn’t have newspapers so we spread out a bunch of those cream colored folders that continuously build up in my junk drawers. It wasn’t enough to keep Jake from dying my table. Yes, welcome to my life. I could probably hover over the various spots and scratch them off with a butter knife, but once again, who has time for that? No, I’m tackling the spots one by one with my fingernail while I eat dinner. Multi-tasking at it’s best. I have a friend who can make dinner, talk on the phone, and breastfeed at the same time so I really don’t deserve a trophy or anything.
Aren’t you grateful for my Christmas post? I’ve done nothing to prepare for my favorite season. Just last night Paul asked for cookies. “Don’t you want to make some for me?” Ugh. No, I don’t feel like baking. You see, the power being out for the first 3 days of December didn’t help. The power being out kind of feels like 3 Saturdays in a row.
The first Saturday is like, “HURRAY! I don’t have to do anything and I’m not being lazy!”
The second Saturday is like, “There is a lot to do today…but I really don’t want to do anything.”
The Third Saturday is like, “I am so incredibly, annoyingly unproductive. I’ve done nothing in three days. If I do not accomplish something I will explode. Who wants to go to Wal-mart?”
Yes, annoyingly.
I’m stuck in lazy world. Thanks to the power outage the dishes piled up, laundry piled up, and all of the homemade Christmas presents I’ve lined up for myself to complete piled up as well. Not to mention, I’ve decided I want to paint something for a certain family member and my goal is something like what Thomas Kinkade creates. I now own canvases, paintbrushes, and various acrylics and that makes me an artist. Apparently. I realize I am much too ambitious for my self-esteem to handle, but I want to do this. And I want to finish my homemade Christmas projects even though when I actually did the math I realized I could buy someone two of what I’m making for them for what it is costing to buy the materials. Hey, and that’s not including the hundreds of years it is going to take me to complete this. But at least I’ll have Christmas presents for everyone when I’m 124 years old and do not feel like sewing.
But that’s ok. I think it is ok that the consumer in me hates this holiday. Because this holiday has been corrupted by consumerism and I want to keep that part of me suppressed. I do happen to be making my own Christmas list, full of parenting books, prayer books, rubber stamps, a cutting board, and cardstock (Ok ladies, you didn't tell me that card making is the most expensive hobby in the world!), and other things to fill up the little time I get to do what I want to do. But that's the fun part about about Christmas, it's a time of the year set aside to do things for others. Especially creative things. That's the real reason that I love this season! So bring on the Christmas music, the ghost stories (I’m just kidding, who does that?), and an extra dose of Jesus. That is all I want for myself and my family. And for goodness sakes, some heavenly peace. That will do just fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment