The life that we live

Today is a day for relaxing after the kids had a crazy day for Christmas. It’s time to sit back, watch the kids play with their new things, maybe I’ll play with my new camera, and relax. I will take plenty of pictures you can be sure. I only have a week before New Years and I want to be sure that is a happy holiday as well. I don’t really drink so we do silly things like watch movies, eat popcorn, and play games. The kids and I drink Sparkling Cider or Sparkling Juice and we pull out any frozen left overs we had from Christmas there are always some. I don’t generally do any real cooking on New Years Eve except to put SaurKraut and Keilbasa in a crock pot and pull out mashed potatoes from Christmas out of the freezer. That is our typical New Years meal.. Saurkraut and Keilbasa over mashed potatoes, hey if you haven’t tasted it before.. don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. It’s good…lol. I personally look forward to watching the New Years Eve parties on TV. They are fun to watch.

I’m Dreaming Of  A White Christmas… Just like the one’s I used to know. Ok so maybe it isn’t typically white here for Christmas but one can still dream right? As close to a white Christmas most of us see out here is the movie. By the way I will be watching it after I’m done writing this.. I can’t wait. I love that movie, as I have said many many times before during this month in my other blog, it always Always makes me smile. So I can dream of a white Christmas, I can watch a White Christmas, even if I can’t have a white Christmas. Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Ok I warned you yesterday that time was almost up. This is your last chance for any real progress in the shopping department. It is always good, if you have the patience, to get stocking stuffers and such today because there are always those last minute sales from the stores trying to earn that last minute buck. I won’t lie to you, it is going to be a tough shopping experience and by the time you are done you are probably going to be exhausted. You will also be glad to be done when you finally get home. Are all of your stockings hung with care? Do you have all of the wrapping paper, bows, and tape you will need to wrap any presents that have not yet been wrapped? Make sure because I’m sure you don’t want to be cutting up old news papers and paper bags at the last minute and using shoe strings as ribbon. Any way, I hope your shopping is done and you don’t have to be one of the many faces of the Christmas crowd but if you are be patient and cheerful. Make it easier on yourself. AND for goodness sake DRIVE CAREFUL!!!!

During the holidays family always wants to be together so how do you split it up if you are in a relationship? This is something you have to come to an agreement on or it can cause tension between the two of you making the holiday season not so bright. When I was married my mom was pretty flexible about when we would see her and my dad lived kind of far so I would see him sometime within a week of Christmas. I usually let my ex-husband decide if he wanted Christmas Day or Christmas Eve with his family but I know some families only have a big gathering or meal on one of the days. I tend to celebrate on both days so I was open to which ever he chose, however if this is a problem with your families maybe suggest they come to you. You can celebrate both days inviting both families on one day or one family on the Eve and one family on the Day of Christmas. This way everyone gets to see you and everyone is happy. It’s hard when you are a young couple with no children because the family generally wants to keep you all to themselves, not quite ready to let you go. It is a little easier when you have kids because then you are starting your own family traditions. I generally cook both days and invite everyone over. This year my mom is cooking on the eve and I am cooking on the day. I can’t wait for this years celebrations. It’s going to be wonderful and my significant other will be with me on both days. His family lives in another state so this is not an issue for me any more but even if it was, I am adaptable.

My kids were determined to save money so that they could buy Christmas gifts this year. They babysit on occasion but because it is so few and far between for the jobs they were coming up short for what they wanted to spend. We live in apartment buildings so they were asking the apartment manager for odd jobs they could do to earn extra cash. That worked for a small amount of money, earning about two dollars every week or two. That wasn’t enough to make them happy so they continued to look for odd jobs asking me for suggestions so here were my suggestions… They put up flyers stating that they would rake leaves for two dollars a garbage bag. They would help decorate Christmas trees and indoor decorations that were no more than 6 feet off of the ground. And last but not least they would help decorate yards for the holidays. They made some money doing this. These are things that they can do to make some extra cash and there are a lot of people that want these things done but just don’t have the time or the energy. They provided a public service and it worked out nicely for everyone. I’m glad they took the initiative to earn money for themselves and not ask for cash instead. It is a sweet idea to want to buy presents for the ones you love. I have to say I have some pretty terrific kids.

We all know that we are supposed to dress up for midnight mass or your Christmas church service and we all know you are supposed to dress up to go to Christmas gatherings at friends and family’s houses, so do you dress up at home when it’s just you and the fam hanging out with presents everywhere and dinner in the oven? Well I used to get up early and get dressed in a nice outfit then start on Christmas dinner. Go to church and come home, check on dinner and go about my day. I would not change out of my Christmas cloths but it seems kind of silly to me to do that. It’s not that I think my family doesn’t deserve the same attention as to make myself look nice for them ( I try to normally) I just think it’s silly when I am going to spend most of my day in the kitchen cooking and cleaning to be in cloths that I would normally only wear on special occasions. Yes Christmas is a special occasion and yes I want to look nice but with all of the work I’m doing on Christmas and with the meal and such I want to be comfortable. This year we are all, in my family and my best friend, spending the day in our pajama’s. None of us are getting dressed. We are all staying comfy cozy for the entire day. I will of course get up before everyone and get a shower but I will remain in pj’s!! SO what do you wear for your Christmas Day?

When I was little I couldn’t wait until Thanksgiving Day because that was the day that our town and the surrounding towns would put out the city Christmas lights. There were lights on every lamp post and around every single shop window. It was a rare thing to see a house without Christmas lights shining brightly around windows and doors. The people with yards had decorations in the yard and those who lived in a house had decorations around the roof. It was a wonderful thing. It is saddening that to see a handful of Christmas lights you have to drive a few miles. There are more houses unlit on any given street than there are lit. I miss the lights, the trees, the decorations, and the celebration. I don’t see Christmas Carolers or anything like that any more either. Maybe I’m out dated in my beliefs, maybe what I want is in the far past, but I some times have a sudden urge to go to the store, but out the christmas decorations and attack each and every house and building that isn’t decorated. That’s just me though. I wish the kids would see what Christmas was like when I was a kid. How everyone would wish you merry greetings and mean it. How the holidays truly did bring out the best in everyone. I miss it all.

I understand the politically correct thing to do is to not celebrate Christmas in schools, but I have to admit it saddens me. The schools used to have such wonderful Christmas parties and holiday plays or performances. For a few years there they were keeping the Christmas stuff completely Santa Claus based. Then they were incorporating different religions and traditions including all of the people in the area’s religious views. The school did some amazing performances with so many different traditions from so many parts of the world that it was quite enlightening. This year however they had no performance. This was a family tradition, going to these performances every year. Now they have nothing. It makes me sad. I miss Christmas celebrations, I miss people saying Merry Christmas, I miss the kids school Christmas Parties. It all makes me sad. I feel like part of Christmas is being stolen from me. I don’t want people of different religions to feel bad either believe me, I just wish there was a way to celebrate all the holidays and all of the traditions in a non offending way. I dont’ want anyone left out. All of it just makes me sad. I wish my kids could see how Christmas was when I was a kid.

The most technological present I wanted when I was 12 and 13 years old was a radio. I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s and a walkman was the latest and greatest invention. That was as modern as it got. I remember when computers were the size of rooms and now you can get on the internet on a palm sized phone. My kids wanted a phone that of course I was torn about, but this Christmas they wanted digital camera’s, camcorders, mp3 players and such.. This stuff is making my head spin. These are things that I didn’t even own myself until recent years…  I still don’t own a camcorder. The funny thing is that it takes me hours of reading manuals and messing with buttons with a lot of mistakes before I figure the gadgets out but you hand one of these things to my kids and they will have it figured out in ten minutes flat sucessfully using them. It’s amazing the things the kids have today, it’s even more amazing how tech savy they are. It’s funny that I have to go to my kids for help for my new technical support.

Ok so the public schools are politically correct now, right? They are supposed to be, yes. So the kids get winter break now instead of Christmas Break. That is fine with me… but, they get out the 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve. I hate that because it always seems like the churches youth group Christmas party is the day before winter break and the kids are cranky going to school the last day, unrested from attending. There are always those who celebrate early, even my church has their Christmas Party early so that families can spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with their family. I always wonder if I should let the kid miss school on days after parties or let them go in late. I know that isn’t good and I never do it but I always feel bad for them when they seem tired. I even leave early so that they have plenty of time to get ready for bed so they are prepared for waking early the next day but they always seem so excited from the party that they have trouble sleeping. Just that one day. Two days before Christmas Eve.. I wish they would make their parties for the weekends instead of during the week. Ugh.. I guess the kids will just have to be tired for the last day of school before break.