Traditions Schmaditions

Sometimes traditions have to be altered. Or put on hold. And sometimes your kids can teach you a real lesson in learning to realize that the traditions themselves aren't what's important as much as the time spent together.

I was severely bummed that we couldn't afford to go to the tree farm this year (as in, pouting like a child). I thought we could. I even posted below that we WERE going, no matter what. But when the bills came in before we headed out on Sunday morning, I knew that the extra $20 for the tree farm tree and gas for 45 minutes in one direction just wasn't smart right now. So, we headed to Menards and got a tree that was just as good as any tree we would have gotten from the beautiful tree farm. Though Menards didn't have the hay wagon, hot cider, sugar cookies and gorgeous, rolling farmland surrounding it, it DID have an indoor playground that the kids just about DIED over. And though I might have felt a little bit silly taking pictures at MENARDS, I brought the camera anyway. And I snapped away whenever a salesperson wasn't staring at the crazy lady with the camera in the garden area. Menards or tree farm, I was documenting the finding of the family Christmas Tree.

Behold...Cutie pie. Rawr.
Egg Nog smiles before bed...

It's the small things that I am having to give up or alter that are making me realize that no matter how bad things may appear to me, I am still blessed. My family still HAS a tree this year, though many would consider it a luxury. Though fewer and less expensive than years in the past, there WILL be presents beneath that tree. Though it's a rare treat to be able to purchase Egg Nog for my kids, I CAN do it, and they are able to appreciate it all the more since they taste it that much less. Though we may have to change the way we celebrate and live our lives, we are STILL celebrating and living and that is more than most of the world is able to claim.

We are blessed. We are blessed. We are blessed...

Sugar High

Honestly, all I have in me right now is a half a can of Pepsi and some apple muffins. I am tired. I am cold. My tree is listing to the right and is half-lit as 4 strands just doesn't cut it. My fingers are actually aching from the cold. I'm probably dying from inadequate circulation. They're going to start cutting off my appendages before I turn 40 because of the gangrene that will eat away my poor, blood-starved extremities. I'll sink into a serious depression from not being able to not only walk and wipe my own butt, but from not being able to write online and share all of my minuscule tragedies with the entire (or at least .00043%) internet. I'll probably still be having the same argument with Justin over how adding zeroes to the end of a decimal does NOT change its value ("But it's different! It IS! The number is different, Mom!!"). I'll probably still be wearing the Arizona Jeans sweatshirt from 1992 that I have on at this moment as it'll be the only thing warm enough to keep the blood flowing through my frigid torso. That'll be me: 40-years-old-weeping-legless-armless-poorly-dressed and banging my chilly head against my keyboard in an attempt to document the non-existent happenings of my life...

Damn.

I guess for Christmas, I could really use some slippers and cozy gloves. And a new sweatshirt...

Brilliant ways to save a little cash this Christmas...

Forget paying high prices for gassing up the van. Tie the kids to a sled and have them work for those presents!As for trimming the tree, Corinne has found a FABULOUS way to utilize that tree skirt which was just sitting in the corner, all forlorn (our fake tree was ruined in the flood this summer and I've been putting aside a little bit of cash for our traditional tree farm)...
I'm considering wrapping her up in lights and sticking a star on her head and calling it a day.
Too bad for her though, because we're hoping to hit the farm this Sunday. Hope you find the time to fit a holiday tradition or two into the weekend and spend some time with your family!

Check out my review blog as I have 2 giveaways going on right now!

The Pink Glove

Surrounded by kids and schoolwork today. So I thought I'd share this YouTube that's going around the internet like wildfire.
Let's all hope the cure is found soon. Be sure to do your self-exams, ladies. Or get a willing significant other to help you and turn it into something more exciting! Whoot!

They say that girls are easier when it comes to clothing. They LIE.

I never knew that so much of my life would be dedicated to forcing my sons to wear underwear. Honestly? I mean, SERIOUSLY? This is an issue? This is a discussion that had to happen more than once? And often enough that I am frustrated to the point that I feel the need to write a blog post about it?

Apparently, so. Apparently, wearing underwear that isn't soft enough/loose enough/tight enough/blue enough/filled-with-the-ability-to-make-you-fly enough is a fate worse than being stabbed in the eyes with spit-sharpened candy canes. Apparently, going commando in JEANS is more comfortable than undergarments that cannot meet the high standards of my underwear snobs.

But the Battle of the Underwear pales in comparison to the war that is fought every day between a certain 7 year old and I. This particular war is the bloodiest of all and deals not with whether they have boxers or briefs but whether or not his socks have 3 gold stripes on them.

I shit you not. He will NOT wear socks without the right stripes on them. Despite the fact that we have hundreds of white boy socks in his approximate foot size, there are about 5 pairs of socks in our home that Evan finds comfortable enough to wear. Sadly, for all of our eardrums, I am not adept at keeping the whites clean or the socks matched. This ineptness results in the piercing of said eardrums when aforementioned middle child is forced to remove the 3 day old socks from his petri-dish feet and he realizes that the replacement socks being casually offered are NOT. GOLD. STRIPED.

And this is the reason that there are days that my children go commando while wearing socks that could walk on their own....

Hope

Ever have a song in your head that just keeps repeating?

Yeah. That's me today...



Of course, if it had to be any song, I'm glad it's this one. Can't quite decide if it's a sweetly sad song or sadly sweet song... Seeing as how my mood after listening to it is never the same as the time before, I do believe that there are several messages I get out of it.

Hope you are filled with hope today. Hope you had at least one brilliantly beautiful moment where you said "Yes! This. This is why I am on Earth. This is fabulous and amazing and I am grateful and awed by the chance I have to live even one day of this life."

Being thankful

*
Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope your Thanksgiving was fully of family...

young and old...Hope you have a warm and safe home to sleep at night, with plenty to eat (including stolen candy!),

and someone who loves you.


*Like my shirt? It's the one from eShakti and I have the gift code for $20 for everyone on my review site!