I've been getting ready for Thanksgiving, which is my most favorite of all holidays. I love it. It's really an American holiday. Everyone can celebrate it. You can dress however you choose, you can do whatever you want. You don't need to buy presents, and you can add as much or as little religion as you like. The day is a celebration of gratitude, and for those of us that are lucky enough to have it, togetherness - I just love it.
HOWEVER, I get kind of freaked out thinking about all that comes AFTER Thanksgiving. We do A LOT of Christmas shopping. We have lots and lots of little nieces and nephews to shop for. We have Godchildren, and little friends all over the country that we like to ship gifts off to. We give teacher gifts, and gifts to our families. We buy gifts for our own children. It's a lot to do. Remember too that Mike is Santa's personal assistant at this time of year, and he spends most of December racing against the sleigh in his Big Brown Jet. SO, it's up to me to "get er dun." And in order for me to be able to truly enjoy the wonderful day of Thanksgiving, I need to feel no stress about the coming holiday season...so...now don't hate me...I get all of my shopping done before Halloween. Yeah, and the wrapping. Then I get it all boxed, taped up and addressed so that all I have to do is head to the UPS store and hit SEND. It's done. So that's where I've been. And this is only the second year that I've done it this way. I could never be this together with a baby baby in the house.
I do have lots to share - lots of photos and stories, and things that have happened around here, but for now, I'd like to share one of the many snippets I have taped inside the kitchen cabinets. I read it everyday, and I've been meaning to put it up on the blog, so why not now? This one comes from the 2nd Presbyterian Weekday School Newsletter in Louisville, Kentucky. It's about the difference between Self-Esteem and Self-Respect. I love to read it each day and think about the qualities that I want my children to have not necessarily from me but FOR THEMSELVES. These are qualities that I'd like to have in my life, too. Have a good evening.
SELF-ESTEEM SELF-RESPECT
ill-mannered well-mannered
self-centeredness other-centeredness
futility perseverance
discontentment contentment
insecurity confidence
arrogance humility
greed gratitude
happiness (which is fleeting) joy (which is lasting)
And speaking of JOY...I wanted to share my wrapping job for Christmas. I had to include some photos of my Christmas gifts, all wrapped up and ready to get boxed up.
I'd like to dedicate this year's recession/environmentally friendly wrapping paper to Alana, who encourages everyone to make beautiful things and beautiful lives out of what they have. Her blog is called Gray Matters, and it's on my favorites page. Anyway, I wrapped my gifts this year in Mike's expired navigational charts. He has to switch them out often, so we keep a big stack of them for the kids to play with. I like how they came out!
I guess I CAN do a craft after all! Good Night, and Welcome Back to The Wheel!
