Down to Earth

I discovered this blog a few nights ago and have been reading it over and over again.
This woman speaks very wisely and hit a nail straight-on.

I love this one: [quote from one of her posts "getting the simple life"]

"If you haven't already discovered the power of your own home, you are in for a delightful and beautiful shock. Come closer and let me whisper this in your ear, because if everyone knows this, it will cause a revolution. The work you do in your own home by creating a warm and secure place for yourself and your family to live in will enrich you and make you a different person. It saved me from a life of ridiculous spending and mindless acquisition, it slowed me down enough to allow me to see that there is beauty here, if I care to nurture and encourage it. When I took the time to change my attitude towards my home, it not only gave me the energy to do housework and the strength to make the physical changes so our home better suited our family, it changed me in the process. And it has been a beautiful change that I am grateful for every day."

I have been reading about sustainability, living green, living more frugal and being more respectful towards our wonderful planet.

Slowly I am starting to get it ... life is not just about STUFF it's about life and what we do with it.
We have been trying to "clean house" for over a year now. I don't know how many trips to the Donation Center I took (they know me on a first name basis if that means anything :) and we still have too much.

So this morning, after I tried cleaning the play room for the 10th time within 2 hours I stopped, pondered, looked around me and started doing this ...

Taking a complete inventory of all the toys and games in the play room 

with the specific goal of REDUCTION in mind.

Chaos!!!

The Ls were completely freaked out. All they could say was

"Please don't sell it Mama."

and I replied

"We are not selling it sillies ... we are donating."

We had a little chat about kids with less, no toys, no homes and such and they started to calm down a bit

(I had to swear by Toy Story NOT to touch the Legos ... since Jay LOVES them.)

While I was going nuts in the play room the Ls decided to play a few games and entertain themselves ...

Lego meets Nativity Scene and Ed surrounded by complete disaster.

Lebkuchen and a game of Pirate Boats

Lulu got really into it. 

Result:

A completely packed 4Runner (I didn't take a picture since it was POURING out there) which will make a stop at Savers Donation Station tomorrow after church, some items in the garage for keep and this for Nimi for her soon-to-be in-home day care. 

We ended up with this ...

Ed snoring close to the heater ... it's a wonder he hasn't burned his paws or bum.

This is soooo awesome!

OMG I am in HEAVEN!!! 

You can walk, you can see and you can actually lay on the floor and play a game or wrestle or sleep (like Ed is doing right now).

All this "STUFF" has cluttered up our house and our lives.
It's time to make room for breathing and playing instead of spending our days searching for things in these masses of stuff and cleaning, cleaning and cleaning.

Every time we do another "cleansing session" the Ls end up playing better than before.
They have more room to build things, less confusion about what to play with, less to clean up and more fun while doing so.

We replaced that LOAD of STUFF with this ...

A box of recycled items which we have been collecting .

A hot glue gun, paints, tape and whatever else they need

... now go and build and create my wonderful children!!!

The goal is to turn this box of trash into Christmas Tree decorations this year.
Our tree will be decorated with self-made ornaments and chains only. It'll be interesting to see how it'll look.
I am pretty sure it will NOT be the most beautiful tree in the Bay Area but we'll have fun creating and making, gluing and sticking and whatever else we'll come up with.

This will be the motto for this entire Christmas season for us.
I am committed to doing more with less and to have a blast doing it.
I already explained to the Ls that Santa is very busy this year and he can only bring one present for each of them and their stockings and they didn't seem to mind at all (so far at least).

I much rather spend my Advent time with the Ls in the kitchen or making ornaments than chasing the toy of the year or making USPS rich by sending STUFF to people who already have enough STUFF.

All I remember from my Christmases as a little girl was the preparation time.
Baking with my mom, brining the Stollen to the local bakery to have it baked in their huge ovens and carry the hot and yummy bread back home to powder it with tons of sugar and then eat it all day after day after day.
Baking cookies and crafting presents for my Omi and my Opa.
I remember the Advents Calendar ... just one with pictures or a single piece if chocolate ... it was so cool!!!
I remember the tree on the 24th at night (we celebrate Christmas Eve), the sparkles and the magic.
We kids didn't get to see the tree before, this was the first time you'd see it with all it's decorations and in candle light.

The STUFF under the tree ... I hardly remember much of it.
I do remember the cross country ski one year and the rocking horse for my brother. Oh yeas and then the cook book I got when I was older (I was so MAD!!! ;)

L is getting older by the second and the memories we make now will accompany her throughout her life.
When she is in her 30ties (good-grief ... I'll be ... OLD!!!) I want her to remember traditions and time together with us as a family.

The iPod or X-Box or whatever else is out there will be an antique piece by then anyways ... she will not care.
But the time she was baking cookies with her Mama and her Lulu and she sneezed into the powder sugar and powdered the entire kitchen she will ... hopefully.

The combined gift to our family for Christmas will be the cancellation of our Cable TV.
We only watch movies now anyways and we can go without cartoons, Reality TV and Criminal Minds (sorry Pat!!!).

It'll force us to do more with each other than to sit there and stare bluntly at some stupid show wishing afterwards we had never waisted two hours of our life on it in the first place.

Time will tell how well we'll do with these changes but I am quite optimistic.
I grew up living very simple and have very fond memories of that time, happy memories and the fact that we didn't have so much STUFF didn't matter at all. It made us more creative, more helpful and brought us closer.
I hope it'll do the same for the CA CZs!

Good night world ... off to dumping the toys I hid from the Ls into the donation box so they won't see it ...
hi-hi-hi ... EVIL mother that I am ... but this singing Elmo Radio HAS to go!!! ;)