The Ls are out, swim class with Papa, Budster is at day care and the house looks ... like always,
but for some reason I am not feeling up to task (again) and after reading
this article about the meaning of giving and materialism of this season I just stopped and started thinking (again).
Yesterday over at SouleMama I read her post about
making merry and family traditions, about not commercializing the whole season and that what they will remember is not what they got but what we did ... or as my friend SunInn calls it "Full Immersion Parenting".
Then my thoughts traveled 12 months back when we spent the best xmas this family has ever had away from people, malls, big parties and away from TV, computers, no phone reception and no time keeping.
This last Christmas has been my happy thought for 12 months now and I still keep going back there when things get to hectic and stressful here, in the real world.
Ask my kids what they remember and they'll tell you "reading "the Lion in the Box" with Papa, tea parties with the whole family, sledding, skiing and making the biggest ice ornament ever.
They will not mention the Barbie, well maybe the Barbie (Lulu does love this crap!), but definitely not the Star Wars toy that hasn't left it's toy bin in months.
$100 that could have been saved and spent one another night at Sorenson's or another get away with the family.
Three weeks ago we spent three days in Yosemite, right after Thanksgiving.
We just wanted to get away. Have some time.
We drove there, all stressed and grumpy, there was fighting in the back seat and silence treatment in the front seat.
After spending three days away from the city and it's lights we came back, happy, laughing and much less tense in the shoulders and neck.
There was time to read ...
Time to relax in the HUGE spa tub...
There were channels (after watching the infomercial for the Ninja cooker the Ls insist we buy it since it can cook anything ... there is your sign!) ...
Time for line-ups ...
Time for sister love instead of back seat fights ...
Time to smile instead of death-ray-looks ...
Time to breathe ...
To pose ...
Time to work your muscles ...
Dance in the leaves ...
Just look ...
Time to climb up a water fall ...
Work even harder on your muscles ...
Time to stop and watch in silence ...
Time to put on your cape ...
Time to watch your shadows ...
Time to see in color ...
be in awe ...
Time to wear your cape NAKED!
Time to tickle...
(I do avoid nudity shots in my posts BUT this one had to be posted, for the pure look on my husband's face, laughing his canadian butt off while "spa-ing" with his Ls).
Time to pose ...
Time to fly ...
Tatatatahhhh ....
Time to jump ....
Time to dream ...
... and swaddle yourself.
Time for secret messages ...
Time to look up into the blue sky ...
Enjoy the scenery ...
... and never getting tired of its beauty!
This time of the year tends to get so hectic and chaotic.
There are people to see, places to go, things to do ... always something and since its only once a year one MUST do it all! No skipping, no failing.
But then one ends up tired and cranky and everybody else feels the same.
This is NOT what this time of year is all about!
Not at all!
And I tell you, I am a HUGE hypocrite, because we do it too!
Run from here to there, get this and that.
For crying out loud we are only 4 people and this is the stack of xmas CRAP that is in my garage ...
See the PILE of boxes in the back?!
Its insane!
I AM INSANE!!!
What the heck am I doing???
And I did try not to go overboard and not to get too much.
I am preaching it for crying out loud but then there is a sale on craft sets here, a dress for a certain doll that some young lady wished for, a game that looks OH SO fun and, and, and ...
Pat bought a new iPad for the family for xmas today (now this one I approve of, since I get to write posts for my blog from the couch or the hotel room or wherever I am and hopefully this will help me get back into recording our lives much better than I have in the last months/year.)
Plus there is still stuff that hasn't arrived yet.
I read my beloved SouleMama's blog yesterday ...
(something that I haven't done in a long time but due to my newly acquired Arthritis virus I had to stop teaching for a little while until my hands function again without me crunching my teeth in pain and my body can stay awake for more than 2 hours)
... and it started crawling up my spine and when I read the article about "Ditch the stuff" it finally reached my brain.
And here I am sitting, a garage full of STUFF to make sure my kids are extra, super-du-duper happy, way too much money spent and we haven't even left for the cabin trip yet.
Last weekend Pat went skiing with some buddies (some much needed boys time) and the Ls and I had the weekend to ourselves.
We wore PJ's for most of the Sunday, finally made our Gingies and celebrated the 2nd of Advent the way it ought to be celebrated.
We finished the Sunday with going to the BEST Live Nativity Scene I have EVER seen.
We had SO MUCH FUN and I heard the Ls saying "this is the BEST day ever!" over and over again.
We didn't go shopping, they didn't get presents and we had all day to just play.
So simple!
So easy!
Now back to my garage ... I am thinking that all that stuff in these boxes will NOT do what I thought it would.
It will satisfy for a moment, maybe a week or a month but in the long run it will be forgotten, like the Barbie and the star Wars toy from last year.
Laying in a toy bin, played with once in a while ... maybe.
So it has to go back.
YES IT DOES!!!
Not all of it but MOST/ A LOT of it.
And what can't go back will go on the shelf, waiting for a proper moment or a friend's b-day.
And to prove it to me and whoever cares I will interview the family and ask what was the best part of last years xmas and the year before.
And the rest of the 1 1/2 weeks until D-Day will be spent enjoying this most wonderful season of all, finally starting and finishing the handmade gifts I had planned since ... forever, baking and eating cookies, reading xmas books and having fun with Hyder :)
I suck for having given into the commercialism of the season (once again, despite all of my proclamations and dreams of being NOT like this) but I hope I can mend what I have (almost) broken, undo what can be undone and save what can be saved.
Big words, plans and promises for a Wednesday afternoon but holy smokes it hit me like a wall of bricks today ... NO MORE of this!
Its time for the Solstice book and it's wisdom to remind me (us) of what is most precious at this time, really all the time.
For my little Ls will not be little for much longer and the times we spend crafting at the kitchen-table will soon be memories.
So I shall go and soak up every second of these precious moments and while doing so I will learn what matters most, LOVE, FAMILY, HEALTH and FRIENDSHIP!
None of which can be bought, for any amount of money!
Happy thoughts like these (Xmas 2011) ... are priceless!
We are richer than we thought! Aren't we?!
... my thoughts on a Wednesday afternoon.
Addendum @ 8:41 pm
After interviewing the Ls this is what was said:
L LOVED the cabin,
setting up her legos in the hiding space
and Christmas dinner.
Lulu LOVED the cabin,
the tea parties (I knew it!) and
playing with Lillie.
Point made and proven.
And off to the garage I go ...time to pack up all that STUFF and make room and time for MUCH better and
more important things!
