Handmade

These days it's so easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas.

We loose sight of what's important,

and our main focus become gifts.

We have a long list of who we need to buy for,

and for most of us,

a short budget to do so.

We go out searching for the best bang for our buck,

and a lot of people are willing to sacrifice some very important moments with their families.

Thanksgiving has gone to the way side.

People push it aside as if it wasn't an important holiday,

all for the sake of searching out the best deals for Christmas.

It happens every year and is only getting worse with each passing year.

Do we even remember what Thanksgiving is?

Thanksgiving is a time we are supposed to gather with family.

Contemplate and share what we are thankful for,

and how we've been blessed.

We gather,

make great food together,

eat said food,

and create memories to last a lifetime.

No Thanksgiving is ever the same.

Every year the little ones grow,

gracing us with a new years worth of crazy joy and laughter.

We will never get another chance to recreate these memories.

To give up these precious memories all in the name of shopping..

is just plain sad.

This society is now spending their Thanksgiving,

a day to be thankful for what we have,

to face the crowds and fight over material things that just won't matter in a years time.

So I offer you a new idea.

Or a "recycled" idea.

Handmade gifts.

Let's get back to enjoying the holidays,

spending time with our kids,

and reminding them what these holidays are all about.

Family.

God.

Togetherness.

Let's put a little more time into our gifts,

a little (a lot really) less money,

and put some more magic back into our lives.

I'm enjoying spending time with my daughter creating things out of "nothing".

We've been knitting scarfs and hats.

Instead of buying clothes for my daughters "American Girl" dolls,

I've been making them.

Of course I haven't been able to keep them all secrets,

so she has seen a few things.

She thinks they are for someone else,

but her eyes still light up in joy and wonder.

We are making memories together.

Bonding over each new creation.

Even when things don't turn out perfectly.

Try something new this year.

Create something with your kids,

and create memories to last a lifetime.

Perfectly Imperfect Thanksgiving

I've learnt through-out my life that nothing is what it seems to be.

That perfect isn't always perfect.

Today we had a perfectly imperfect Thanksgiving.

And I'm thankful for that.

The turkey was perfectly cooked.

The ham was amazing.

All the food was great.

I was exhausted and kept forgetting what I was going.

I never changed out of my PJ's.

I never did my hair.

I forgot to take pictures.

Liam was scared of the Thanksgiving parade on TV.

He refused to eat anything today.

He fell asleep on me so Liam and I were left at home.

Then he kept waking up with night terrors.

I had a down and out moment.

Thought there wasn't much difference between the two of us being home alone,

and being at the hospital alone.

I got frustrated that Liam refused to eat at all.

That even though we were home,

we were still alone.

And then the moment was gone.

I am thankful we had a great Thanksgiving dinner together.

That we are all together at home.

Both kids seemingly healthy.

We are alive.

I am also thankful that my pain isn't worse than it is.

Instead of being upset that I missed out on a larger family gathering,

I am going to be thankful for this quiet time.

Time I was able to talk to my brother on the phone.

Time I can watch Christmas movies on Hallmark.

Time to wrap some of those Christmas gifts.

I thank God for today.

For every day,

and for our perfectly imperfect holiday.

Tantrums, Tangents and Turmoil

Tantrum's, tangents and turmoil have been the theme of today. I'm at my wits end and just want to escape today. 

Liam has discovered tantrums. You say the word "no" and he goes of the deep end. Starts a crying screaming fit that results in retching and him running to his bedroom to get even louder. It's not even 5pm and he's had 4 tantrums today. On one hand I am thankful that he is acting his age and able to throw such fits. On the other hand, I just want some peice and quiet. 

Just about everyone is going off on tangents today. Justin over the fact that some one backed up into his truck and that it's in the shop now. Luckily their insurance is fixing it but that isn't doing much for his anxiety so every little while he's going off. 

I've gone off on a few tangents myself today. There's just so much going on right now. I'm stressed and just need a break. If love a really good pair of noise canceling head phones. 

The country is in turmoil with the Brown case in Fergusson MI. It's upset so many people, understandably. People are grieving on both sides of this. It's a tragedy but we can't use a tragedy as an excuse to riot, vandalize and loot. Don't cause chaos because it will only make the situation worse. 

Rioting, vandalizing and looting won't change the grand jury's decision. All it will do is take presidence over the actual problem. Everyone will be so focused on the riots that the cause of this turmoil will hide in it's shadow. Please, use your voice and your words. They will go further and make more of a difference than this chaos will. 

I believe that we should not be treated differently based on our skin color or our religion/beliefs or sexual preference. We should all be treated equally. I believe that just because a situation involves both a white person and an African American person that it shoudnt be automatically considered a race issue. It's unfair to all sides to consider these issues a race issue.

Let's stop making everything a race issue. Let's start treating everyone how we would want to be treated. Let's treat everyone equal.