The Puddles

Halloween is over. It was a lot of fun, but I am ready for a day off to recuperate.  I don’t think I’ll get one. We are all starting to think about the holidays that are coming up.  Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Madie keeps reminding me that her birthday is in there too.  I would really like to not do things at the last minute this year.  I have started my list and I am planning my days carefully to try to fit everything in.  The sad reality so far is that I don’t think I’ll be able to fit everything into my schedule.  It is probably good that I come to this realization now on November 2 instead of December 24th.  There is less disappointment that way.

I just need to remind myself to keep checking the master calendar and use it efficiently so that I can get my list done by the end of this holiday rush.  One of my goals for this holiday is to get the kids to think about others.  This is hard.  I realized this at dinner a few nights ago when I talked to them about “making” presents for each other.  Madie thought that meant that she would “make” a trip to the store to buy a present.  No. You have to create something for each other.  The conversation was so difficult that I realized that I needed to have more discussions about this before I required them to complete the task.  But this is a good thing.  My kids care and want to do for others, but often they think that is going to the store and buying things with mommy and daddy’s money to give to the poor and needy.  This is good too, but there are no sacrifices on their part.  I’m not ready to give away all of their toys to teach the meaning of giving to others.  But I would like for them to begin to understand that true giving is giving of themselves too and it is not always easy.  I think that in our little “world” people are willing to give but not to the point that it affects their own comforts.  I don’t hear people talking about giving up their daily Starbucks so that they can give that money to the food bank or to the veterans or to the homeless.  They will give up their luxuries when forced to by financial circumstances, but that is it.  I am not cynical enough to believe that this never happens in my nice safe suburb.  I just wish that this was more a part of our culture.  I can’t fix others, but I can start with my own children.

I always admired my sister-in-law who makes her girls pick five toys from their rooms before Christmas to give away. The rule is that they can’t be broken and that they have to work. Very cool.  I like that.  I did try last year with my kids, but I didn’t make it to five things each.  And Madie kept trying to give away toys that Ainsley was still playing with. Well, this year is a new year and we’ll try again.

So I have two goals this holiday season: 1. Don’t procrastinate. 2. Make the emphasis of the holidays about caring for others and not about just ourselves.

I am starting on November 2nd. That’s plenty of time to get it all done. I feel like the Little Engine that Could . . . “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”  That story ends well and I’m sure that mine will too.  We’ll check back on December 26th and find out!