Say It Enough, You'll Start to Believe It
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Merry Christmas from our family to yours. May your day be blessed and filled with love and mercies as we power into the new year.
2013.
I think this is the year we’ll finally see the hover board. Because we are officially living in the future.
Love you all!
We are home from a bang up time at Disney World. Turns out it truly is the most magical place on Earth. No one does fun like Disney.
Unfortunately, we brought home a sick little girl, so today it is lots of laying on the couch, watching Disney Princess movies and trying to recuperate. There are more pics to post later, but for now I thought I’d share with you the one thing I found less than magical at Disney World. Just…wait for it…
For. Real.
I found this costume wildly creepy in a hilarious sort of way…
It was the only thing in three days that I questioned. Everything else truly was magical and amazing and I will carry the sweet memories with me forever.
But for now, I’m off to administer more medication, wash germ filled sheets, walk a jittery dog and try to figure out what in the world to make for dinner. My kids ate like Buddy the Elf all weekend. Suger, Syrup, Candy Canes and Candy. The was basically it.
No lie – Friday night they ate Cotton Candy, Cinnamon Rolls and Ice Cream for dinner. That either makes me Mom of the Year, or the worse Mom ever. I’ll let you know after we visit the dentist.
Bye friends!
When the kids get home today, we have a surprise waiting. A trip to Disney World this weekend. It’s an early Christmas present from my parents and I couldn’t be more excited. They’ve never been and it’s been over fifteen years since I was last there.
So we’ll be out of comission this weekend.
Landon gives the angel her final flight.
Despite temps in the ’80’s, Christmas has fully made its way to our house. We topped off Project Initiate Christmas this past weekend with a trip to the local Tree Lot to purchase our Christmas tree. You can go to actual tree farms here in Florida to cut your own tree, but a Christmas tree grown in Florida does not have the same appeal as one brought in from Oregon.
You understand.
Lee and I have celebrated twelve Christmases together and we’ve never had a tree fall over thanks to our amazing tree stand, so imagine our horror when we got home Saturday and realized our tree didn’t fit into the stand. I’ll make a long story very short:
Awesome neighbors lent us another stand.
We decorated our tree.
It fell over at 10:30 Saturday night.
Ornaments shattered.
Our angel broke.
I cried.
Apparently it was too heavy for our borrowed stand as well.
We tied it to the piano and the chair with twine where it stayed propped through our big party on Sunday.
So Sunday night, I headed to Home Depot to look for a sturdier stand to hold our wily tree. As I walked out of the house, I grabbed Lee’s keys thinking I’d take his car. Did I mention Lee got a new job? His new job necessitated the purchase of a new car and…well, his new car is pretty. I like driving it.
It doesn’t smell like french fries and make strange knocking noises when I hit 40 mph.
Alas, my car was parked behind his, so I grabbed my keys, jumped in the car and took off. I purchased the largest tree stand known to mankind made of solid steel. You’ll be pleased to know that should we ever want to get a 12 foot tree we have the stand to hold it up.
Merry Christmas!
After I paid for my tree stand, I walked back out to the parking lot and began looking for the car. The problem? I thought I was looking for Lee’s car. Somehow I totally and completely forgot I had driven my car to the store. Lee’s new car is so fancy that you just push a button to start and stop it – you just need to have the keys in the car with you.
As I wandered the parking lot, I couldn’t remember taking his keys out of the car with me so the obvious conclusion that I could come to was someone had stolen his car.
Obviously…
I stood in the parking lot and began to panic. My foolishness and forgetfulness had resulted in Lee’s car being stolen right out from under my nose. I wondered how on earth someone had figured out that I left the keys in the car. I wondered at what point I should call the police.
Just then, a Home Depot employee came up to me. “Can I help you?” he asked. I must have looked a little crazy, what with my heavy breathing and wide, panicked eyes and all.
“I…I can’t find my car,” I said. “I parked it right here and I don’t see it.”
The young man looked concerned himself and both of us turned in a circle, scanning the parking lot.
“What kind of car do you drive?” he asked.
That’s when I realized my mistake. How did I realize my mistake? You ask.
I saw the van and cleared my throat, trying to figure out how to not look completely crazy but I realized pretty quickly that there was very little I could do to mask the truth.
“Oh…ahem…um,” I turned to the concerned helper. “So, funny story…I was looking for the wrong car. This car right here is mine.” I point to the car that is literally within arm’s reach. “So, I’m all good.” I flashed him my best I-am-totally-normal-and-not-crazy-at-all-and-am-actually-a-fairly-intelligent-chick-who-happens-to-suffer-from-a-rare-bout-of-ditziness-now-and-then smile.
He smiled back. It was more of an I’m-totally-going-to-laugh-my-head-off-and-tell-the-entire-store-about-how-dumb-you-are-when-you-drive-away sort of smile.
So there you have it. The blonde strikes again. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, I make sure it’s good…
You know what…don’t answer that.
Oh the weather outside is frightful…unless you live in Florida where the weather is truly delightful and the thought of building a fire is frightful. We have to buy our snowmen down here, dontcha know?
With the holiday season fast approaching (or, you know, already upon us), I thought it would be fun to share some ideas on how to make the holidays count. The greatest thing about Christmas is the spirit of giving that seems to overtake us. Though we try to keep that spirit up all year long, this time of year is always especially sweet and poignant. So I’m going to share a couple of things we have done, or are doing, and I would love to hear what you’re doing with your families.
Two years ago, we threw a Christmas party at our house for the kids. They played, ate Christmas cookies and Lee read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke. What made this party particularly fun for everyone was all the kids brought new, unwrapped toys which we then donated to the local Ronald McDonald House.
We didn’t have a party like this last year because we were new and didn’t know anyone, but the party is on again this year and we are so excited! There’s something so fun about coming together as a community and blessing ohters in need. The kids especially get into it, which makes it even more delightful.
Image from: http://www.compassion.com/catalog/equip-family-with-livestock.htm
Another thing we love to do is give gifts through Compassion International. We go through their gift catalog and each kid gets to pick one or two things they would like to give. Usually these things end up being farm animals because really, what’s more fun than buying a goat for someone?!
Having travelled with Compassion to Tanzania in May, I’m so much more connected to this process than I was before. I saw how a goat could not only provide a family some nourishment, but also a stream of income, which would allow them to provide for their children. Providing livestock for a family is the best $50 you will ever spend, I can guarantee it.
Last year, on Christmas morning before we even opened gifts, we shuttled the kids out the door, met up with some friends and headed to downtown Tampa where we served the homeless hot coffee, breakfast sandwiches and a little Christmas love. This was deeply impactful for the kids and for Lee and I. It was a beautiful way to celebrate the morning and I believe we came home feeling equally blessed. I’m not sure we can do this again as laws have changed and been put in place to prohibit those things, but we are looking into it.
The most important thing we’ve learned over the years as we’ve parented and raised these children is how little our family needs and how much so many others lack. We have drastically reduced the number of gifts our children receive at Christmas for a number of reasons, one of them being the fact that they just don’t need more toys to sit in their rooms and gather dust.
I would rather buy my children two meaningful gifts that they will love and use than five useless toys that they’ll play with once and cast aside. I love giving my kids gifts. I love seeing their faces light up when they open a present. Those looks are so much more meaningful, though, when we all know we have given of ourselves first.
This has been a learning process for me. I was so worried that my kids would be disappointed when they saw how little was under the tree, but I so vastly underestimated their capacity to love others and their desire to bless. My kids did not complain at all about not getting many gifts. What a lesson that’s been to me.
So how about you? What do you do to foster the spirit of giving in your home? I know you all have a lot of great ideas. None of our ideas are original. We didn’t think of those things on our own. We learned from observing what others have done and we decided to follow suit. I don’t share any of these ideas to toot our horns by any means. I always love to hear how others are working to make the holidays more meaningful and learn from those ideas.
I’d love to hear how you are blessing others this season. Or perhaps you have been on the receiving end of a blessing. How has that affected you?
MERRY CHRISTMAS, FRIENDS!
HEEEEEYYYYY!!!! Welcome to the Griswold Family Thanksgiving!
The turkey is stuffed and in the oven. Lemon cakes are prepped and waiting to be iced. Green Bean Casserole is in the crock pot and there is a dessert in the fridge that involves cut up Granny Smith Apples, frozen snickers chopped in pieces and two tubs of whipped cream.
We’re eating at 1:30 if you’d like to join us.
The house is clean and ready for 31 people to come destroy it, all in the name of family and love, of course. And I? I’m on my seccond cup of coffee.
I fell into bed just before midnight last night only to be awoken at 1:30 by the shrillest, loudest brain melting screech you’ve ever heard. I leapt out of bed with a shriek and all sorts of havoc and confusion ensued.
Me: WHAT DO WE DO?!
Lee: BEAVERS AND DUCKS!
Me: AY YI YI YI YIIIIIIII!!!! (karate chopping the air)
Lee: WHAT IS IT?!
Then it stopped and we wandered the house trying to figure out what just happened. When I went back to our room, the smoke alarm was chirping. The battery needed to be replaced and apparently there was some sort of malfunction? But hey – good to know if there’s ever a fire in the house the smoke alarms give sufficient warning.
Lawdy.
We removed the smoke alarm from the wall and disconnected it.
It still chirped.
We took the dead battery out.
It still chirped.
This is the part where I went all Phoebe Buffey and yelled, “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!”
I finally found a new battery and we got it taken care of. We crawled back in bed at 2:00, as did our terrified dog who had buried herself under our covers at the base of the bed.
At 3:00, a certain girl child came and crawled in bed with us.
At 6:30 I dragged myself out of bed.
Today what am I thankful for? I am thankful for coffee. And family because they won’t care if I have bags under my eyes or if I start mumbling incoherently around 3:00 this afternoon. They will love me no matter what…and will probably get a kick out of laughing at my jumbled brain.
Here is a video the kids and I made the other night. I wasn’t going to share it with you because I look a hot mess in it. But I decided to keep it real and show you anyway because while I look a bit frightening, the kids are cute and they make up for it.
My head is spinning and my heart bursting. I have so much I want to share – so much I want to write, but for some reason I can’t seem to get the words from my head to my fingers. So I’m taking this as a sign to step away and just be present in the now.
It’s 70 degrees.
We have 31 people coming over for Thanksgiving.
I want to be present right now, in this moment, while my kids are racing through the yard. They are living life and I don’t want to miss it.
So I’ll be back later, when the words are ready to flow.
Have a lovely, wonderful, beautiful, totally and compeltely present in the now Thanksgiving everyone!
Update: Lee took me out to dinner on Saturday night, but before we went to the restaurant, we went to Target. He bought me the hat. He’s a fast learner, friends. A very fast learner. Let’s all give him a round of applause. *winky face!* 😉
Today, after dropping Landon off at preschool, I headed to the Promised Land. Target. The land of bright, happy colorful things that make the world a better, happier place.
While browsing, I came upon this hat:
I finished watching Season 2 of Downton Abbey last night and I have spent the better part of the last two weeks fawning over the fashions and styles of those days. This hat felt very Downton-esque to me and I quickly tossed it in my cart.
Then I stopped myself and put it back on the shelf, took this picture and texted my husband.
“Christmas gift idea. I love this hat from Target.” I included a winky face, of course, because every good wife should send her husband winky yellow ping pong heads when requesting a gift. It’s like wife-law in the new media age. 😉
I felt rather good about myself after sending this text for a couple of reasons, the main one being that I actually gave my husband an idea instead of shrugging my shoulders and asking the poor man (whose spiritual gift is decidedly not gift giving) to surprise me.
I went on my merry way, picking up on the items I needed and imagining wearing my new hat come Christmas day. Then I got a phone call that…well, frankly it took me very much by surprise.
Me: “Hello?”
Lee: “Alright, we need to get something straight here.”
Me: “Uh…okaaaayyyy.”
Lee: “Target is a store for buying kitchen items. You buy can openers and trash bags and maybe a brushed nickel picture frame from Target, but you do not buy hats from Target.”
Me: *silence*
Lee: “I’m not going to buy you a hat from Target.”
Me: “Why?”
Lee: “You don’t wear stuff from Target. That’s not fashion.”
Me: “You DO know that most of my clothes are from target, right?”
Lee: “That’s neither here nor there.”
Me: “Well, I mean, technically it’s here, because it’s true.”
Lee: “Go to Macy’s or some place like that and pick out a hat. I’ll buy you a hat. You look sexy in hats. But go to a place that makes quality hats.”
Me: “No, that doesn’t make sense. I could find a hat exactly like this one at Macy’s and it would cost $50. This one only costs $16 and I like it.”
Lee: “I just can’t buy you a hat from Target. It doesn’t feel right.”
Me: “Um, babe? You do know that Target is basically the Mothership for women, right? I mean, this is Mecca. It’s the Homeland.”
Lee: “No. It’s a place to buy kitchen utensils.”
Me: “It’s like I don’t even know you at all.”
Lee: “Women really like Target that much? I don’t get it.”
Me: “Clearly….so are you going to get me the hat?”
Lee: “I don’t think so.”
Me: “Huh. Can I buy it for myself for Christmas?”
Lee: “No because I’m going to get you a hat. I’ll get you the greatest hat you’ve ever seen.”
Me: “For sixteen dollars or less?”
Lee: “Go to Kohls. See if they have hats. Kohls is better than Target.”
Me: “I…I just…I don’t even know what to say.”
Lee: “Target is for kitchen supplies.”
I hung up the phone and couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. So I just laughed until I cried, which seemed like a happy comprimise.
First of all, I’m not sure I’ve ever bought kitchen supplies from Target so that alone is cause for a bit of confusion. Secondly, it is clear – CLEAR – he is seeing Target through blue glasses while I see it through pink. That can be the only explanation. Is it the male testosterone? Is that why he’s confused? Maybe he just doesn’t know…doesn’t understand. I think we should all pray for him, that his eyes would be opened to the truth, to the retail glory to which he is so tragically blinded.
I also think that this MORE than makes up for the shock and horror I caused during our conversation about The Natural.
Babe, we’re even. 😉
Now about that hat…
Well hey there! How are you? Me? I’m good. Fine, really. Just lovely.
Distracted.
I’ve got my mind on a million other things – things I can’t share, or don’t want to share. You understand. It would probably be boring anyway.
Plus I’m recuperating from a day at SeaWorld. Remember when you were a kid and could walk for miles and be wildly overstimulated and one good night’s sleep was enough to reset everything and send you on your merry way with little to no effects?
Yeah…I’m past that point in life. It’s gonna take at least one more day and one more night’s sleep to recover.
In the meantime, I’m off to draw a winner for the BRAVE giveaway. And I’m popping in to tell you that it’s really lovely here in Florida. 70 degrees. Breezy. Just…lovely.
I’m bragging, I know. Humor me.
Also, well, if you’ve been around here for a little while you’ll remember that I had a…oh, let’s call it a life changing experience last May when I travelled with Compassion International to Tanzania and had the privilege to share all the amazing work that organization does around the world.
Another team of bloggers is in the field today with Compassion, this time in Peru. There are amazing storytellers on this trip, so I encourage you to read every word. Soak it all in and let it change you. Then I encourage you – don’t be afraid of the urgings to change a life. You won’t regret it.
The team is out in the field now and will have posts up later for you to read. In the meantime, you can keep up with them on Twitter by following the hashtag #cbperu.
And pray, friends. Pray for the folks on this team. It’s an amazing experience they are having, but it messes everything up and changes everything around inside. So pray for them as they travel and communicate and write and share and grow and change.
And pray for the children who are waiting on you and me to change their lives. Compassion does change lives. I’ve seen it, so I can tell you it’s true. Pray for those sweet, precious children and their families and for all that Compassion is doing to release children from poverty in Jesus’ Name.
Happy Tuesday, everyone. In this season of Thanksgiving, I am so truly, truly grateful and thankful for all of you.
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