Chocolate Stashes: December 2014

Last year when Advent started, I was struggling to finish up a semester of school. And after that I was exhausted. We sponsored an Angel Tree child and we lit Advent candles sporadically, but I can say for certain that Advent was not all it should have been for our family. The pace of this year is different. We have four children, so we will always be busy, but we are much LESS busy this year. I put some thought into what I would like Advent to be like this year, and it is now underway.

Several weeks ago, I made the very odd request that my family save empty toilet paper rolls for a project I was working on. With some Pinterest inspiration, I made an Advent calendar. Starting on November 30^th and counting down to December 24^th, there are daily treats and activities for our family to do. Instead of just a daily treat for the kids, I wanted to use this opportunity for our family to be more reflective, more connected, and more charitable. In my first draft, I was ambitious. As the beginning of the season approached, I realized that I had taken an already busy time of year and made it even more stressful for me. That was really the opposite of my intent. Making and decorating sugar cookies with the kids is great, but I don’t really want to make a “job” out of it. I went back and simplified, and I carefully arranged activities considering my work schedule. There are a few bigger things like making personal hygiene bags for the homeless shelter and donating food to the Samaritan House, but mostly it’s smaller things like leaving quarters on machines at the laundromat and decorating our home for Christmas.

The decorating is being done little by little. This is both to make it easier and to make each thing more special. Our activity for the first day was setting out the Advent candles. The second day we put out the nativity set, and the third day we hung the garland on the porch. I know that we are only in the first week of Advent, but so far, it is going exactly as I hoped. The kids are playing along nicely.

I am very excited because we got new garland this year. Our old garland was so ragged! This is so nice. Hopefully it will last ten years like the old stuff did. It's pretty expensive. Once the garland was up, I realized that the old bows looked horrible, too. I had trouble finding the size and color I wanted, soooooo……………. Drum roll here ………………….. I MADE them! Me! I made bows! If you know me at all, you know I don’t have a single trait in common with Martha Stewart. Well maybe we both have blue eyes, but that really isn't what I was getting at. I'm saying I'm not crafty. I had to watch the YouTube video about a dozen times while verbally berating myself for being so inept, but I finally got the hang of it. My kitchen is covered in red glitter, and I have 12 beautiful bows for my garland!

I worked Thanksgiving night, and I have been off since then. I have tried to be productive. I got a big hunk of our Christmas shopping done. I still have a good bit to do, but I feel like I’ve made a dent in it. The Angel Tree gifts are due this weekend. We only get one name, and we always try to be as generous as possible. We managed to get our boy everything on his list, and it is now wrapped and ready to go. And I made bows. Did I mention making bows?

I needed to stay up late tonight so I can sleep late tomorrow, and I do believe I’ve accomplished my goal. 3:30am, and I’m off to bed. Photos:

Oh the lusciousness of new garland!

Advent calendar

Bows!

Lots and lots of bows!

Angel Tree kid stuff

Wrapped up and ready to go!

November is gone. A birthday was had. It was quite possibly the most uneventful birthday ever. I got my feelings hurt. Matt had asked me what I wanted several times over the weeks leading up to my birthday, and I had told him several things, but then he didn’t get me anything. He moped around all morning on my birthday and said he felt like he dropped the ball. He did drop the ball. I am the easiest person in the whole world to please. Flowers, candy, good smelling things, a dinner date – any of these would have been wonderful. A card with a heartfelt, handwritten message would have been great. Just acknowledge it. If your life partner doesn’t, then who does? I am an adult, and birthdays shouldn’t be a big deal. I never try to make it a big deal. But it did hurt my feelings. I ended up buying myself some really cute boots. They made me feel better.

Thanksgiving happened. I ate FIVE Thanksgiving dinners this year. FIVE! Bonnie and Will’s church youth group served Thanksgiving dinner to the kids at the Open Door Home in Rome on the 11th. ODH is a semi-permanent residence for children who have been difficult to place in foster homes. We made broccoli casserole and Rice Krispie treats to take, and Will, Rosemary, and I took them and ate dinner with the residents. It was a wonderful way to kick off a season of gratitude. We went around the room naming something we were grateful for. It is very moving to see kids who have been through some horrific situations remember that there is always something to be grateful for. Some kids were grateful for having a roof over their heads, for knowing they are safe, and for having the encouragement and support of the ODH staff and residents. My heart hurts when I contemplate not having a family or a home. I'm glad they have a wonderful, caring place to live. I knew a young woman once who had "aged out" of the foster care system. She wanted a home so badly that she married a man who treated her like dirt.

On Friday the 15^th my mother’s brother and some of his family were in town, so we ate turkey and dressing and all the fixin’s at my Granny Ponder’s house. I made the colossal mistake of thinking that dinner was “Thanksgiving dinner” at my Granny’s, so I obligated us to go to Matt’s family’s dinner on Thanksgiving Day. Well it turns out, that was just “a special Thanksgiving dinner in honor of Uncle Randy being in town”, and my Granny was very upset that we were not going back on Thanksgiving Day for “the real Thanksgiving dinner”. My family is complicated. I’ve known them for 39 years and I still get confused.

The boys are still in Boy Scouts, and on the 22nd, Luke's Webelo troop went hiking. The hike was to the House of Dreams at Berry College. I had never been, and I've always wanted to go, so Matt, Rosemary, and I tagged along. It was beautiful. We hiked up the mountain and ate a picnic lunch at the top. Apparently we went up the back way, which is a good bit longer than the front way, so the hike was about 8 miles round trip. I handled it just fine physically, but there were a few Boy Scouts I was happy to be away from when it was over.

Dinner #3 was the annual Friends’ Thanksgiving dinner hosted by my lovely friend, Dana, at her home in Dallas. It was well-attended this year, and there were lots of kids there. Matt and I went and took all our kids except Bonnie. Bonnie refused to go, and I refused to force her to go because I knew she had the power to ruin the evening for me, so she stayed with my parents. The other kids all had a great time. The next Thanksgiving meal was on Thanksgiving Day at Matt’s parents’ house. His Dad’s family all comes. It was nice. This post will serve as a reminder to myself that we went to Matt’s family this year, so we need to go to my grandmother’s next year. ;-) Meal #5 was at work. I had to go into work at 7:00pm on Thanksgiving Day, and we all brought food. We had a feast.

November ends as it always does by celebrating my third-born child. Luke turned 11 on Sunday. We ate dinner after church with Matt’s family, and Grandma made Luke's favorite dessert for him. That evening we went to my parents’ house and had dinner and ice cream cake. Between the money Luke got for his birthday and what he had already saved, he had enough to buy an iPad mini. It should be here any day now. He is so excited.

Oh yeah… and there was a rainbow. It was awesome. It rained all day the Sunday before last, and then it cleared up just before sunset. It was the most vibrant rainbow I have ever seen, and it was a double rainbow. The photos don't even come close to doing it justice. Just breathtaking! I hope I never lose the ability to appreciate the beauty of nature. Here are some photos of our activities.