It's all about perspective...

I'm sitting on my couch in my livingroom surrounded by gifts for my kids.  Some are gifts they received at my parent's house tonight for our family Christmas, others are gifts they bought for each other at our elementary school's Santa Store, most are the gifts Santa has delivered and carefully purchased, sorted, stacked awaiting the girls entrance on Christmas morning.  While I sit here, I am hoping I have enough for the girls to feel like they have truly had a good Christmas.  You see, being a stay at home mom, we have a tight budget at Christmas time.  Especially with 3 girls to buy for.  I've seen posts tonight of gifts other kids that are the same age as my girls have received and it makes me worry.  I mean, my kids will think they've done really well on Christmas morning when they are tearing through their stack of gifts and pulling out the stocking stuffers.  However, a week from Monday, they will go back to school.  While there, they will compare what they received with their friends.  Typing it out it all sounds petty and stupid, but I have to admit, it almost brings me to tears some moments.  How does a doll house, strawberry shortcake playsets, Lala Loopsy Doll, etc. compare to a new cell phone, an ipad 2, a laptop.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with these gifts, it just really raises the bar for me and I can't compete.  But it's not a competition right?  UGH!

Anyway, then my eyes were drawn to a post I made on facebook yesterday while baking for my neighbors gifts.  I was listening to a Christmas CD (Mercy Me The Christmas Sessions) and the song Gloria came on.  There is a line in this song that really struck me, and as I read it again just a bit ago, it stirred my heart again.  "How could heaven's heart no break, on the day, the day that you came?  Salvation's reason to celebrate, on the day that you came.  Gloria, in excelsis deo."..How quickly our attitudes change from thankfulness for the birth of a Savior, to the worldliness of my kids having enough things.  God gave THE GREATEST gift, knowing Jesus would have to die an excruciating death so we could all live eternally yet I sit on my couch worrying if I've given my kids enough...

I know there will be questions, I know some jealousy will arise from all of the comparisons that will be made, but these are teaching moments.  Moments to help my children realize this celebration of Christmas is not about receiving physical gifts, but the gifts God blesses us with daily and the most precious gift of His SON!  How ashamed I am for allowing myself to be drawn in to the drama.  I am thankful for the gifts we are giving.  I now welcome the opportunity to teach my children what God wants them to know, his gift of love that is EVERLASTING!

That said, I wish anyone that may read these words a VERY Merry Christmas and may 2012 be a remarkable year in which to glorify God in every aspect of our lives!  :)

Small Town Christmas' is the BEST

It's been a while since I've written anything, could be because I've been so busy with life in general I haven't had time for a thought or moment to even sit and think.  I spent the last week working in our Elementary School Christmas Store that our PTO puts on every year.  We buy a wide variety of items at a low price and sell them to the kids in our school to take home to their families for Christmas gifts.  Prices range from $.50-$4.00 although there were a couple higher priced items such as Christmas UK wreaths for $25 I believe.  Anyway, the kids at our school bring in their money and make their purchases, then we wrap them for them for free.  I must say it is an exhausting week, but what better way to get into the spirit of Christmas with Goodwill to everyone and joy to the world than seeing the faces of these kids as they carefully select the perfect gift for their families?  Our PTO didn't make any money off of this event (actually, we lost money) but this isn't a fundraiser. It's an opportunity for kids to give to their friends and family.  I see it as a teaching event.  Kids get to learn the joy of giving instead of constantly receiving.  Most of these kids do buy a little something for themselves, but they spend most of their money on others.  Over the course of the week, I lost my voice, have developed a funky lovely cough, and my car battery died, but I'd honestly give this time to these kids all over again.  I must follow this with the fact that I AM thankful this week is over though. It truly is a lot of work.

Tonight I get to go to my sister's church and enjoy a Christmas Dinner Theater.  My Brother In Law is very talented and writes a play every year for their church to perform during the Christmas Season.  In years past, I haven't been able to attend because it's generally set to take place the same night as our church's Christmas program and I'm usually a part of it.  I totally miss being involved in a Christmas Program, but am very much looking forward to getting to take in this performance tonight.  I get to sit with my family and watch the story unfold before my eyes.  What a way to get into the spirit of the season.

This next week is the final week of school before my kids' Christmas Break.  It's also my husband's last week for 2011.  My house is decorated for Christmas, I just finished up some Christmas cards that I need to mail out, and I'm pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping (as a stay at home mom with limited funds I start shopping in August once the kids go back to school lol).  I'm hoping to finish up some gifts I'm making for a few family members this week and enjoy the Christmas movies I grew up watching every year (A Christmas Carol with George C Scott as Scrooge, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) as well as a personal favorite as an adult (Elf) or two.  My kids are begging to make Christmas Cookies, so I'm working on a list of things to do while they are home for the Holiday (baking cookies, making a gingerbread house, although I'm considering making a nativity instead of a house this year, going Christmas Caroling with our small group to our widows and shut ins in our church, wrapping gifts, to name a few).

I truly love this time of year and am thankful I am able to relax a little and enjoy it with my family.  In the blink of an eye, my kids will be grown and moving out on their own.  I truly want to enjoy these times in my kids lives and give them an amazing childhood that they will want to pass on to their children as I have.