Black Friday Un-Pep Talk

Posted under Misc. Stuff

 

I hope you had a great thanksgiving, and that your long weekend is chok full of great plans and good food. I think this weekend is my favorite of the whole year. So much good food and family and friends. Plus, it’s my daughter’s birthday too. And hopefully in between bites, we actually take the time to reflect on the things we are thankful for.

You’re going to laugh. You know how smug I was? All finished cleaning and shopping for the big meal… Imagine finding out on Tuesday night that you have lice! All the cleaning I did now meant nothing. I had to do a thorough top to bottom lice clean, and fast!

Now my house is really, really, really clean.

But I pulled through and even managed to get the pumpkin pie baked. Someone usually brings that, but not this year…

All of the other food was awesome, and I wonder why we only do this once a year. It’s really not hard. We skipped the mashed potatoes, and the rolls were hardly touched. We don’t do mayo laden salads or appetizers, so it’s not terribly horrible for your waistline here. The turkey kind of melted in your mouth. No one could stop. I never have much turkey left. Oh well, we have another dinner on Saturday at my sister’s.

How about your dinner? How did it turn out?

Are you going to do the Black Friday thing?

I personally think it’s crazy to shop on Black Friday – but a lot of people really get into it. Do the stores really need to open at midnight? Isn’t that insane? Can they find any more ways to degrade family time? Now you have people that have to get home early enough to take a nap before htey have to go to work. The almighty dollar rules everyone’s lives it seems.

But what’s really stupid is that they don’t make enough money to cover the expense of being open those extra hours. It makes no sense. More stores are following suit because “everyone is doing it”. What? Everyone is losing money being open those extra hours, so you should too?

Did your mother every ask you – if your friend jumped off the Brookly bridge, would you jump too? Kind of the same thing, isn’t it?

My god, how can we ever get our values back? Can we?

I know a lot of people are feeling really bad because they can’t buy the kind of presents that they would like to. But does all this ‘stuff’ have any meaning? Has it gotten to where we can only express love through buying things?

My friend was asking me the other day what I wanted for Christmas. I said, “Why don’t we just exchange ornaments? You know, find a special ornament.” There was such a sense of relief in her voice – and she got excited. She said, “I know just where to go!”

The point it – it doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money. Usually the things that mean the most actually cost the least. Think about that before you head off to spend a lot of money you don’t have.

When it comes to priorities, and what really matters – Well, I wanted to share this video with you. It’s been circulating the web, so maybe you’ve seen it, but it’s really moving.

 

 

Besides another dinner on Saturday, we’re have a tree party on Sunday. Tradition you know. So I’m apologizing ahead of time. You won’t hear much from me.

Enjoy your weekend, doing things that matter!

 

An Oddly Memorable Christmas

Posted under Holidays

This was a very odd holiday season for us. Not bad, just weird. Last year, I had a house full for holiday dinners. This year, it was just Emma and I. Everyone had someplace else they needed to be this year.

Emma has been fighting a cold, and the weather has been just horrible, so it really turned out for the best. We baked cookies, made a great dinner, played cards, listened to Christmas music, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

We ate when we got around to it, like 6:30. No stress, no rush.

The turkey turned out wonderful. My daughter says my stuffing is amazing. If you have a teenager, you know amazing is like the highest rating.

I treasure every moment like these. She’s getting older, and these moments will become fewer and farther between. But what really warms my heart is that she treasures these times too. I must have done something right.

So while our Christmas wasn’t big and festive, it was loving and warm, and memorable in it’s own way.

I hope your celebration was great too.

Did you have something memorable happen? Funny? Leave a comment and share your story!

 

Carole