Mostly it's a celebration of Christ's birth. A reflection of the past year. A look forward to the new year. Time to give to those less fortunate (preferably, without making a big deal about doing so too). Time for family and friends that you don't get spend as much time with as you'd like to through out the year. Baking, caroling, decorating (my family LOVES the decorating).
Growing up I was a preacher's kid, followed by a Air Force chaplain's kid (Yes, I am a PK/CK which is a precher's kid/chaplain's kid/military brat. Since I moved so much growing up, the decorating and the baking were the tangible things that made the holiday, no matter where we were, feel like we were home. The traditions I grew up with...like the celebration of Advent my husband and I have past on to our own children. Another tradition we have is we put up 2 old artificial trees 14 & 12 years old, respectively, every year. Some may think it's excessive, and, yes, it isn't necessary, but the 14 year old one my husband and I bought at Target Greatland in Ft. Myers during our 2nd Christmas together for $29.99 (along with the $1.99 ornaments we bought to fill in the empty space that year, and we still have those ornaments). We've taken very good care of it and it has lasted. A lot of fond memories of friends and relatives who have passed on are attached to that little tree. Most of the kiddos handmade ornaments and ornaments given to them by family members now adorn that little tree. The other tree we bought was a little larger and we bought it the 2nd year in our house. The ornaments on that tree are from around the world, as they belonged to my husband when he was a kid & to me when I was a kid. There are also the ornaments we bought on our honeymoon. The ones that commemerate the births of each of our children. There is literally a story behind every single one. The kids love hearing the stories and putting them up is one of their favorite things to do each year. In a since these trees contain our family history, and it doesn't matter if there's a lot or a little underneath them... it is what they represent to us...family, and all the times and things that God has brought us through.
What are your family traditions this time of year?
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Friday, December 3, 2010
Christmas is a lot of things to me
Thursday, September 9, 2010
A Christ Follower: The Journey: TERRY JONES AND THE BURNING OF KORAN'S
THANK YOU DAD! You said it far better than I ever could have. A Christ Follower: The Journey: TERRY JONES AND THE BURNING OF KORAN'S: "Anyone who knows me, knows that I have served as a Chaplain in the U.S. Air Force (Now the VA) for many years. Ever since the late 80s, I h..."
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Queen
My uncle sent me this as an email and I wanted to share it, but didn't want to send out a mass email so here it is:
Do not get many like this: good historical pics.
Enjoy!
I was a little shocked by the pictures
When it penetrated my brain
How long she's been around.
She gives new meaning to the phrase
"Long Live the Queen"
How old does this one make you feel?
I don't know about you,
But I went OMG somewhere
Between Eisenhower and Truman.
( P.S. After looking at this
I am shocked at how long
I've been around, too...)
Monday, August 16, 2010
I'm dealing with a boat-load of mommy guilt today & I've HAD IT with all the posts about Summer being over...aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!!
DISCLAIMER: I am grouchy and irritable because I made a mistake am missing a milestone in my child's life and all of this is coinciding with reading some posts that irritate me on my good days. I am a fan of teachers and respect the job they do. Following I just had to get off my chest to move on with my day.
I'm missing my daughter's first day of kindergarten because I FORGOT to request the day off, because I've been worried about various thing regarding employment for those I deeply care about all summer long (and still a little now). I'm in a really grouchy mood and feeling really stupid for not remembering to request the day off.
While I'm feeling guilty about missing this milestone due to working, I've come across several friends on Facebook who are all teachers. Now in their defense and before I start my rant, they do have a very tough job, and they put up with a lot of things I can't even imagine, nor do I want to imagine, when it comes to dealing with the parents of the children who attend their classes. I do, however, find it highly amusing that it's only the teachers who have never done anything other than teach that consistently have posted things for the past few weeks like: "I'm so sad to see summer go." "Wow! I've got to get use to these early morning hours again!" "So sorry that I don't have a few more weeks of summer left, but it's back to "real life" on Monday." Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!! Do they not realize that the rest of the working world only gets 2 weeks vacation & 6 holidays as a norm??? Do they not realize that "real life" consists of not being off all summer???
Anyway, this all made me angry because A) I'm already feeling sorry for myself, and B)in spite of what people think about those of us who work in television, we make less than most people think. I, in fact, after working in TV for over 13 years make less than most of my teacher friends who've worked less than 10 years.
Keep in mind that because I work in television the following is true about my life: I work every holiday unless I've requested a particular holiday off. I then wait to find out if that holiday is approved off. If it's not, then I work it anyway and am paid holiday pay. I've worked at this particular station long enough that I do, fortunately, receive 3 weeks of vacation per year (in 3 and 1/2 years I'll get 4 weeks unless something changes with the policy). If there's a hurricane I don't see my family. I don't evacuate the state. In fact I begin living at the station to make sure that I don't miss my 12 hours shift during said hurricane coverage, AND did I mention that I get up a 3am (soon to be 2:30am) on my normal regular work days so people can watch the news before they go off to their "early morning" jobs. Yeah, hearing the constant stream these of these posts for the past few weeks has just set me off a little...sorry.
I deeply respect & admire all of my teacher friends, and in NO WAY want to belittle what they do. I just would like them to realize what back to the "real world" really means to most people.
ANYWAY, none of this changes the fact that I screwed up and I'm missing a milestone that I will never get the chance to see again. Which is what made me touchy to the posts in the first place. At least my hubby took pictures for me.
Moving on now...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Don't you love when "real life" gets in the way?
I realize that it has been, literally, months since I posted ANYTHING on this blog. I missed everyone terribly, but life, while challenging, has caused me to actually want to "live it" again. After all the gloom that was last year, and no not all of that is gone we are still experiencing challenges EVERYDAY, I decided that life is too short not too actually do something with it. My family and I have spent more time together and less time on electronics, and that's a plus. I have new friends that care about me. My family attends a great church that, actually CARES about it's members and their families and the struggles that they face. While all this is great it's made for me needing to reorganize how I've been doing things, and sadly I have let some things slack as of late, but I am presently trying to rectify those things like this blog and the wonderful support group I found here. I apologize for being gone so long! My exercise and weight loss have been sporadic so I am beginning that adventure all over again, thankfully, I haven't regained all that I lost, but I've gained back more than I should have for certain. The good news? All of these things I've let fall by the wayside can be fixed and I am hopeful as I restart this adventure.
