Christmas Eve Ninja Hunt (and Our Christmas Card)

Each morning of December before the 25th little Abe wakes up to open a brown paper bag with a number on it. I have the 24 bags hanging from a strand of lights strung around the perimeter of the dining room. Each bag contains a Bible verse, a piece of candy, and sometimes a small toy, or craft, or sticker. Today we opened the last bag but this one was quite different.

There was one tiny lone ninja inside with a note. I knew that the reaction upon finding one of his tiny ninjas in the bag would be one of intense confusion and probable frustration but I went with the plan anyhow. The little ninja's note reads: Could you help me with a Christmas wish? Please find my six missing friends? I know they have a treat for you if you do. Merry Christmas kind gentleman."

After I read the tiny little note to him his face lit up, still a little suspicious of the change he started to slowly walk around the house. All doubt was thrown to the wind when he stumbled upon the first tiny ninja standing on top of a Hershey miniature candy. I'm continually amazed at what little joys you can create for a small child. Seven quarter machine ninjas I collected from his bedroom, six little Hershey's miniatures, and a house lit only by Christmas lights: the perfect Christmas Eve morn!

Now for the unveiling of this year's Christmas card: 

Like I said, a bit goofy, a lot of photo shop, six different pictures cut and paste together, and several different drawings by the little boy, my family sends you Christmas greeting from the beach at Lake Michigan. (I drew the camels. He colored them in. The star and gifts are entirely by him.)

Merry Christmas to you all!!!

The Christmas Let Downs (don't fret: this isn't a grouchy post)

I woke up with a sore throat and I think I might have a fever. Two days before Christmas and once again (this seems to be somewhat of a reoccurring holiday tradition)... I don't even care. This Christmas season has been really great. Has there been too much stress? Yes. Has there been the usual rush, rush, go, go, go? Yes. Has work been crazy? Of course. But none of the stupid stuff matters because Christmas has been great.

This year little Abe and I have made the most of our holiday traditions. We've anxiously done a countdown each morning. We've enjoyed a few different wonderful advent calendars. We've baked several batches of Christmas cookies together. We've made cards for loved ones together. And sent them out in the mail. In today's digital age I think real mail (like the kind that has handwriting and return addresses from people you actually know) has an even more magical aura to it. We've read Christmas books together every day and talked about the birth of Jesus. We've focused on little ways to give to others all month long. And I think we've very much appreciated the gifts others have given to us.

All three of us have gone sledding in the spirit of Christmas fun, watched Christmas movies together with hot cocoa, played in the snow, and gone gift shopping for friends and family. We've listened to Christmas music over and over and over some more. We've been to one family Christmas party, one Christmasy dinner with friends, and, oh yeah we went out of town Christmas shopping with little Abe's Grammy.

The whole month of December has been a celebration, not just in preparation but a true celebration. In years past Christmas day tends to feel... it can be a bit of a let down. So much anticipation, so much preparation, so much craziness at times for this one day; one day that just comes, goes, and then... it's done. In years past all the little let downs of Christmas day, maybe not getting the ONE gift you asked for, getting the flu instead, maybe getting into an argument with a relative, or just being thoroughly annoyed and bothered by them, maybe just the day going by much too quickly and you feel not enough was accomplished, so many things can make Christmas feel disappointing. I'm just being honest. MAYBE you've never suffered from the Christmas let downs, but many years past I have.

Right now, two days before Christmas I'm feeling pretty satisfied with how this Christmas turned out. Anything bad that comes from here on, I don't care. My Christmas was great this year! Anything good that comes from here on, well it's just all icing on the deliciously sugary Christmas cake. Feeling pretty darn satisfied. I think I'd better sign off and start wrapping some gifts...

Yes, I got him a clearanced Halloween costume for a Christmas gift.

Yes, I was careless and left it right where he could find it.

Yes, he loves it and wants to wear it Christmas morning to my in laws

and has been living in it ever since he stumbled across it.

Yes, I should have wrapped gifts like two weeks ago and not put it off until today.

Christmas Rules (Warning: grouchy post ahead)

Can some one please tell me when Christmas collected so many rules? Maybe it's always been this way. Maybe something is just wrong with me but this year the rules are driving me batty. Granted I've always been a little bit of a rule breaker, not so much in disregarding posted signs or breaking laws but I've never adhered very well to social norms.

1.) Everything must be equal:

If Grandma is going to give gifts to the kiddos they darn well better have an equal number of presents to open. It would be wildly unfair if one kid opened three and another had only one (despite the one being worth the same as the three combined). And she absolutely must spend the same amount on each kid. Heaven forbid one kid receive a gift worth $10 more than another. 

If one grandchild gets four outfits, the others must get four as well. If one kid gets an ornament, they darn well better all get one. Everything must be equal. Everything! Christmas is about nothing if not equality.

2.) No gifts for the adults:

If you want to buy something for your brother, how dare you be so bold. I mean there's a rule: no gifts for adults. Once that threshold of 18 has been passed, don't you dare. He can't even legally drink yet but gosh darn it he is too old to be getting gifts. I mean how would everyone else feel? I suppose it'd be okay if you showed up to the party early and gave him a gift behind closed doors. Or no, actually you better just schedule a separate meeting and give him a gift in secret. Secret gifts are better because then no one gets hurt. Christmas is about nothing if not covert gift giving. (but it better be a gift that he would be able to afford getting you because if you give him something too expensive his feelings or pride may get hurt; see rule number four)

3.) You better make sure and buy all the kids something they REALLY want.

I mean, if it's not on a list somewhere that they've made, if they haven't specifically picked it out themselves then you probably shouldn't be gifting it to them. Actually, you're best off to have their mom or dad buy them a gift and wrap it from you. You can just give the parents cash under the table. If several phone calls back and forth have not been made before the actual gift giving ensues then something clearly was done wrong. If that doesn't work out just gift the kid a gift card. That way you're sure to not get the gift wrong, not to offend the parents with a stupid gift, and not to see a tantrum from the hurt child.

4.) If you receive a gift from someone then you better give them one too.

This one is just conscience speaking. I get it. I really do. We all feel a sort of obligation when an unexpected gift is given but this rule still bothers me. When I give someone a gift that wasn't expecting anything from me it's generally because I found something for them that really meant a lot to me, that made me really think of them. Or the person means a lot to me and I really want to do something extra special for them. Honestly, if I give someone a gift and they automatically feel obligated to gift something back to me that takes away from the giving for me. I don't like it. I think this rule is sad and the obligation is unnecessary. But we've all heard it said, Christmas is about nothing if it's not about obligation.

And it gets even worse when the money equality thing gets thrown in there. If I give you a gift worth $100 (don't worry, that's not going to happen) and then you feel you need to get me something equally as nice. Spit on that! It's all stupid. Don't get me anything. Maybe that should be a new rule: If you get a really unexpected gift then you're not allowed to return the sentiment.

5.) We no longer say Merry Christmas. It's offensive...

Should I keep going? I could. I know I shouldn't. I'm being a real Christmas downer. This December has been really special. Little Abe is old enough to remember years past, to totally comprehend everything that's going on, to be really excited about things he's been looking forward to for months (Christmas tradition type things). We've pretty much been celebrating Christmas every day this month and it's been awesome but all these rules, OH. MY. GOODNESS. I'm about to explode. I seriously want to be a hermit. My husband is not bothered about the true Christmas spirit of "obligation and fair play" like I am so the frustration has really just been building and building for me. Thus, all you fine folks get to hear my cheery Christmas rant.

You know, the really Christmasy thing to do would be if everyone just bought everyone else a $10 gift card. I buy one for you to Wal-mart and you buy one for me to Red Lobster and so on and so on. That way everyone would get something from everyone and it'd all be equal. Although, I might not actually like Red Lobster, they use a bit too much butter in their food so actually we should just all give each other cash, no more then $10. $10 cash for everyone. Then everyone gets something. Everyone gives a gift, everyone gets a gift. It's all fair. Kind of pointless in the long run but gosh darn it, it would be fair. No feelings would get hurt. No one would be offended. Perfection. Wonderful, pointless, Christmas perfect... I mean holiday perfection! Who wants to get this ball rolling with me? (that's sarcasm by the way... in case you hadn't figure it out. If everyone gave everyone $10 then no one would have actually given or received ANYTHING!)

The Grinch signing off.

Christmas Giving

cookies for the neighbor

I want my son to be raised thinking of Christmas as a time for giving and not just receiving. But Christmas to a little one can certainly seem like a time for getting. The magical month of December when presents are being given to you left and right; We have a Christmas party this weekend. Little Abe will receive a few gifts there. We will be going to another Christmas party next weekend and he'll get a few more. The weekend after that he'll open a few presents at a Christmas Eve party, even more on Christmas morning, and more still when we go to my in-law's house Christmas afternoon. My dad's family's Christmas party is not happening this year but you can generally add that to the regular list of gift stops.

I honestly don't remember Christmas being like this when I was little but we also didn't live near extended family. It seems crazy to me. I love how excited he is at every gift. I love how truly amazing the whole month of December is for him. I love to see that playing with his cousins is just as much fun for him as receiving new gifts but back to where I started, I'm trying my hardest to remind him that Christmas is a time for giving too.

We've certainly been talking about giving and talking about the gift that God gave us. The reason we celebrate Christmas, the gift of Jesus's birth. This whole month we've been finding little ways to give. Last week we went through all of Little Abe's books and picked five to donate to the little free library at the elementary school near our house. The little free library is just a box, kind of like a mailbox in front of the school where people can leave books for others to read, or take books to look at themselves. We've borrowed books from the library box before. We return them when we're done with them but this is the first time we've given books of our own to it. Little Abe really enjoyed giving away books for other kids to read.

A few days ago he made an adorable card to mail to someone, a Christmas card from specifically him. He's planning on making a few more. He'll probably send a card to each of his cousins. I think he is realizing that making a card for someone and then getting to mail it to them is a pretty fun way to give something small to someone else.

We also went through his room and took out many, many toys that he no longer plays with, toys he's grown out of. He likes the idea of giving them away to other kids who will enjoy playing with them. I just have to figure out the best way to donate them or who we know that might like some of them.

We've made cookies twice and both times planned to bring them to our neighbor. The first time I wasn't happy with how they turned out. Go figure right, the time you plan on giving them away they don't turn out well. The second batch was very involved. We made cut out cookies from my Grandmother's recipe box. They are the same cookies I made each year as a kid with my mom. Abe helped the whole time, mixing, rolling, cutting, and sprinkling. We brought them over to our neighbor's house today. I think that was the first time this year either of us said Merry Christmas to anyone. 

making peanut butter balls

There are some really fun lists online of giving ideas, things I would have never thought of. We plan to put many of the ideas to use this month. One of my favorites (something I can't imagine I would ever in a million years think of on my own) is to leave a note at houses with really great Christmas lights thanking the homeowners for putting up such beautiful lights/ decorations for everyone to see. I think that's such a neat idea. Two of our neighbors across the street have lights up that little Abe really likes so hopefully we'll stop a note over at their homes this week.

Of course there will be more cookie making, more Christmas card crafting, and more brainstorming but Christmas this year will be a time for giving and something about that just makes me so much more excited for Christmas. It is better to give then to receive.

Gingerbread Art

Apparently I can't get enough of Christmas. It's just going to continue for the rest of the year at our house. Last night little Abe and I put together the Gingerbread house kit I got in December. He had so much fun but really he was just trying to decorate it as fast as he could so that he could start picking the candies off to eat them.

Our masterpiece

And he's going in for a peppermint!

Hmm, I wonder what Christmasy activity I can think of for tomorrow. For real though, maybe it's because we didn't have any snow for all of December and it's a winter wonderland outside now. I just can't stop. oooh, we could start on next years Christmas cards... Hahaaaa!

Average daily spending for 2016: $18.77

A bit more of Christmas and a New Year

When I started blogging several years back the last thing I'd expected was to meet really great people and make really good friends. I was simply hoping to chronicle my attempt at spending less and following a budget. I had hoped that a few people would find what I had to write at least semi-interesting but I truly had very little expectation for anything much more than my writing an online journal that anyone could stop by and read.

If you look at the photo below you'll probably not notice but can definitely see two ornaments on our tree, two stuffed buddies beneath, three Christmas cards on the wall, and one nutcracker on the bookcase (actually there's a Thanksgiving card on the bookcase as well but I'm not sure it's visible), all of which we received in the mail this year from fellow bloggers, readers of this "online journal," all blogging community friends, most of which I have never met. Little Abe and I also were the delightful recipients of a beautiful and fun online advent calendar we enjoyed this Christmas from a fellow blogger.

This year ended pretty rough. Christmas was nice, a bit too busy, but we enjoyed it all (mostly). But December had a few health scares for our family. We had to say good-bye to our cat of 13 years in November and my heart broke in pieces. We really feared we were going to lose our dog this month too. Thankfully he's still with us but there was a rough patch for sure. He's getting older so the reality of him not being here forever is... it's REALLY painful to think about it.

Needless to say, the Christmas packages that showed up VERY unexpectedly from friends I've made through the blog were bright shining moments in our month and so unbelievably surprising. I absolutely love Christmas cards and am so overjoyed to have the three of them from fellow bloggers hanging up there with the others. What an incredibly neat outcome to having started this silly online journal. I've met such incredible people and made good friends. To everyone who stops by here on occasion to read this online journal, you guys are all the greatest! I'm so fortunate to have made good friends through this blogging journey. And to those of you who truly went WAY above and beyond thank-you for spreading such wonderful Christmas cheer to this part of the globe and to my family!!!

I look forward to this new year. I look forward to all the adventures of this wonderful blogging community, and I wish everyone a fabulously blessed and happy New Year!!!

Two bits of lovely today

I received an envelope in the mail today. Our address had been written wrong (missing a number) and there was no return label. I could tell there was a hand written note inside before even opening it and I suspected it was from my grandpa.

I have one living grandparent now. Both of my parents were youngest children in rather large families. (well, until my dad's twin brothers came along very unexpectedly when my grandma was rather old) My grandpa is in his 90's now but he gets along great. I hear that he's still riding a bicycle every single day, much to the dislike of all his children. He lives about three hours from us and we see him about two times a year. I really wish it were more often.

I send my grandpa a Christmas card every year and for the past few year's I've included a photo of my son and a group photo of his great grandkids, my dad's grandkids. My grandpa has always been a man of VERY few words. My grandmother was forever "the talker" of the couple. So much so that my grandpa spent most of his life sitting back, when not at work and listening to her go on and on and on. He even commented at her funeral that it was a shame that now he'd have to learn to talk.

I opened the envelope and sure enough it was a short and sweet hand written note from my grandpa thanking me for the photos and mentioning how little Abe didn't look afraid at all to be sitting up there on that big horse. This little note is an absolutely lovely addition to my day! A simple piece of paper with a few sentences jotted down on it that feels rather like having received $500 in the mail.

And lovely bit number two: my favorite Christmas gift this year. I'm certain you can guess who I received this from. There are a few incredible things about this gift that just melt my heart. First, that it is from my son who picked out what he wanted to paint and then painted it for me. He also did an excellent job keeping this a secret. Only the day before New Year's Eve did he break and told me that he and daddy got me a horse for Christmas. And secondly that my husband went to the trouble all on his own to take little Abe to one of those paint-a-pot places to make this for me. My husband isn't generally... he normally wouldn't do something like this which makes this all the more special.

Christmas gift crafting almost complete. Hooray!

I chose to make gifts for four of our eight nieces and nephews this year. This post is pre-mature because I have one gift left to go but I'm pretty excited with how the gifts are coming together. We attended a party yesterday, went to my in-laws today, will be going to another party tomorrow and will be going to my brother's on Sunday. These gifts, along with the one I've yet to finish are for Sunday.

I had almost all the materials on hand for these gifts but I cannot tell you how many hours when into each of them. I honestly started to think I would never finish any of them but, hooray, I actually completed three out of the four with two days to spare. If you asked my husband he'd gladly tell you that I'm normally working frantically hours before the gathering to finish all of the gifts I committed to making. Yes, I have horrible procrastination issues.

So, here is the little quilt I posted a few photos of awhile back. It has her name on it and I do hope she will really like it. I think it's adorable. The white block is actually a flower print that I adore. The back is a lilac cordory (also seen in two spots on the front).

This one I think I already posted photos of complete. A smaller baby doll quilt along with a very original (no pattern/ made up as I went) rag doll for my two year old nephew.

And yes, that is a poorly bound young reader chapter book that I wrote for my niece. She's interested in marine biology so I wrote an adventure story about three friends, a starfish, a turtle, and a sergeant major damselfish. (she's also interested in becoming the president) I have tried to write books before (aka, I have a few in the works) but this is the first thing I ever wrote, edited, completed, and then printed and bound (it's sloppy). I'm super proud of this and despite it's MANY flaws I really hope she loves it. The simple fact that I completed it after the many many hours I spent on it makes it probably my favorite gift I've ever given (again, despite the flaws; it's printed crooked, it's bound sloppily, the print is really too large for her age, it should be a bit longer for her reading level, I wanted to put several little sketches in it but almost certainly will not, blah, blah, I love it! (have I mentioned that I'm a perfectionist? haha!)).

Quick post; Merry Christmas

I promise I did NOT set this one up. Look what my husband gave to me yesterday:

A new mug with my kiddo's face on it. It arrived in the mail Christmas Eve. I hadn't even told him that I broke the Coast Guard mug yet. Not that we're in short supply of mugs but what a neat coincidence. The other one must have been informed, gotten jealous and done itself in. I wish we could have talked it through. I mean I would have told it that I had enough love in my heart for more than one really neat mug (hush, hush, I have several mugs that I really like a lot). Too late now but what a neat Christmas gift!
(The artist/printer friend of ours who donated the t-shirt to the 1000th post giveaway printed this mug)

Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you're all vastly enjoying family, friends, peace and quite and those rare wonderful moments of calm on days like today. I certainly am right now as everyone in my house is napping.
:)

The Safari Shepherd

Frugally Challenged over at Trundling through life has been sharing some of her many nativity sets with us this year. Each one is so beautiful and special in it's own right. We've had only one nativity set in this house over the years until last year when we added a second. Inspired by Frugally Challenged I've decided to share photos of our newest set and the Safari Shepherd.

Last year I found a very reasonably priced Little People set for little Abe. It came with everything imaginable except for a shepherd. It lights up. It plays Away in a Manger. It's adorable, but no shepherd. Last year I was slightly bothered by there being no shepherd but we let Joseph double as both dad and shepherd depending on the scene. If the "shepherds" were visiting the baby then Joseph happened to be out doing something like fetching fresh water for Mary to drink.

This year I looked online and found a separate set that includes a little hill with a well in it, a shepherd and more sheep. It's adorable but also over $20. That's pretty close to what I paid for the entire nativity set. Little Abe saw the photo of it online while I was looking at it and said that I must get it so that he could try and dump the shepherd down the well. Either way, to see if the shepherd would fit down the well or to have a shepherd to visit the baby I wasn't going to spend upwards of $20 for a nativity set shepherd.

Last year for Christmas my dad gave little Abe a Little People zoo set. The zoo keeper, or safari guide (it could easily be either) is now a shepherd stand in. I think it's lovely that he came to the stable equipped with binoculars. I'm certain he was able to spot the place, under the star where the new baby was sleeping from much farther off then the actual shepherds did. I'm not entirely sure how to explain the lizard on his hat but shepherds spend a great deal of time out of doors so I'm sure he's friends with all kinds of nature and creatures galore.

How many nativity sets do you have? I'd never thought of having more then one but I'm certainly going to be keeping a look out for extra special ones after having read Frugally Challenged's posts this year.

Forty Five Minutes of Christmas, Week Two

Sunday 12/6
Little Abe and I made this year's Christmas cards. Now I just need to write, address, and mail them all.


Monday 12/7
Created a photo calendar for my Dad with all the family birthdays. These darn things take forever to make!


Tuesday 12/8
Wrote and mailed out Christmas cards.


Wednesday 12/9
Worked on my nephew's rag doll more.

Thursday 12/10
At least 45 minutes writing Christmas cards.
Finished sewing the little rag doll for my nephew.
I think it needs ears though.

Friday 12/11
Worked on my nieces quilt. This could be the end of me. I'm making a very small quilt, like baby doll quilt, and it's taking forever!

Saturday 12/12
Went to a fun Bethlehem village event at my brother's church. There were live animals, people dressed in costumes, fun food, and all kind of neat crafts for the little ones. I think my guy had lots of fun but he is really not a fan of coloring and most of the crafts involved coloring so he kept leaving the craft tables with naked trinkets.

Tis the Christmas Season

Considering that I post almost everyday on this blog I've been slightly absent as of late. The Christmas season is upon us and I've been in full on Christmas mode. Not shopping so much but trying to accomplish little tasks with my Abe each day (some things get done every day and others we need catching up on here and there), sewing like crazy to get handmade gifts done for my nieces and nephews (I've determined that I'm very slow at sewing), working on Christmas cards (an activity that I delight in), watching Christmas movies with my family, attending Christmas events and thinking about baking and wrapping gifts. This wonderful season keeps me on my toes.

I'd decided that I was going to keep my Christmas postings this month to one weekly update on the 45 minutes a day permission slip that I'd written myself but I soon discovered that any post I'd even think about making this month would be a post about something Christmasy. Thus, the main reason for my blogging absence.

I'm going to toss my brilliant plan of only one Christmas update per week out the window. I like journaling about my life on this blog. I like looking back and seeing the fun stuff that I did with little Abe and come December what Christmas gifts I was working on. So it appears that December on this blog may be solely about Christmas. I just can't help myself.

Today I'd like to share this:

I received a package in the mail from a dear friend not too long ago with a lovely assortment of gifts for myself and little Abe. Now, patience is not a fruit that I have an abundance of and I was so unbelievably delighted at the sight of the gift that little Abe and I opened each little wrapped treat instantly. It was so much fun looking at each little item and oohing and ahhing. Surprise gifts are thee best. Honestly.

This was my favorite part; an adorable cross stitch for my little guy. Knowing that someone, a very kind someone, a friend took the time to make this for him. My heart swells. I personally don't know how much money goes into a gift like this. I can't imagine a whole lot. (although the postage!) But the time spent, the thought, the heart, this is a gift to be cherished and I LOVE it so much!!!

Merry Christmas Season everyone! Tis a wonderful time of the year.

Christmas Cards

Today was a planned no spend day but I ended up spending $14.07 on Christmas card supplies and I went way over my 45 minutes of Christmas. I'm very happy to report that this year's Christmas cards are about half way done and I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out.

I seriously was brainstorming for months what I wanted to do for the cards this year. Finally settling on an idea and seeing it come together is marvelous for me. Yay! I can't imagine anyone likes these silly cards I spend so much time on as much as I do but I hope they do spread some Christmas cheer around the globe. (Little Abe made quite the contribution this year as well)

I'll post a photo of our cards at a later date.

Forty Five Minutes of Christmas, One week done

Last week when I was starting to feel overwhelmed by all the Christmas details I wrote myself a permission slip: I will spend 45 minutes a day on Christmas. Anything that doesn't get accomplished in the 45 minutes doesn't need to be done. Whatever gets accomplished during the 45 minutes of Christmas is perfection. Here's how this week went:
Sunday
I dug out the lights (that are surprisingly almost 20 years old and are still all working) and hung them up around the dining room for the Christmas countdown bags. This took a surprisingly long time. I luckily had saved most of the bags from last year and they were in the bag with the lights (so I didn't have to re-do the numbering) except for bags 1-5 which I seem to remember little Abe ripping apart. I must have put something really neat in those ones last year. So I made new numbers and found bags for 1-5.

Monday
I wrote out all the scriptures for the countdown bags, the "giving" ideas for each bag, and filled and hung each bag. This was a very time consuming chore but the Christmas countdown bags are something I really look forward to and this tradition is really important to me. Last year I scrambled each night to fill the bag for the next morning. Sometimes I forgot and had to sneakily fill the bag before we opened it in the morning. It was added stress last Christmas for me to accomplish this fun new tradition while scrambling each day to remember to fill the bag. I'm very happy to have this Christmas season task now behind me. This was an approximately 45 minutes well spent!

Tuesday
A collection of little things. Probably not 45 minutes. Read some Christmas books with little Abe. Watched a few short Christmas videos on you tube with little Abe. Nice simple stuff today.

Wednesday
Started another Christmas present. Today I went over the 45 minutes. I spent about 2 hours sewing. I guess that makes up for a lighter day on Tuesday.

Thursday

Sewing consumed another two hours of my week. Honestly, I like it. It's thrilling to see the end result. I pick fabrics as I go and I find myself being curious during the entire project about what I will end up with. My kiddo took a SUPER long nap so the two hours of quite alone time working on this Christmas present just flew by.

Friday
I worked on the little quilt some more and then I started another sewing project. My brother had a little rag doll when he was small that he loved. It's name was Green Jeans, had a green checkered shirt, green overalls, and a green hat. I thought I had a photo of it but, no. I've been wanting to recreate Green Jeans for my brother's son who is turning 2 tomorrow. (Jessica, Please DON'T tell James! I'd like him to be surprised.)

My brother actually hates green now (for sports team reasons) so I've started to recreate Green Jeans in colors that my brother loves (for sports team reasons). The fabric in this "Green Jeans" is from the little quilt I made for my nephew so he'll have a little doll to go with his quilt. I spent WAY longer than two hours on this. I didn't have a pattern and was trying to recreate this little guy from memory. I hope it at least reminds my brother of his little Green Jeans.  Wish me luck on the head because this could end up really cute or it could go terrible South, quickly.

Saturday
Today has just begun. I'm feeling pretty motivated to get the quilt and Green Jeans done so I'll work on both of them more today, probably. We're also going to the Jingle Bell parade downtown this evening. So today will be filled with Christmasy things.

This week's forty five minutes of Christmas was a total success. I do feel like I need to get on top of the Christmas cards but I didn't have that sinking feeling I often have of needing to get 100 things accomplished all at once all day every day. I committed to spending 45 minutes a day on Christmas things and I did. Done. Plus, I'm pretty excited about the gifts I'm giving this year. I had all the fabric, stuffing, and thread I've needed thus far. So I haven't had to spend any money on materials for the gifts I'm making. I think I'm going to buy a fabric pen for Green Jean's face. I seem to remember the original Green Jeans having a drawn on face.

On top of the 45 minutes of activities listed above little Abe and I have been reading Christmas books, opening a countdown bag each morning, and doing a really neat interactive Advent Calendar online that a VERY kind friend sent to us. This has been a really great Christmas season already!

Forty Five Minutes of Christmas, Permission Slip

I recently checked out a new book from the library that an incredibly dear friend [Pieliekamais] recommended. The book is Rising Strong by Brene Brown and I'm LOVING it! Apart from feeling like I've just undergone a several hour long therapy session, the author presents incredibly useful ways to confront, embrace, and work through emotions that we've buried or ignored or have been denying but none the less emotions that are deep rooted and that control the way we interact with people and go throughout our lives.

This book has been VERY eye opening for me and I'd recommend it to anyone for that reason. Mostly through writing my eyes have been opened, over the past few years, to really deep hurts that are ever present in my life. I've slowly been praying through these hurts and keeping a look out for them but I have been without the tools to really confront many of them or haven't known exactly how to work through some of them. This book is helping identify ways to confront many of my yet healed wounds so that I can begin to heal and grow from them instead of just noticing that they are there without knowing how to really address them.

All that said (because I'm really enjoying this book) one small thing that the author touched on was setting too high of expectations. Disappointment comes from having too high of expectations. I am a perfectionist. Perfection is unattainable. So this is an oximoron of sorts, I'm a perfectionist, striving for perfection while knowing that perfection is unattainable. Seems like something needs to change, right? I mean, essentially I am always setting myself up for failure.

December is an incredibly stressful month for me. I love the Christmas season but I want to make it perfect! Ah ha, but I can't make it perfect. So I'm going to slowly drive myself insane all month long and end the Christmas season with that all too familiar feeling of having fallen short? What a great way to enjoy the holiday's right! I'm not completely sure how to fully escape this dilemma (which I've written about here before, so this is nothing new to many of you) but I am going to write myself a permission slip right now. I'm not sure this is exactly what the author of Rising Strong meant when she talked about writing emotional permission slips but it deals with my emotional issues so my permission slip states: I will spend 45 minutes a day on Christmas. Anything that doesn't get accomplished in the 45 minutes doesn't need to be done. Whatever gets accomplished during the 45 minutes of Christmas is perfection.

Baking, decorating, Christmas crafts, Christmas cards, presents that I'm still planning to make, the Christmas cookie get together at our house that I really want to host, all the parties that we'll be attending, shopping (I think we've very little shopping left), Christmas books and scripture reading that I have planned each day for my kiddo, the holiday parade... I'll likely spend more than 45 minutes a day on certain days, like party days or parade days, but 45 minutes a day is all I need to get in. (I hope that doesn't sound like a lot... that doesn't sound like a lot to me) That's really only about 18 hours from here on out and I probably spent close to that just on Christmas cards last year.

Merry Christmas!

Let's get Christmas started!

I have terrible procrastination issues. I always have. This year however, and yes I am doing a happy dance right now, I have TWO very time consuming Christmas presents finished BEFORE Thanksgiving. 

This one I was scrambling to get done by Thanksgiving and I actually did it. I really didn't think I was going to get it done but I did. It's just a tiny little quilt for my nephew, about the size of a large pillow. I've made one for each of his three sisters so this year he'll be getting his own. The back is the cloud print fabric. It's sloppy (because I can't use a sewing machine to save my life) but I love it!

Now onto the next gift!

(The other gift I have finished I'm choosing to keep a secret because I'm really proud of it and the recipients mom reads the blog so I'm keeping it under wraps)

Debt Quote Tuesday, It's Tuesday right? Is it Tuesday?

Between this being a holiday week, last week's emotional fog, and my husband being off work for eleven days straight just before that I have lost all sense of days of the week and time. The winter is just beginning right? I have moments as I watch the snow melting where I'm thinking spring is around the corner. Oy vey!

I'm in the middle of reading "Happier at Home" by Gretchen Rubin (as well as several other books). The book is interesting; she writes about goals and projects she goes about implementing in order to increase her happiness in life (and more specifically at home). I feel that it reads a bit like a very well organized blog. The book is very upbeat as she writes about this and that accomplishment and how it did or didn't affect her state of happiness.

To be honest I'd read about half way through and it was starting to feel a little too upbeat to me. I mean, I make new goals almost as a profession but am I able to complete half of them? No. Here she is marking this off and working on that project and I half started to think, "this woman is too good to be true."

A little over half way through she hits a wall so to speak and I'm like, "HA! I'm not so much a freak as I was starting to feel." Smack dab in the middle of the book she writes:

 "Around January, my emotional energy flagged. I felt trapped in a kind of Ground Hog Day of happiness. When I looked back at my Resolutions Charts from previous months, I saw rows of X's on certain pages; the same resolutions defeated me, over and over. I wasn't making much progress." 

She goes on and on like this for about five pages. This, in the middle of a pretty upbeat, go and get em book about happiness. And then the book returns to it's normal pace. This little "I'm feeling defeated" moment in the book stuck out like such a sore thumb and yet I am still feeling a sort of relief from her having put that in there.

When I was a kid I was so fascinated by Paul's rant of sorts in Romans chapter 7:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (vs. 15-25)

I used to read this over and over as a kid. I was confused at how this man who wrote a good portion of the new testament which is all, "do good, be good, turn away from evil, love the Lord," how could he all of the sudden be struggling so much? What in the world was he failing at/ not doing that he wished he were doing that would cause him to write such a passage filled with that much turmoil? I was fascinated that life could really be that hard for adults too. I mean, it was SO difficult for me in middle school and high school and I wasn't even working full time, paying bills, raising kids, running a house hold... but adults were supposed to have it all together. I mean, they had grown up. I was just utterly fascinated by this passage.

I still am really. It's like a beacon of hope. "No mam, even people who write a good portion of the new testament don't have it all together." People who write books about happiness even have to put that downer moment in the middle. Being an adult doesn't mean having it altogether.

Okay, pep talk done.

Now that the holidays are upon us I am starting to feel very overwhelmed. I want the holidays to be spectacular. Christmas only comes once a year. But I have a hard enough time feeling that I accomplished taking care of my home, my family, my kid, paying the bills, keeping everyone fed, and making it to work and back on a daily basis. Throw the holidays in there and, well, this year I'm starting to panic a little. I write all this to say, "no panic necessary! Adults don't have it all together. I just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other and well, I seriously need to get more organized." But really, it's okay. I'm going to try my hardest and everything will be just fine.

Happy Holidays!

This Week's Christmas Craft

I apologize. I am being completely facetious with that title. I've already seen people on facebook complaining about Christmas merchandise being stocked in the stores. I know that there are a great deal of people who get really flustered by the mention of Christmas before Thanksgiving. I am not trying to tease you folks.

The little guy and I did inadvertently end up doing a Christmas craft this week but I promise it was unintentional. And while I personally have never been a fan of seeing Christmas merchandise on the shelves during the beginning of October I feel a little differently about it this year as I have been working on getting my Christmas gifts all planned out since sometime last month.

I wanted to do a craft this week with little Abe. I've done this craft before while I worked in a learning based day care years ago and I really liked it back then. I went upstairs to find my stock pile of tissue paper (which I'm now wondering if I disposed of when I did the basement clean up). All I could find were various types of Christmas tissue paper that I'd saved from gifts I've been given at Christmas. And a few new sheets of red, green, and white as well. "Hmm, I already planned on doing this with him, well, I guess we're just going to have to do it in Christmas colors now."

This is the simplest craft ever. But my little guy did end up struggling with it. First he and I tore some tissue paper into square-ish pieces. I put a little elmer's glue into a dish. I'm talking like 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon little. Then I added probably two tablespoons of water. I really watered it down a lot. I stirred the water and glue up and then we painted one side of the torn tissue paper with the glue water. As soon as the tissue square is covered in glue water you press it to the side of the jar. Once the jar was completely covered I went over the whole jar with a layer of glue water. And done. After it was dry I set a candle in it and we got to see our lovely craft glow. The specks you see on ours are because we had a few sheets of tissue paper with glitter in the paper.

Little Abe was having a difficult time "painting" the squares of tissue with the glue water. His tissue kept tearing and balling up. I think he was just using too much force which is completely understandable for a three year old. I felt badly that he struggled with our fun craft so once the jar was done I randomly pulled an old pizza box off the table (that I'd completely meant to throw out that very morning) and told him that he could paint sticky water all over the box and decorate it with all the torn paper that he'd like. While I personally am not as fond of how visually stunning the pizza box covered in tissue looks compared with the jar holding a lit candle he really enjoyed painting the box, sticking tissue all over it, and then doing it again, and again, and again. The only problem is that now he thinks we're going to be keeping an old pizza box covered in tissue paper. Oops.

Day seven of $10 a day (for ten days)

One of the Money Secrets of the Amish is to "Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, or Do without." If that's not a frugal principle then I don't know what is. Lorilee Cracker the author of the book points out that one of the aspects to this principle is "shopping your own home." I decided to do this while brainstorming Christmas crafts. I went upstairs (sort of a giant storage area for us right now) and brought down a ton of boxes full of things to get started with. I knew that I had a lot of fabric and different colored threads to work with but all the other treasures I found are still astonishing me.

My Christmas gifting ambitions are going through the roof now. I may need those of you who are praying folks to say a few for me. Out of the six nieces and nephews on my side I've decided what I want to make for four of them. I think I've come up with some pretty neat ideas BUT I'm not very good at following through with my lofty plans. As it stands right now I should only need to purchase one very small item for one of the four gifts. I have everything on hand otherwise. And ideally I will be able to get the one missing item from Jo-Ann with the remaining balance I have on a gift card from my birthday. Woohoo!

I think I also might need to purchase a Christmas presents and Christmas cards scheduling planner to keep on the ball... I'm totally joking about that BUT some serious organization, planning, and time management skills need to kick in here. EIGHTY NINE days till Christmas!

Spending rundown today: Milk, eggs, coffee filters, apples, and bagels: $10.10

My budget for the month is $450.79 which leaves $26.90

Average daily spending for 2015: $17.75

Day three of $10 a day (for ten days) AND CHRISTMAS

Yes, Christmas. Ah, Christmas, tied for first for my favorite of all Holidays. I LOVE that it's not just a holiday but an entire season. I LOVE that it's a time to celebrate the most important and most special birthday of all time. I LOVE that it really is a time for giving and the simple fact that it's an entire season means many different wonderful gatherings with loved ones. Oh the music! Oh the decorations! Oh the snow. (I really like snow)

I know, Halloween isn't even here yet. Why am I writing about Christmas? Well I'm pretty sure that my strongest love language is gift giving. But gift giving at Christmas drives me batty, can get me a little depressed, overwhelms me beyond belief and as much as I love to give gifts I walk away from the wonderful Christmas season each year feeling that I did not hit the mark. Still, after all these years, after the frugal hurdles I've scaled, after the penny pinching tests I've passed I am never satisfied with my own Christmas time gift giving. No one else that I know is really frugal like me. I do not think they truly get me. It's a serious area of pressure for me. I have a big family and there just isn't money in the budget to give extravagant gifts to everyone, or anyone for that matter.

Last year I bought dollar store gifts for my nieces and nephews. The game that we played with them was really fun, there were a lot of smiles and laughter and they seemed to enjoy themselves a lot but I felt like a cheapskate. I did not buy gifts for my dad or his two kids (we don't see them very often but they ended up being at the family Christmas party and it was awkward not having gifts for them). My sister is one of the greatest people on the planet and I never feel she gets a sufficient gift from me. The year before last I tried to make neat crafty gifts involving cash and candy for my nieces and nephews. I think they were too young. Only one of them even seemed the least bit interested in the presents. Because my family is on the larger side I never even get gifts for any of my friends or co-workers. Seriously, gifting at Christmas is a huge area of let down for me. I have one living grand-parent. I send him a card but I don't think I've ever given any of my grand-parents a Christmas gift. That seems a very odd thing to even type. Nope, never have. That's weird. How did my mom and dad never encourage us to give presents to our grandparents? Okay, this is a strange later in life revelation I'm suddenly having.

I'm thinking about Christmas right now because I want to be mentally and giftedly prepared this year. I'm attempting at this very moment to scrap all the expectations I put on myself. Yes, I love gifting but perfection is NOT attainable. Repeat that 10 times. "Perfection is NOT attainable." I can't buy any of my nieces a pony. I can't buy my nephews those big kid cars that they can actually sit in and drive around. I'm not going to spend $80 or $50 or $30 on some awesome doll or toy or the latest hottest craze. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. (I haven't see the movie so the song is not stuck in my head now)

After having just read Money Secrets of the Amish I'm opting to go the Amish route this Christmas. I'm going to put a tremendous amount of thought into my gift giving, probably a tremendous amount of energy and effort and very little money. I'm going to try and gift homemade things that I love. And I'm not going to beat myself up about it not being enough, not being good enough, not being... perfect. Okay, this last part is probably the main reason I'm writing this post IN SEPTEMBER. I don't want to beat myself up about Christmas gifts this year. Why do I feel so much pressure about this?

Spending rundown today: $0, NO SPEND day 73 for the year.

My budget for the month is $450.79 which leaves $67.55

Average daily spending for 2015: $17.87