How the Grinch Stole Christmas

“He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!”

Growing up one of my favorite places to go was out to my Great Grandma Mary’s house. It was a place of exploration and adventure. During the summer we would catch turtles to race them. We would catch rattle snakes. We would sit at her garden and do things to grasshoppers that I wont mention here. I got my first pet rock at Grandma Mary’s house. I would sneak out to her old shed and go thru the boxes of my dad’s old stuff. I remember sitting in his old letter jacket from high school and feeling close to him. I remember sitting and watching her old lava lamp for hours. I still have it even though it doesn’t work anymore. I ate pickled beats, pickled eggs, eggs in beat juice and drinking those commodities juices from a can. We’d lay on our backs and do the bicycle and play with her old barbies. Every time I would come over she had a new book for us to explore. Even though it’s been many years since I last saw her I can still remember her smell. I remember when my dad would come to town and we’d all go out there (me, dad, and his brother) and no matter who was mad at who we were a family. In that window of time all my dad thought about was me. This time every year I am reminded of her because of one tradition we had. Every year we would watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. That was my favorite Christmas movie. My kids have never seen the original which is something I think Im going to change this year. I have not seen it since the last time I watched it with my Grandma Mary but I saw it when I was shopping online and wondered why I let that tradition die with her. A lot of people are a little upset with me right now because I’ve told my children the truth about Santa (and all the others). My main reason for telling them is because I feel very strongly about developing trust with my children while I am teaching them that even though you cant see or touch God he’s still there and real. But also because I think we’ve lost touch with what Christmas is really about! The quote above is from “How the grinch stole Christmas” and it is very true. Maybe Christmas… Perhaps… means a little bit more! We have explained to them that they don’t tell the other children because their moms & dads may not be ready for them to know yet and it’s not our place to tell them. This year we are really emphasizing the true meaning of Christmas and not the commercialized reason. So when you are with your families and are enjoying the presents that you get just take a moment to stop and thank God for the gift he gave.

He finally made it....

Well~ to start off I have that kid that gets in trouble for being too smart at school. He would get bored and start acting out. Messing with the other kids and such. We went thru this all last year and we tried every type of punishment under the sun. So when this years teacher and I were on a first name basis I realized that it was time to try a new approach. Which leads us to the subject of this. Bribery. Good old fashion bribery. He’d been hounding us to get a Mohawk for a couple months. Then this little light bulb went on and I realized I had my bribing chip. I told him if he could go two weeks strait without getting a card pulled (when they get in trouble) he could get it. For two months now he’s made it to Thursday of week two and gotten one pulled. FINALLY he came home yesterday with the good news that he made it. We got up this morning & headed in to do some cuttin’. I think it is cute. My mom hates it. But most importantly Hamster loves it and we taught him 2 very important lessons. One that as much as I wanted to give in when he’d make it almost two weeks I can stand by my word. And two that in life you have to work for the things you want. So…. Here’s the picture

Mom! I lost another one!

Last Saturday we hade a cookout at my Nana's house to celebrate the birthday of my oldest Hamster. During this cookout he comes running up to me with blood everywhere and screaming some random mess of words jumbled together. Once I calmed him down I realized he lost his tooth. This has happened before so Im not sure what the fuss was about. So we cleaned him up, put the tooth in the baggie & start searching for money to give him from the 'Tooth Fairy" only to find out that the smallest bill my Nana could find was a $5. A $5!!!!! I NEVER got $5 but whatever. It's Nana. You cant argue with Nana. So we wait. And wait. And wait until he finally goes to sleep and make the switch. The next day he is extatic because the "tooth fairy" at our house has never brought that much. So excited that he let Matt pull his other loose tooth out in hopes of doubling his riches. Which by the way he did not. After he only got $1 that night I carefully explained to him that every town has a different Tooth Fairy. And the Tooth Fairy in Coweta isnt as rich as the Tooth Fairy in Watonga. He seemed to buy it. Or at least I convinced myself that he bought it. So this week I have had to stare into this empty gap in the front of his mouth. Now most normal people embrace this snaggle tooth stage as being cute. To set the record strait~ Im not normal people. Looking at this face makes me cringe like someone is running nails down a chalkboard. I cant stand it. It literally gives me chills looking at the gaping hole in his mouth. Fortunately the new ones are already coming in so it will be over soon. He's awefully proud of it though.

But I want to go NOW!!!

As my nearest and dearest may know by now I have obsessive tendencies. I call my lovely husband at 4:30pm every day. If he’s busy working & cant answer I frantically pace until he is able to call me back. Not because I worry he’s hurt or something. Simply because by golly I call him at 4:30pm EVERY day and he’s supposed to answer. Or when I make my grocery list it has to be in order of when the item goes in the basket. Today I had made my grocery list and decided to go to Wal-Mart instead of the grocery store. Yep you guessed it. I had to re-write my list. My dad is the same way. He told me once that he has yelled at the grocery store workers for re-arranging the store. I know it’s stupid but it’s me. And my nearest and dearest love me anyway. Anyway~ sometimes my obsessive-ness begins to wear me down. I get tired. And cranky. Very cranky. Once I reach this point there is only one thing that can get me back on track. I pack up my kids and head to a place that I can not reveal to the general public. It’s my “Secret Garden” so to speak. It’s the one place I can go to and turn the cell phone off and the only thing I’m responsible for is changing poopy diapers (because my wonderful hosts will do everything BUT change poopy diapers). I have been known to decide Friday afternoon that I HAVE to go to my secret garden. So~ I’ll frantically throw a bunch of clothes, dirty & clean (washer/dryer on site) into bags, load up the hubby & kids and head out. Once I pull into the driveway I immediately feel like I’m home. I have no worries at all. My “to do list” consists of rest & recoup. I’ve been literally dreaming of this place for months now but this happened and that happened. And I’m at that point. I am counting backwards & practicing my breathing techniques. So I made the plan to go this weekend. I’ve been so excited! Only to get the call that we have to put it off another week while they have miscellaneous things that have to be done this weekend. I managed to do the whole “I understand, it’s ok…” and make it off the phone before I started bawling. It makes me wish I was 5 again so I could stomp my feet and scream until I got my way. I feel guilty for being upset about it. There are legitimate reasons why we can’t go this weekend. That doesn’t mean I have to like it though. Does it?

Not again...

This was posted on my myspace but I just never put it here so you may have read it already....

As most of you know I have a brother and sister that are the same age as my kids. I can recall several times in the last year or two where "haircutting experiments" have taken place with my brother & sister. I was blessed with kids that just didn't have that "urge". Until last week. One day last week Princess Bee decided she wanted bangs. So with scissors in hand she began to cut ultimately ending up with something that resembled a mullet. Immediately I get on the phone with my fixer-of-all-things-hair Autumn & picture message photos of the damage. We stop by and she gives Bee the cutest little bob hair cut which Brook of coarse hates. She cried for two days because she wants her long hair back. So the trauma passed and we were back to life as normal. Well~ normal for us anyhow. Then Saturday afternoon she comes out of the back part of the house rubbing her forehead. Yep. You guessed it. She found some first aid scissors in the master bathroom and she cut them again. This time to the scalp. No hope of repair this time. So you can imagine saying that I'm mad at this point is the understatement of the century. My beautiful little girl has a huge bald spot in the front of her hair. So I gave her the lecture again about how scissors are for cutting paper not her hair. And how we have a PROFESSIONAL hair cutter on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week any time she wants her hair cut so she should never do it on her own. Blah, blah, blah. So I have begun gathering ALL the scissors in the house to put UP. Oh no. It doesn't end there. We get home from church this afternoon and everyone lays down for a nap. Well then Bee gets up and goes in the front bathroom. Then she comes out a bit later and has blood on her lip. SHE SHAVED HER FACE!!!! Seriously! I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to. At that point all I could do was stare with my mouth hanging wide open. I'm literally speechless. Needless to say over the next couple days all sharp objects will be removed from reach of Bee.

IN A NUTSHELL

I’m just an ordinary girl trying to accomplish extraordinary things. Like being the perfect wife. Or Super mom. Or the positive influence that my friends or members of my family need. My biggest insecurity is that I will fail as a mother. I’m on husband #2 so I’ve already been thru the “failure as a wife” stage. And when my “non-Christian” friends call me up and ask me to pray for them I know I’m getting the second one across. But I am responsible for making sure that my children grow up to be successful, responsible, disciplined, CHRISTIAN adults. And that is a scary thought since one of their parents have never taken responsibility for anything and didn’t know that discipline was a word.

Someday my husband and I are going to be missionaries. My family is not always supportive of our dream and most people around us give that look when we talk about it but we really try not to let it discourage us. There was a line in a Beth Moore bible study that I keep in my head that says “If we are convinced that God has willed the action, let’s go the extra faith mile and believe that God will handle the consequences.” So Im working on that one.

I guess that’s me in a nutshell. I guess most would say I’m not that exciting. But I have a story to tell. And when we are in another country learning another language & culture and doing what God has called us to do~ I’m gonna want to look back at all the things I had to go thru to get there. And I have a feeling there are going to be some pretty big things that we will experience on the way.

Oh yeah~ and Im a list-aholic. If there are two of anything it's going on a list!