Friday, December 16, 2011

To Give Or Not To Give

Can I get an, "Amen!" for two weeks off for Christmas break?  I am so excited to have my kids home and Hubby on vacation for two whole weeks! I don't even have my Christmas shopping done, but I"m not even bothered by that.

I'll be the first to admit the last couple of weeks haven't gone so well at the girls school and we all need a break. Between a teacher saying that email communication was going into her junk folder and then saying we didn't let her know about orthodontist appointments*.   And another teacher still spelling my other kids name wrong**.  

This has been sort of a roller coaster school year. But when it came to giving Christmas gifts to the teachers I didn't hesitate. It's something we enjoy giving as a family.  The (homemade peppermint sugar scrub) gifts were something the girls and I could make together instead of just throwing another candle at them or something they didn't need***. 

Then my older daughter mentioned that the teacher wrote thank you notes to some of the kids and not all of them. Guess which column she fell under? First, I'm a little surprised that she noticed. Second, I had to explain that we don't do those things for the thank you notes.  Although it would have been nice to receive an acknowledgement.

God, it took all I had not to call the teacher a few names to my daughter and to mention how rude it was for the teacher to write thank you notes to the chosen.

I did think to say that maybe the teacher had a lot of gifts and didn't have enough thank you notes. If that were the case would it take anything to just write a thank you on a piece of notebook/construction paper?

The feeling was all too familiar. Recently we dropped a nice chunk of change on a birthday lunch and the gift was a super duper cute mini photo album with updated pictures of my kids. My girls gave the recipient two things they found around the house. My kids were the ones that got thank you notes. Not Hubby and I. I had to swallow the fact that I didn't do it for the thank you note. Will we be doing it again?

Sometimes it seems so stupid to get wrapped around the axle over a note. God knows I'm no Emily Post or Miss Manners.  I can't control how others behave. I can only control my own behavior.

May I remember to rejoice in the giving and not the gift. May I do it because I want to and not what I get in return.


*and taking it out on my kid by getting mad and not speaking to her and saying that we didn't let her know.
**it's just another "e" at the end. That's it. The kicker is that the teacher has the same first name.
***not that they NEED peppermint sugar scrub, but it was something we enjoyed making and wanted to share.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Odd Angel

Recently when perusing through craft web sites looking for crafts and activities to do with my kids I came across something I'm not quite sure about. I had quickly glanced over the name when looking to flip over to another web page. A few seconds later I thought, "Surely that didn't say what I thought it said". I had to go back and check. It did say what I thought it said.

It was an innocent enough looking angel ornament hanging on a tree limb. Adorned with wings and a wooden bead for its head.
 Looks innocent enough, right?

It's a tampon angel. I'm just a little creeped out by it. Obviously, it's not a used one. But still.

I think if I wanted to make something similar I would just go to the fabric store and buy a few yards of some sort of cotton fluff material or something. 

It was one of the crafts that didn't make the list of things to do this year. I'm pretty sure it never will.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Advent Calendar

Just as soon as we are coming down from our Thanksgiving high it's time to get your shoes on and start running toward Christmas. It's crazy.

On one hand I'm a planner. On the other I procrastinate with the best of them! It seems that every year I'm trying to make a mad dash looking for cute little gifts to put in the advent calendar. And trying to find gifts for two kids to fit inside each door is a little bit of a headache.

I came across a blogger on Pinterest that had the neatest of ideas. She started doing activities instead of gifts each day in December. Some are the simplest of activities that we were already doing. Things like making gingerbread houses and reading the story of the first Christmas. I made sure to include a trip to our favorite mall to see the wonderful Christmas decorations. On another day we're going to enjoy a candlelit dinner by the Christmas tree. I'm also getting them involved with helping me make their teacher's Christmas gifts. I'm also looking forward to making peppermint candy wreaths!
I did simple activities that my kids like to do. Instead of wasting our money on little trinket things that either get broken or eaten by the dog,

I hope this new tradition will be something that the girls will carry with them in their heart.