Christmas Spirit

Without hesitation I can say this is one of the most stressful Christmases EVER! Sam is so excited about Christmas that she's practically coming out of her skin! I wish I could feel her enthusiasm, but that got me thinking about Christmases past. When we're kids we all seem to be crazy about Christmas; there's cookies, games, friends, relatives, food, desserts, PRESENTS!, caroling, church activities, school parties, did I mention food? But when we were kids (or at least in my case) I never took stock of where all these amazing Christmas "things" were coming from...they were just there, every year better the the last. Who did this? Who created all this Christmas spirit? Well this year it hit me! Mom! My mother always talked about being tired after Christmas and I thought she was just old, last year I was 30 and I passed out of the couch for about 2 days after my guests left. I don't think I was old I just became mom!

Well in church today the preacher was discussing Christmas being one of the most stressful and painful times of the year for most people mainly b/c we put so much effort into trying to uphold a level of "expectation" through the eyes of others. Maybe if we took it down a notch, maybe if we just made one less dish at Christmas dinner; bought and wrapped one less gift for each person; made one less batch of cookies; put one more gift into Toys for Tots; put one more quarter in the Salvation Army bucket; sent a box of cookies to the troops...then would we be able to take a step back and realize that the Christmas spirit we're all looking for is the spirit of Christ? I forget all too often.

The littlest George Bush fan

Okay, so I'm in the car driving and I've had Fox News broadcasting 24/7 on my Sirius in the car in response to upcoming elections. So, Sam is sitting in the back trying to pronounce "Barack Obama" and I choose this time to talk to her about the elections and that he is in a race with "John McCain" who she knows by sight and name. She understands "racing" so I thought that would be a simple way of putting it. I say, "He is in a race with John McCain to be the president of the United States" and she says to me "but George Bush is the President" and I said, "yes, but after Christmas he won't be anymore, it'll be someone else, either Barack Obama or John McCain." And her face fell and in a sad voice she said, "but I love George Bush". Ha Ha. She was so cute. I have to remember that always :)

All the kisses

While Mike was out of town. Sam and I have been so close (she still tries my authority, but it's been okay). At night is the best. She told me last night about all the kids at school, but then said, " but you weren't there mommy. You went to work out and I didn't see you." After she teared up a little and we hugged I told her that anytime she needs me to just tell her teacher to call and I'll come get her. She's 3, I'm not making her hate school this young. She'll HAVE to go when she's older anyway. Well she told me last night that she wanted "all" the kisses. She gave me (and she counted) 12 kisses on my face. So cute!

Okay, so sneaking healthy food has been hard, but she's fallen for pureed zucchini in the pizza sauce and pureed carrots in the applesauce muffins (from Deceptively Delicious). I like this book better than the Sneaky Chef btw.

Sam is loving to write the letters she can (A, C, O, and almost S), I need to work with her on this. And she wants to do things like cutting paper, so I need to focus on that. She loves to cook with me and she loves to do anything I'm doing. I need more patience with that, but that is something I've been working on since the day I found out I was pregnant. Patience....something that does not come in a bottle...mmmmm. I pray about it, but I'm careful. I've heard bad things about praying for patience. All I know is that I actually send myself to timeout and that helps. Sam is an exceptionally gifted, energetic and healthy girl. I am so blessed. I just need to calm down.

Sept. 18, 2008

What a great idea; blogging to keep track of the cute stuff my daughter does, the histaria that is this presidential election, and the status of my store. For the few of you who may actually run across this blog it is just a collection of personal thoughts. I'm not doing it for anyone but me to keep track of life...I get writers cramp so this is much better!

Sam- doing great. Loves school. I need to work with her more on letters, she loves being read to and I really hope that sticks. It's so funny, when she hears a bad word (ie. butt or stupid) she makes a gasp and then says, "ooooo they said a bad word" and if you ask her what the word was she says, " I can't say that, I'm a good girl". Priceless!