Holiday Rant

Anyone in the mood to hear a holiday rant? Lol, I am guessing not but I am going to complain a bit anyway.

Before I start complaining though, I want to thank all of you who sent me emails Friday and yesterday. Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts. Yesterday was a long day but for the most part, everything went fine. It is good to have this all behind us. My Mom is doing much better now that the hard part is over and we'll be getting back to our usual lives, hopefully, soon.

Now for some holiday ranting... UUUUUGGGHHHH, am I frustrated with the holidays this year!!! I have been to Target, I have been to amazon.com, I have checked out Top 10 lists and FamilyFun Magazine... I can't find anything!! I have brought this situation on myself, I realize that. I should deprive my kids more so that they have less and I can buy more meaningful things that they really want. But I don't. If they have a really good week, I will get the new Disney movie that is released on Tuesdays. Ron comes home on a random Thursday with a video game they have asked about. What's that do? It makes it them the "they-already-have-everything-immpossible-to-buy-for-kids".

Here we are just 3 weeks to Christmas and what have I got? A new bike helmet for each of them. I have no idea what to do!! You should see me at Target, walking up and down the aisles with a glazed look in my eyes and totally clueless. I refuse to spend $100 on a remoste control suv that will either break in a week or be pushed aside to the back of the garage by spring. Then again, I am not going to let me kids wake up on Christmas morning and be utterly dissappointed and devasted when there are no gifts under the tree. Where do I find the balance people??

Then there is Ron... another person to make my head ache. LOL. I am certain somewhere in Ron's childhood there is a holiday that was so utterly and completely mind blowingly bad that he has blocked it out and totally desenseatized to all future holidays. The man is NO FUN!! I get great ideas for things for him. I hint to him what I am thinking and my plans get shot down. For example, I saw this great wine cooler at Target. I think he'll love it. So when we were having a glass of wine the other day, I say "wouldn't it be great if we had one of those little wine coolers to keep this just the right temperature?" He says "those things are a total waste of money, not to mention the electricity to keep it running all the time." He takes all the fun out of it. He is another one that never hesitates to buy himself things either. So there is nothing that he really wants and has been waiting to get. Grrr... and ya know what else? He thinks his mentality goes for me too. He puts in no effort to make Christmas an exciting experience for me. I am not hard to please, just show a little effort. Get some of my favorite bubble bath for my stocking stuffer, he knows I love Old Navy... get a cool scarf for me... I love my art, get me the new 2007 glass artist calendar (I even sent him the link).

I know I know, Christmas isn't about the presents. But still, you have to admit, deep down, that we have been trained to have it be a big part of it. I love the look on my kids faces when they see the tree Christmas morning and rip into all those boxes of goodies. I love when they open new games and we spend the day as a family playing those games together. I love when they wear their new matching sweaters from Santa.

I guess I am just trying to find the magic this year that I remember so well from when I was a kid. I want my kids to feel (and remember for themselves) the warmth and love the holidays should have. If any of you know where the "magic" is hiding, send it my way!! I think a little of it might be in Lauren. She will be my saving grace this year. All she needs is a few things purple or pink and she'll be grinning from ear to ear. I can't wait to see her smiling and laughing.

Alrighty, I got that out of my system, it's time to move on, lol. I got things to do today. I am setting up our Christmas village and hanging lighted garland around the house. I also wanna get myself out to the torch at some point. I haven't made beads in over a week. I think it'll really help lift my spirits. I'll share what I come up with :)