{A Few of My Favorite Things} - Traditions

Happy December!  The most wonderful time of the year is finally here!  Just like a child, I look forward to this time of year all year round.  Now don't get me wrong - I actually hate cold weather and love, love, love the summertime!  But there's nothing quite like Christmas - the traditions, the music that fills the air (and my heart!), the sights, and the heart-felt warmth that comes with the sense of giving, whether it's sharing gifts with family members or sharing time or money with charitable organizations.

In honor of this cherished holiday called Christmas, over the next 4 weeks I will be blogging about a few of my favorite things.  Sometimes it's hard as a single parent to feel like a "real family" around Christmas time.  But all families are different...so whether you're like myself and just a family of 2 or whether you're a blended family of 10 or anything else in between, it is up to you to share this joyous season with your child/children and build memories that will last a lifetime. 

This week I'd like to share a few of my favorite Christmas traditions - I thought this would be a great way to start the series and who knows?  Maybe you might decide to add 1 or 2 of these to your own holiday lineup! 

1. The elf on the shelf.  If you haven't heard of this tradition, you and your kiddos are missing out!  The Elf on the Shelf arrived in our home on December 7, 2008 and his name is Tink.  You can find your own at Amazon here but they are becoming more and more widely available as the popularity of these little elves is gaining and can even be found in mainstream stores such as Target now.  Typically sold as a set, there is a small elf and a book explaining the tradition.  Basically what happens is the elf arrives sometime after Thanksgiving and stays with you until Christmas.  Each night he/she flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa if your child/children have been naughty or nice and then (here comes the fun part!) he reappears in a different spot in your home when he returns!  At our house, Libby can't wait to wake up and see where Tink is next - he can be quite naughty himself sometimes, even spilling M&Ms all over our kitchen table one year!  :)  This year he was running a bit behind schedule and just showed up today and she was thrilled!  It's a great way to keep her behavior in check for the next few weeks but also to inspire her to believe in the magic of Christmas.

2. "Happy birthday, Jesus!" party.  I make it a point to help Libby (and myself!) remember the true meaning of Christmas - a celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  While the entire Christmas season can sometimes seem like a blur of one celebration after another, it's easy to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle and forget what we're really celebrating.  To get back to the root of Christmas, we have had a small "Happy birthday, Jesus" party every year for the last 3 years.  Each year Libby invites a few friends over and together we decorate a birthday cake and sing "happy birthday" to Jesus.  Since she is older now, last year I decided that I also wanted to tie in some sort of service activity with the party to help my daughter and her friends take part in the giving aspect of Christmas - we should give and make sacrifices just like Jesus did for us when he suffered a death on the cross for our sins.  While I'm not sure what I'm going to have them do this year (any ideas???), last year Libby and her 2 friends painted magnets that I later wrapped and delivered to some of the residents of the nursing home where I work that do not have any family or friends visiting regularly.  I gave the magnets anonymously but I know that the residents that received them were so grateful for that small gesture of kindness. 

3. Ornaments.  I suppose most anyone who celebrates Christmas has a Christmas tree and if you have a Christmas tree, it's not complete without the ornaments and the lights, right?  Well,
 ornaments are more than just simple decoration at our house.  There are several traditions we have that revolve around ornaments so I want to briefly mention each of them.  First of all, one thing I look forward to every year is an ornament exchange with a few of my friends.  We began this tradition in college and this will be our 10th year!  It's a simple way for us to get together and celebrate our friendship over the years and express our gratitude for one another through the simple act of exchanging a gift - and rather than buying gifts for everyone, we each bring one ornament to the exchange and then draw names when we get there to determine whose gift we will be opening.  It's become quite the competition to see who can find the cutest ornament!  Secondly, in order to build up the small collection of ornaments that I had when I put up my first Christmas tree for my daughter and I, I have purchased a personalized ornament for our family every year.  Let me tell you - finding a cute, personalized ornament for a single parent family can be quite tricky!  Most of the personalized ornaments representing a 2 person family represent a couple.  But I've managed to find something each year, even if it's not the most accurate portrayal of our family.  And Libby loves looking at the different ones from over the years.  Not only do we have the personalized ornaments from each year, but we also have ornaments from most of the vacations we've taken.  Looking at all those ornaments brings floods of memories as we pull them out of their boxes and hang them each year.  Lastly, I also buy an ornament for my daughter every year.  The funny thing is, she doesn't even know I do this!  I buy it in secret and have a special box I keep them in, along with a small letter I write her each year explaining what the year has been like, what she means to me, and why I bought that particular ornament for her.  Someday, when my daughter has her own Christmas tree, I look forward to presenting her with this box of special notes and ornaments collected over the years.

4. Operation Christmas Child.  I'm not sure who looks forward to this one more - me or Libby!  Every year in November, we participate in Samaritan's Purse's Operation Christmas Child, where we fill a shoebox with toys, candy, socks, books, crayons and paper, and hygiene items to be delivered to a child in need in countries such as Haiti.  Many times the items in these shoe boxes are the only new things these children have ever received.  When the shoe boxes are handed out, the distributors also take the opportunity to share the story of Christ with the children, often a first for many of them.  It's a great way to share God's love!  And it can easily be done on a tight budget.  I'm an avid couponer so have been able to get many free hygiene items, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, that I set aside for either our use or to donate later.  This year I just pulled my box of "free stuff" out and Libby was able to pick out what she wanted to give.  We also keep Happy Meal and other Kids Meal toys that Libby doesn't like or want in their original packaging, making for easy toys to give to those in need.  And always looking for a good bargain, I buy a few more school supplies in August than what Libby will need because (a) they are cheaper in August and (b) they are great to donate to causes such as Operation Christmas Child!  It's too late to make a box this year (they are always due mid-November), but if you're interested, you can still make a donation by clicking on the link above.  And start setting aside a few things for next year's boxes!

 

 our 2011 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes - one for a girl, one for a boy



5. Shopping!  Just tonight I returned from another cherished tradition...shopping!  I don't really participate in the madness of Black Friday shopping but I have made it my annual tradition to go shopping the first Friday of every December with the alumni group at Bellarmine University, my Alma mater.  I know shopping is a chore to some, but not to me!  I LOVE it and even more so when I'm on this trip!  For $35 per participant, Bellarmine rents 3-4 charter buses to take a group of rowdy women of all ages to and from an outlet mall near Louisville (in Monroe, Ohio the last 2 years), provides breakfast, drinks, and snacks, as well as some fun entertainment and games en route!  If you're a single parent, you know what I mean when I say I don't get to do much shopping on my own...so to me, having a day where I can spend all day with some great friends doing something that I love is a priceless tradition for my own Christmas and helps put me in the spirit! 

What puts you and your family in the spirit of Christmas?  Do you have any unique traditions?  Or any ideas for our service aspect of the "happy birthday, Jesus!" party this year??? 

It's Turkey day!

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving already!  With the help of Thankful Thelma, Libby and I have tried to spend the last couple weeks remembering and being thankful for the many blessings in our life.  Here is my personal top 10 list (in no particular order):

1. My daughter.  I know, I know...it's pretty much a given if you're a parent that you're going to be thankful for your children.  But they have a way of touching our lives in a way that no one else can.  All you parents out there --- you know what I mean!
2. My home.  I'm so thankful that my daughter and I are able to sleep with a solid roof over our heads on soft beds under warm blankets in a heated house.  It's easy to overlook the fact that some of the comforts that we take for granted are luxuries for other people. 
3. My job.  I'm so blessed to have a job in this day's economy.  I know so many people that have struggled or are currently struggling with unemployment.  I honestly and truthfully love what I do - I help people get better!  What's not to love about that?!  But I know not everyone is lucky enough to be in a position where they can do what they love.  I'm thankful that I can.  And I'm thankful for a new opportunity that's just crossed my path as well...as of last week I became a consultant for Tastefully Simple and am looking forward to my new adventure with a fun little "side job!" 
4. My friends and family.  I have amazing friends and family!  Some I don't get to see as often as I'd like but with true friends we can always pick up right where we left off.  If it weren't for my awesome friends and family, I never would have survived my unwed pregnancy.  From fixing dinners to putting together baby furniture to "coaching" me through labor to volunteering to watch my newborn baby so I could quickly return to school, I had a strong support system to pull me through.  I am also so thankful that I continue to have a good, working relationship with my daughter's dad and that his family is basically like a second family to me, constantly opening their home and their hearts to me and my daughter. 
5. Music.  This may sound like a petty thing to be thankful for but it can sometimes make or break me.  Music has the power to bring forth waves of emotion through powerful lyrics or memories that have become intertwined with particular songs.  A couple years ago the car I was driving had no radio, no CD player, nothing - it had all quit working and I was too cheap to buy a new stereo knowing that I would soon be buying a new car.  I remember the first time I got into my new car and drove to work with the radio again - it seriously made my day!  There's nothing like a little boost from K-love in the morning! 
6. My church.  I have found a home in Southland Christian Church and have developed friendships with so many amazing people.  My daughter and I both look forward to church every Sunday (she used to cry when we missed a Sunday!) and I love walking away with real-life applications.  I'm also so thankful that we live in a country where I can freely attend church and read my Bible without persecution.
7. DayBreak.  This could be considered part of my church experience but it's played such a huge role in my life that I have to count it as a separate blessing!  DayBreak is an 8 week program for single moms (from all walks of life - divorced, widowed, never married...) that I had the opportunity to go through at Southeast Christian Church and it was really life changing for me.  It helped me "let go and let God" and free myself of the weight of guilt that I had been carrying.  Just recently I got to be part of bringing DayBreak to my church in Danville and serving as a co-coordinator for the program was such an awesome privilege.  I enjoyed meeting all of the wonderful women who participated and volunteered with the program - what a joy to work alongside each of them!
8. My health.  I work primarily with an elderly population but occasionally I see someone that is my own age.  It's humbling when I work with those patients that are my age because my health is something I so often take for granted.  I complain because I have a sore throat or because I'm having an eczema flair-up but imagine not being able to walk...or living in physical pain everyday...or losing a limb.  I'm thankful that I get to see these situations so that I can remind myself how blessed I truly am. 
9. Food.  I won't deny that I love food!  And this is definitely a day to be thankful for it!  I haven't had my Thanksgiving feast yet (we celebrate on Friday) but I'm sure many of you have.  Some of my favorites for Thanksgiving are my mom's grit casserole and (the Honey Baked Ham version of) sweet potato souffle (Sorry I didn't share this link in time for you to try it on Thanksgiving but maybe you could give it a whirl for Christmas!).  I typically don't really love sweet potatoes but whether you like sweet potatoes or not, the sweet potato souffle is hard not to love!  In fact, I think it warrants sharing this video with you that I saw on the Today Show...

And lastly...

YOU!  Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy life to read a little bit about mine!  This blog is still only a few months old but I hope that it will grow and that I will be able to reach out to other single parents (or just parents...or single people...or whoever wants to read this!) and maybe together we can make this journey called life a little bit easier.

I hope you've had a blessed Thanksgiving!  I'd love to hear what you're thankful for today.

Choose JOY!

Last Sunday our church sermon really hit home for me.  (You can find links to watch or listen to it here.)  It's something I think we all know but could use a reminder from time to time.  Each and every day we have to decide how we are going to live our life - Are we going to be bitter?  Are we going to be angry?  Or are we going to choose joy for our day?  For our life? 

I've pretty much always been a glass half-full kinda gal myself.  But just like anyone else, I have my days.  As a single parent, it doesn't take much for me sometimes to feel sorry for myself.  In fact, I feel like last week was one of those weeks...feeling a little too stressed and a little too alone to manage everything that was on my plate.  I know I'm not alone.  Everyone gets overwhelmed at times.  But I think it's different if you're single and even more so if you're also a parent.  When you've got a little person to look after, you don't have time to wallow.  We have to wake up and glue a smile on our face because we've got someone that's relying on us.  And that, my friends, is challenging! 

In the words of best-selling author Angela Thomas in the introduction to her book, My Single Mom Life: Stories and Practical Lessons for your Journey, "All the other families seemed to be a man and a woman with some kids.  Whole families...Never mind what kind of families they are in private; the families with a man in their pew look put together, and we are so obviously single.  Many days the ache of that unfair comparison won't seem to go away.  And being a single-mom family can make us feel that we're relegated to live a second-class life.  Crippled.  Limping.  Just doing the best we can with the scraps that remain.  Many times I feel the ache, but refuse to live like a crippled woman.  I am a single mom.  My children and I have been through it.  But we've also been blessed beyond reason.  I am choosing to live in the blessing."



image via http://office.microsoft.com/

In the early stages of my pregnancy, I will admit - I was no happy camper.  I was angry, disappointed, sad...basically every negative emotion you can name, I had it.  But my story changed when I began to accept my circumstances.  I didn't realize it at the time but looking back, when my journey of acceptance began, I made a choice.  I chose joy.  What will you choose today?



Meet Thelma...

If you read my most recent post, Christmas on the brain..., you know that on my "to do" list this week was creating a "Thankful Tom Turkey," which I'd seen on the blog Living, Laughing, and Loving. Well, it's been a CrAzY week in our house with too much to do and not enough time...nonetheless, we spared enough free-time to work on our turkey and it turned out to be quite a masterpiece!

"Thankful Thelma"

I had planned on naming our turkey Tom (because who doesn't name a turkey Tom???) but considering we are a house full of girls, we had to think of something a little more feminine...so Thelma it was! She was crafted from various scraps of paper (because I RARELY throw scrap papers away - you never know when you might need them!). Libby and I shared the feathers and secretively (because keeping it secret was part of our fun!) wrote on the back the things we are thankful for. Now Thelma is helping us to count down the days til Thanksgiving...each day we are going to "pluck" one of her feathers and when they're all gone...it's Turkey Day! The best part is reading what we are thankful for each day. Not to mention, it makes Thanksgiving seem all that more exciting when you have a feather to "pluck" every morning in anticipation!

Just for kicks, I thought I'd share with you that the Corduroy Appreciation Club has deemed today to be "Corduroy Appreciation Day," since 11/11/11 is the date that most closely resembles the appearance of corduroy. (I just learned that yesterday, courtesy of my favorite radio station.) Can't say that corduroy really made it on my "thankful" list but I do enjoy it from time to time. So happy corduroy day to everyone!

Before I sign off for the evening, let me just say that one of the things I am thankful for is OUR VETERANS! Thank you to anyone that has sacrificed to serve this wonderful country that we are so blessed to live in. And to those of you that have lost husbands, brothers, sisters, fathers, children, etc. while they were fighting for our rights - my heart goes out to you and your family.

My favorite veteran - my Dad (Vietnam vet)

To those non-veterans and anyone who does not share in the appreciation of corduroy, let me just say this - Happy Friday!!! Enjoy your weekend!

 

Christmas on the brain...

Ahhhh...November is here and things are about to go into full swing.  I heart the holidays! 

image via Photobucket

Things are about to get a little crazy around here...er, more crazy than usual (because things are never calm and collected at our house!) - with multiple Thanksgiving meals, decorating, shopping, and as many Christmas celebrations as we can cram into one calender!  As much as it stresses me out sometimes, I love EVERY STINKIN' second of it!!!  After all, it is "the most wonderful time of the year!"



This week, Halloween decor gets boxed up and the Thanksgiving decor comes out!  (By the way, Libby is "embarrassed" that our Halloween stuff is still up - she said so on November 1.)  But that's just the interim, the "filler"...what I really can't wait for is busting out the Christmas decor!

In the meantime, we do have a few other fun things on our Thanksgiving "to do" list...

First, I'm planning on creating our very first "Thankful Tom Turkey" (idea courtesy of Living, Laughing, and Loving - one of my new fave blogs!).  If he's cute enough, I'll try to post a picture of our masterpiece!  :)

Christmas pictures!  I'm taking the day off from work on Tuesday to get our pictures made by my wonderful friend, Amy Raney!  She does some great work and I can't wait to see how they turn out. 

We've also got to find the time to write to Santa!  I know, I know, it sounds early...but if mom wants to get an early start on shopping, she has to know what is on Santa's list (I wouldn't want to buy her something that he's already bringing her!).  Each year, Libby writes a letter (in years past she has cut and pasted from catalogs) and we mail it at Macy's.  They have a wonderful program that is pretty heavily advertised where Macy's donates $1 to the Make-A-Wish foundation for every stamped letter to Santa they receive in their Santa mailbox. 

Once the letter is written, it's time to shop!  I love shopping just as much as the next girl but really don't care for the post-Thanksgiving Christmas crowd.  While I may brave the crowds on Black Friday for a handful of great deals and steals, I'm hoping to get most of my shopping done early.  This weekend I'm hitting the stores, hopefully sans Libby! Goal is starting and finishing all of my non-online Christmas shopping in one day. Wish me luck! (As a side note, I'm hoping to do more online shopping and also support more "cottage industries" this year rather than supporting the big name stores - thanks to the advice from my friend, Anne, at Modern Mrs. Darcy.)

And that's just this week!  Mind you, all of these "extras" will be on top of our usual hum-drum of work, meetings, church functions, swim practice, errands, maintaining the house (with my new cleaning schedule!) AND maintaining my sanity.

How are your pre-Thanksgiving/holiday season preparations going?

A week of firsts...

I live in the small town of Danville, Kentucky, which is known around here as the "City of Firsts" (you can read more about our historical town here).  It seems quite fitting, then, that we are always celebrating "firsts" in our home. 

We all start out celebrating the small things with our babies, like first words, first tooth, first steps, etc.  Then as they grow, the "firsts" start to come farther and farther apart - first day of school, first time losing a tooth, first soccer game, first date, etc.  But nonetheless, our children our constantly gaining new experiences and every now and then, so are we!
Over the past week there were two big "firsts" for us - one for myself and one for my daughter...

My "first" this past week?  I tried a cleaning schedule for the FIRST time ever and LOVED it!  In fact, I loved it so much that I have no idea why I hadn't succumbed to a cleaning schedule before!!!  As I've recently buffed up on my blog-reading, it seems I've read multiple times about how vital it is to have a cleaning schedule in order to maintain a clean home.  I first read about this novel idea in All You magazine, which referenced the FLY Lady website, and her claim to fame in which you can spend just 15 minutes a day to maintain a clean home.  The more I read, the more I liked this concept!  But being as Type-A as I am, I couldn't just jump into her cleaning schedule at any old time...she has monthly projects and different rooms to focus on each week and it all seemed a bit overwhelming for me and my occasional, whenever-it-needs-it cleaning routine.  But then I began to run across other blogs with their cleaning schedules like Clean Mama (who shares tips for 31 days to a cleaning routine), and Organizing Made Fun (who shares on how to "fake" an immaculate house) and reality began to sink in...I'd been doing things wrong all these years!  For at least the past 6 and a half years (basically since my daughter was born), I have been cleaning on an as-needed basis, cramming most of my cleaning and ALL of my laundry into one day!  This past week I had a trial-run of my own cleaning (and laundry!) schedule and guess what?  It was great!  With breaking all my chores into small tasks over 5 days, I didn't even notice the 15-20 minutes of time that I "lost" each day and by the time the weekend rolled around, I was actually ready to enjoy it!  In fact, we had company this weekend and it was so wonderful and freeing to invite them over without fretting over getting my typical whirlwind cleaning done!  If you don't have a cleaning schedule, I HIGHLY recommend it! 

My daughter's "first" this past week?  A concert!  I spent a small fortune to take her to her first concert to see Taylor Swift on her Speak Now tour.  Our seats were nowhere near what you would call "good" but the show was still amazing!  And Libby was so excited to see one of her favorite singers, even if it was at a distance!  And, quite frankly, so was I!

It may seem trivial that I mention that this was Libby's first concert but the memories we made last night, listening to Taylor and sitting with our friends, will last a lifetime.  And I couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed when Taylor sweetly sang one of her newer songs, Never Grow Up, and I held my "baby" girl in my lap who is growing up way too quick right before my eyes.  (If you haven't heard the song, please take the time to click on the link and listen to the lyrics.)  No matter how much she grows up, she will always be my little girl and I will always make time to celebrate new "firsts" with her.

Worms for breakfast, anyone?

My daughter and I made these lovely cinnamon-sugar "worms" for breakfast yesterday.  We need to work on our form - they don't quite resemble any "worm" that I've ever seen!  Ha!  But despite the poor craftsmanship, they sure tasted delicious.  "They taste just like a cinnamon roll!" she exclaimed after her first bite. 

We got the idea courtesy of Highlights magazine (which, by the way, she loves!).  Their recipe called for a roll of refrigerated pizza dough which you could then cut and roll up to look like worms.  I decided to cheat a little and use a roll of refrigerated breadsticks instead.  You roll them in wax paper that has been sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and then add mini chocolate chips for eyes.  Such a cute, clever, easy, and YUMMY idea!  And of course I added some spray butter for a little more yummy goodness!  :) 

It's little projects like this that I wish I would make more time for.  I'm the type of Mom that gets busy...you know how it goes sometimes...as a single parent, we do it ALL!  I constantly have a laundry list of things to do, places to go, projects to finish.  And you know how in the book, The Night Before Christmas, they have "visions of sugar plums" dancing in their heads?  Well, not I!  I constantly have visions of chores, to-do lists, errands, you name it!

The problem is, I need to slow down.  I know I need to slow down.  We all do!  Moments like yesterday when my daughter and I exchanged smiles and laughter as we made "worms" for breakfast are priceless!  Even though it was a little tough on my type-A personality to watch the messy kitchen unfold before me (cinnamon and sugar on the floor, sticky fingers, melted chocolate chips on my daughter's hands), every second is worth it because these are the things that matter to her.  Our kids don't care how clean the house is or whether the laundry is piling up - they care about the quality time we spend with them.  As for the rest of it, I can just add it to my never-ending to-do list!