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Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming! What? I skipped over Thanksgiving? Well, yeah BUT I want to give you the opportunity to create some awesome Christmas memories!
Go here for what we did last year. I am so PSYCHED for this year's as Hero and I have already started planning & conniving! Er, not conniving in a devious way... Rather, we've been um... conniving. Ah! Anyway, if you'd like a list of things we did, lemme know. I think I've got the docs saved somewhere.
We've also decided that we're not doing presents for each other. Besides the stockings, of course. We're going to do the Christmas Ornaments. I tried to find the post that I thought I had written about it... but then I got caught up in reading my old posts. Ah well. So let me tell you what we did. I did this for Hero one year and as I said, we're going to do it again this year. I bought pretty glass ornaments - 12. And filled them with little scraps of paper that had either an act of service or a little note to redeem a small gift. The rule was, he had to fish out the paper without breaking the ornament. If he broke it, I GOT the service/gift. I hung the ornaments with gold ribbon above our bed and it looked to pretty and festive! Our daughter wanted in on it but um, they were things only for husband & wife. :) Some of the things I put in there were like a foot massage, dinner for two, etc. I know I had some gifts but I can't remember what they were. The two things we learned was that we should open it in the MORNING so I (now we) would have time to prepare for the activity - such as dinner. The other thing was - to make sure all prep was done so there wasn't a mad scramble because I forgot to wrap something or buy something or find a sitter. We're looking forward to this year's... it's such a great way to connect with each other. (Thanks btw - to my SIL Aimee who introduced me to this idea years ago.)
Now, it's time for me to go back to bed. I've been up from 12:45 - 1:30am and 3:30 to 5:30am and if I'm lucky, baby will let me sleep until 7:40am when I need to get the kids ready for school.
Go here for what we did last year. I am so PSYCHED for this year's as Hero and I have already started planning & conniving! Er, not conniving in a devious way... Rather, we've been um... conniving. Ah! Anyway, if you'd like a list of things we did, lemme know. I think I've got the docs saved somewhere.
We've also decided that we're not doing presents for each other. Besides the stockings, of course. We're going to do the Christmas Ornaments. I tried to find the post that I thought I had written about it... but then I got caught up in reading my old posts. Ah well. So let me tell you what we did. I did this for Hero one year and as I said, we're going to do it again this year. I bought pretty glass ornaments - 12. And filled them with little scraps of paper that had either an act of service or a little note to redeem a small gift. The rule was, he had to fish out the paper without breaking the ornament. If he broke it, I GOT the service/gift. I hung the ornaments with gold ribbon above our bed and it looked to pretty and festive! Our daughter wanted in on it but um, they were things only for husband & wife. :) Some of the things I put in there were like a foot massage, dinner for two, etc. I know I had some gifts but I can't remember what they were. The two things we learned was that we should open it in the MORNING so I (now we) would have time to prepare for the activity - such as dinner. The other thing was - to make sure all prep was done so there wasn't a mad scramble because I forgot to wrap something or buy something or find a sitter. We're looking forward to this year's... it's such a great way to connect with each other. (Thanks btw - to my SIL Aimee who introduced me to this idea years ago.)
Now, it's time for me to go back to bed. I've been up from 12:45 - 1:30am and 3:30 to 5:30am and if I'm lucky, baby will let me sleep until 7:40am when I need to get the kids ready for school.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
My brother brought up a good point on my last post. And after mulling over it for a bit... I realized (again) that happiness is different than joy. How so? Let's see... chocolate makes me happy. A beautiful day makes me happy. Having the kids actually pick up after themselves makes me happy. Now, what about joy? After dealing with infertility for 7 years and having our first child placed in my arms brought me exquisite joy. After fighting the slowness of the Indiana courts and finally having our son be free to join our family was joyful. Having the funds, thanks to my Mom to buy a new, high-tech hearing-aid brought me joy in being able to actually understand what it means to hear the 'fullness', the 'roundness' of music. Being able to conceive a child and go through the birthing process brought me joy.
I confused the two. Happiness vs. Joy. Happiness can be fleeting. It's real but it's not long-lasting. Joy is... happiness on a much higher plane. It brings one a certain sense of... spiritual euphoria. Does that make sense? So, while I'm fighting this depression, I most certainly need to work at being happy. But also having a joyful spirit.
Did I just convolute things even more? Yikes.
Yesterday, I told my children I loved them and why. I didn't get the house picked-up though. Sorry, Hero. It made me happy though, that you didn't crank about it. haha! ♥
I confused the two. Happiness vs. Joy. Happiness can be fleeting. It's real but it's not long-lasting. Joy is... happiness on a much higher plane. It brings one a certain sense of... spiritual euphoria. Does that make sense? So, while I'm fighting this depression, I most certainly need to work at being happy. But also having a joyful spirit.
Did I just convolute things even more? Yikes.
Yesterday, I told my children I loved them and why. I didn't get the house picked-up though. Sorry, Hero. It made me happy though, that you didn't crank about it. haha! ♥
Monday, November 01, 2010
Please go here and then come back. I'd like to talk with you...
Have you read it? What do you think, is joy a choice? In thinking about it, I do believe it is. Although for me, it is sometimes rather challenging to find things to be joyful about. Even more so - to just be joyful in spirit. I hate that depression is such a joy-sucker-outer. Stupid depression.
SO! I have come to the decision: That I am going to CHOOSE to be joyful today. Even if I have to fake it until I make it. I'll start by planting a smile on my face. Then I will tell the kids in what specific ways that I enJOY their beings. Then I will straighten up the home as I know it brings Hero joy in not seeing a gazillion toys & shoes all over the place.
Will you join me? They say that joy is contagious....
I'll report tomorrow.
Have you read it? What do you think, is joy a choice? In thinking about it, I do believe it is. Although for me, it is sometimes rather challenging to find things to be joyful about. Even more so - to just be joyful in spirit. I hate that depression is such a joy-sucker-outer. Stupid depression.
SO! I have come to the decision: That I am going to CHOOSE to be joyful today. Even if I have to fake it until I make it. I'll start by planting a smile on my face. Then I will tell the kids in what specific ways that I enJOY their beings. Then I will straighten up the home as I know it brings Hero joy in not seeing a gazillion toys & shoes all over the place.
Will you join me? They say that joy is contagious....
I'll report tomorrow.
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