Autumn Celebrations

Halloween is officially over. I'm always so glad when we're over that hump. Not that I wish away the fall, because I actually enjoy the season. I simply hate Halloween. I hate the decorations and darkness that comes along with them. I always feel lighter when it's all put away.

I've been looking forward to Christmas for several weeks now. I don't know why. I usually dread all the gift giving and commercialism involved in it too. We try to focus on Jesus as the sent promise, but this is sometimes harder to do with my younger one who asks at every commercial, "Oh, Mommy, will you buy me one of those?" Here is where it gets tricky. If I say "no you can't get everything you want" she then goes into pleeeeaaaassssseeee mode. This child can play this game for hours. I used to just repeat no a few times and then ignore her. Then I started telling her no once or twice followed by "if I have to say it again I'm gonna..." At first she didn't believe me, and it was painful for me to prove to her that mommy does not lie. Now when she asks, "Can you get me that for Christmas?" I can say "maybe for Christmas" and the discussion is over. The bright side of it is knowing that no matter what she gets it will not only be something she likes, but also something she asked for. ( I look for the silver lining in everything.)

We're going to begin decorating for Thanksgiving this week. I think we'll do some leaf rubbings and drawing of pumpkins and such. I also want to focus for the next month on being thankful in all things. There is always a bright side to everything, always a lesson learned even amidst chaos or heartache. While we are preparing for Thanksgiving I am hoping to loosely follow Flylady's holiday Flyjournal. I saved a copy to my files to refer to periodically. It's inspired me to buy, address and send my Christmas cards much earlier this year. Unfortunately I have to wait until payday to buy them, but anticipation always makes a purchase that much sweeter.

Be blessed today.