Oh, Christmas Tree

Ryan and I decorated the Christmas tree together this year. We did it on Saturday. He was so excited to put out all of the decorations and his joy made this task so wonderful.

As I pulled out each ornament and placed it on the lid of our plastic storage container, my mind was flooded with such wonderful memories of Christmas' past. I pulled out an old paper ornament made in my college days that adorned my dorm room door of old Burritt Hall. It's two colored Christmas lights with smiling faces. I have taped them together and added string and they have adorned our Christmas tree since 2002. They remind me of the good old days with my wonderful roommate Betsy.

Thinking of Betsy and all the crazy things we did together got me thinking about good old Greenville and how dearly I miss it and our dear friends still living there. That's when I pulled out some glass ornaments that Sarah, my mom and I decorated on the first Thanksgiving Adam and I spent together in Greenville. Some have broken over the years and others have lost their bows and other embellishments, but I remember making them and the happiness I felt that day to have my family in Greenville and my friends to celebrate Thanksgiving.

On our tree, there are ornaments to mark the times in our lives.... a pregnant woman marks 2005, A John Deer Tractor and Santa mark 2008. There are precious Junkanoo dolls from home and a beautiful seashell one that I place really high so the boys will not break. There's a lighthouse from a friend's wedding, a snowman I got after my first massage, beautiful crosses made by a friend and so, so many more. Each ornament holds a story, a memory, marks a point in time.

I look forward to more sweet memories to adorn my tree in the years to come.

R.I.P. camera

My beloved camera of seven years died on Thanksgiving day. It won't ready an SD card at all. I'm guessing the SD slot is not something easily fixed. So, I suppose it's time for a new camera.

The bad news is we really have no money for a new one, especially the $500 one I really want. I am hoping Adam can snag a $59 one on sale today, but if not, I suppose I'll have to start saving for a new one.

*sigh*

Rest in peace old camera. You were good to me and I will miss you.

Rant and a request

I must rant about all the Thanksgiving advertisements. I must.

I used to feel so lucky that Adam didn't have to work on Thanksgiving. We may have had to leave the family gathering early so he could get up at 2 a.m. or something like that to be in at work, but we always celebrated the holiday together. It was the old fashioned way. LOTS of food and then games and conversation well into the evening.

This year, he's working on Thanksgiving so people can get their Christmas shopping done.

First, let me say that the real meaning of Christmas has really been so lost. People only think about what they can get for themselves and for their family rather than giving to people in need. They totally miss that the reason for this season is to celebrate Christ coming as a baby for us and later dying for us on the cross. It frustrates me!

So, in order to buy lots and lots of stuff (that will probably not be appreciated or may be broken two days after Christmas) they shop until they drop on all the days around Thanksgiving. This year, they even get to shop on Thanksgiving day.

So, what about that holiday? I think we've lost the real meaning of it also. What happened to being thankful for the little that we have instead of being so greedy and seeing how much we can get? Believe you me, I see the deals and I'd like some of them, but I refuse to shop on Thanksgiving day. I want to practice what I have been preaching to the kids about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims and about the one Leper who came back to say thank you to Jesus for healing him. I want them to see the importance of really being thankful, not just on Thanksgiving, but on every day of the year. I want them to see the importance of family and spending quality time with them. I want them to know what our traditions are and to appreciate those and perhaps carry those on as they move out of our house.

So that ends my rant and here is my request. Don't shop on Thanksgiving. Send a message to the jerks who want to make people work so others can shop on a day that's supposed to be a national holiday. If you forget the cranberry sauce, just do without. You'll have stories to tell about it for years to come!

Thank you and a very happy Thanksgiving to you all!

It's November?

I can't believe we only have two more months left in 2010!

Today marks the beginning of NaBloPoMo and I will not be participating this year. I only ever finished one year and the other two I gave up around the 20th day.

This year, I knew right away I wouldn't set myself up for failure. I'm taking a banking class, which is so interesting and I am totally in love with it. My course has reading... lots of reading. And I have homework... remember those days? And I have tests. Add to that the usual stuff of being mummy to two boys, wife to wonderful honey and bank teller and that's about all I can handle right now.

The boys and I will spend November learning about the letter T. T is for Thankfulness... that's our theme. I was so disappointed today as we roamed around crafting stores and found zero Thanksgiving crafts. Everything in the store was either Halloween merchandise on 50% off or Christmas items. I posted this on Facebook and here's the reply one friend posted: "People would prefer to get presents than be thankful for what we have." That's reality and it's sad.

Of course, we should be thankful everyday for all the wonderful blessings God has given us!