Thursday, Nov 13th - Hero: Indians and Pilgrams and St. Nick (oh my)

Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE the holidays. They include two of my favorite things: eating and visiting with family and friends.

There are lots of opportunities to get together with family this time of year, and the communication amongst us goes up. You talk about the get togethers, you talk about gift ideas, you talk about meal planning, etc, etc. It's just really nice, I think.

This year, of course, the gift giving is more on the creative side vs the value side. Everyone is either already struggling or preparing for the struggles. But, I think that it is not necessarily a bad thing to be frugal and get our kids used to less extravagant gifts. The focus is so far off the meaning of the season that it's not even funny.

I know there's a lot of you out there that remember getting 'essentials' on Christmas morning - clothing, underwear, coats. And then there would be that ONE thing that would just light your world up. Maybe a bicycle, or a doll, or a board game. I remember one year me and my brother got skateboards. That was the 'it' gift. The one that you would spend the rest of the day playing with! Nowadays our kids get so many 'it' gifts that they act overwhelmed. It's a shame, really. I think that, because of the excess, so much of the magical feeling has been taken away.

One of my favorite Christmas' of my (so-called) adult life was when Erika was a toddler. We were so very, very poor then, living on Ramen noodles and Hamburger Helper. I had some coloring books with stories from the bible, and lots of catalogues lying around, so Erika and I colored pictures and we cut out pictures from the catalogues of things we would have bought our family if we had money. These we glued to poster board, and wrote a verse from the bible that fit that person. We spent hours doing that, literally, but they were hours that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I'll never forget Erika's little fingers coloring or the concentration on her face as she looked for just the right 'gift' to cut out for her mama's and papa's. Those little posters changed my life, and I think they did for those that recieved them, as well. Years later, when Erika was a little older, we did another project for my mom, aunt, and uncle that was a picture album. We had more money then, and spent more money, but that time I spent hours not only with Erika, but my Grammy as well. Again, hours I wouldn't give back for all the money in the world.

THAT is Christmas magic. People who love each other, spending time together to do something wonderful for other people they love.

What's your poster board project? Where's your Chrismtas magic?

Peace, Love, and GOD,
Tracy