...it's christmas! does anyone else feel like the big day is creeping up on them? in 3 fridays it will be christmas eve. 3. i'm actually going to put up my tree early this year - by early, of course, i mean before december 20th. i'm also determined to find a christmas wreath to replace the autumn one and toss the autumn gourds.
and there's a little peek into the inner workings of my mind. autumn in december? sigh.
so, naturally, i'm starting to think about gifts. decisions, decisions! if i could, i'd buy everyone just what they wanted, with no thought to cost. but i can't afford to do that - shocker. but even if i could do that, should i? is that really what christmas is?
what is christmas to you?
honestly, i fantasize about a norman rockwell-esque christmas: warmth, decorations, joy, general community peace, meaningful gifts around a big tree, all with family, the perfect blend of old-world charm, modern moderate consumerism, appropriate christian reverence and the warm fuzzies like all get-out that don't fade after the presents are opened and dishes are washed. like nothing bad could ever happen.
but that is not life. that is not our story.
modern-day christmas is different. money money money, want want want. gifts mean you care. bigger gifts mean you care more. budgets are blown, lives are hustled and bustled, hurried and scurried and scattered. that apprehension i have about christmas coming too fast overtakes us all, so much that we worry about getting ready for christmas that it blows by us and we sit down after christmas day, wondering where all the season's joy went. my personal christmas involves strategic budgeting, decoration agonization and above all, travel. i call it the starkville shuffle, because we are never one place for long. go home, unpack, sing songs, get up, pack, drive 20 minutes, eat, unwrap, unpack, drive 20 minutes, eat more...you get the idea. not to complain - i don't mind driving one bit, and i'm willing to do it to see friends and family. i just wish work and distance and time weren't always plotting against me.
gifts are another sticky spot. common courtesy implies gifts = love, and bigger gifts = bigger love, and who's against showing more love? but it's a false standard. i'd love to get baby sister every (expensive) thing on her list, but i can't. and i don't feel that i should, either. while gifts are in no way bad in and of themselves, the Gift has already been given, and the mindless madness of christmas consumerism threatens to overtake it at every sale sign, and hardly any of us need anything. so i struggle to stay in God's story of hope and redemption and caring for the poor amid the chaos of lights and layaways and gross extravagance, while still wrapping presents that will bring joy to their recipients. because what is more important than re-aligning ourselves with the true story of the hope for all the world? God gives us good gifts, and expects us to do the same.
that's what i love best about christmas - bringing joy to the ones i love, being thankful that we are able to do that, and a collective festive spirit and season of reflection where we can all find some good in the world, even if only for a short season. so if you're looking for something more eternal than wrapping paper and shiny new things, consider giving a gift with a ripple effect. i like these sites:
amazima
147 million orphans
sari bari
angel ranch
compassion international
or you could check with your local outreach programs for more ways to serve.
law student is getting out the tree today. whooo! can't wait to sip hot chocolate with only the christmas lights on, and to watch a christmas story over and over.
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
monday morning confession
i can't remember the last time i shopped for groceries. or vacuumed. or washed a sink full of dirty dishes after preparing a nutritious, locally-grown homemade meal. or even wanted to. i'm regressing as a housewife. something about this summer and this fall schedule and new football season have conspired against my good intentions and sapped my energy. i've let all this bar exam stuff go to my head. all my years of housewifery, all my standards, are slowly spiraling down.
and let me just tell you, the newly-sworn-in-and-able-to-argue-in-mississippi-courts-but-currently-still-open-to-employment-opportunities esquire does not make it any easier for me. how in the world am i supposed to polish my skills and stay on task when he so willingly washes last night's dishes for me every morning? or dusts and vacuums on sunday afternoons so i don't come home to a dirty house? i left him saturday morning painting bleach on a stain on his shirt, and when i returned home i found he had folded the clean towels and put them in their proper place in our bathroom. this means he pulled them out of the dryer. he doesn't even fuss when i send him a grocery list, at least not so i can hear him. and as a result, i never really remember what we have in the pantry, even though i made the list and the menu, which i can no longer find.
i think back to our first days together. i was often more than annoyed to see cereal bowls with spoons stuck to them on the side table, or half full glasses from the night before in random spots around the house, and i hated stepping on forgotten underwear in the bathroom. but he caught on and began to share in the work of wifely domain. it was such a welcomed help! but i fear i've created a monster. i've made myself totally expendable. i now know just how efficient my little househusband is. he's running circles around me with the vacuum, while i just lay on the couch with a glazed look on my face. i have got to get it together, pull myself up by my apron strings. because i know he's going to get a job soon, and then where will we be? looking at each other over a sink full of dirty dishes while i try to remember how to fold a shirt.
i'm not complaining. really. i know how good i've got it. and i know he enjoys making and keeping me happy more than he actually likes cleaning. and by no means do i want him to stop. i loooooooove basking in the faint glow of a really clean home, and doubly so when i didn't do the cleaning. i could really get used to this. stay away, ladies. this one's mine.
and let me just tell you, the newly-sworn-in-and-able-to-argue-in-mississippi-courts-but-currently-still-open-to-employment-opportunities esquire does not make it any easier for me. how in the world am i supposed to polish my skills and stay on task when he so willingly washes last night's dishes for me every morning? or dusts and vacuums on sunday afternoons so i don't come home to a dirty house? i left him saturday morning painting bleach on a stain on his shirt, and when i returned home i found he had folded the clean towels and put them in their proper place in our bathroom. this means he pulled them out of the dryer. he doesn't even fuss when i send him a grocery list, at least not so i can hear him. and as a result, i never really remember what we have in the pantry, even though i made the list and the menu, which i can no longer find.
i think back to our first days together. i was often more than annoyed to see cereal bowls with spoons stuck to them on the side table, or half full glasses from the night before in random spots around the house, and i hated stepping on forgotten underwear in the bathroom. but he caught on and began to share in the work of wifely domain. it was such a welcomed help! but i fear i've created a monster. i've made myself totally expendable. i now know just how efficient my little househusband is. he's running circles around me with the vacuum, while i just lay on the couch with a glazed look on my face. i have got to get it together, pull myself up by my apron strings. because i know he's going to get a job soon, and then where will we be? looking at each other over a sink full of dirty dishes while i try to remember how to fold a shirt.
i'm not complaining. really. i know how good i've got it. and i know he enjoys making and keeping me happy more than he actually likes cleaning. and by no means do i want him to stop. i loooooooove basking in the faint glow of a really clean home, and doubly so when i didn't do the cleaning. i could really get used to this. stay away, ladies. this one's mine.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
this time of year
september, you are finally here. i'm so glad. there's something nostalgic about the advent of fall--the smell, the colors, the feeling, and of course, football. y'all may know i'm a sucker for nostalgia anyway, but fall really reminds me of college, and all the memories come flooding back. it seems like such a golden time and now it's slipping away faster and faster. meanwhile, while technically i'm an adult, i don't always feel like one. i definitely don't look like one. i kind of feel like i'm in a weird sort of limbo as far as adulthood, like it won't really set in until i have children or something. but anyway, here is the quintessential football/fall song, from one of my favorite bands, better than ezra, who i always managed to miss when they came to town. i miss college.
"This Time Of Year"
Well, there's a feeling in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon.
Yeah, you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon.
So go on, let it be.
If there's a feeling coming over me,
Seems like it's always understood this time of year.
Well, I know there's a reason to change.
Well, I know there's a time for us.
You think about the good times
And you live with all the bad.
You can feel it in the air,
Feeling right this time of year.
Well, there's a football in the air,
Across a leaf blown field.
Yeah, and there's your first car on the road,
And the girl you'd steal.
So go on with yourself
If there's a feeling that there's something else.
Seems like it's always understood
This time of year.
Well, I know there's a reason to change.
Well, I know there's a time for us.
You think about the good times
And you live with all the bad.
You can feel it in the air,
Feeling right this time of year.
Well, there's a feeling in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon.
Yeah, you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon.
So go on, let it be.
If there's a feeling coming over me,
Seems like it's always understood this time of year.
Well, I know there's a reason to change.
Well, I know there's a time for us.
You think about the good times
And you live with all the bad.
You can feel it in the air,
Feeling right this time of year.
Well, there's a feeling in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon.
Yeah, you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon.
So go on, let it be.
If there's a feeling coming over me,
Seems like it's always understood this time of year.
Well, I know there's a reason to change.
Well, I know there's a time for us.
You think about the good times
And you live with all the bad.
You can feel it in the air,
Feeling right this time of year.
Well, there's a football in the air,
Across a leaf blown field.
Yeah, and there's your first car on the road,
And the girl you'd steal.
So go on with yourself
If there's a feeling that there's something else.
Seems like it's always understood
This time of year.
Well, I know there's a reason to change.
Well, I know there's a time for us.
You think about the good times
And you live with all the bad.
You can feel it in the air,
Feeling right this time of year.
Well, there's a feeling in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon.
Yeah, you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon.
So go on, let it be.
If there's a feeling coming over me,
Seems like it's always understood this time of year.
Well, I know there's a reason to change.
Well, I know there's a time for us.
You think about the good times
And you live with all the bad.
You can feel it in the air,
Feeling right this time of year.
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