Category: Fa la la la la

We’re running around like crazy people this week… baking, shopping, wrapping, not sleeping… (oh wait, is that just me? Those of you who have your act together and are spending the next few days listening to Christmas carols and drinking hot chocolate, my hat’s off to you)… There’s one reason we’re doing it. To make other people happy, right?

Whether it’s sending Christmas cards or hosting a party or dropping change in the bell ringer’s kettle, we’re doing what we can to make the season bright for those around us.

For Jenny and me, it’s important that we bring the idea of giving to others to the forefront of our kids’ minds, so we were thrilled when Lands’ End asked us to be part of their “Share the Joy” campaign.

Lands’ End sent us each a $100 gift cards with the simple instructions to use them however we wished to help those in need.

We both thought of a million things we’d like to do with the money, but in the end we both came back to organizations that we’ve worked with before. Jenny contacted Joshua’s school principal and asked what their greatest needs were this year, and she said they needed Swiffer mop refills. As you may remember, Jenny pulled off a fairly amazing feat of couponing earlier in the year and got the teachers stocked up on mops, but they have classrooms full of messy, germ-y kids needed to have their supply replenished. So, Jenny used her $100 to help them out once again.

I decided to keep it local as well, and reached out to our local food pantry and found out they were looking for toys, hats, gloves, blankets and pillows. Kate and I went shopping and filled a cart with all of those things. It was fun to see what bargains we could find to make our $100 go as far as possible. Kate kept asking me about where we were in our “budget,” so really it was a lesson about giving to others and about money management all wrapped up into one! When we were done, she said “Mommy, I don’t want any presents this year. I like giving presents to other people more than getting them.” My heart swelled. And then she said, “Well, I mean, I do want SOME presents…” But regardless, she got the point. I hope she’ll remember that shopping trip – I know I will.

Now we want to hear from you – how do you plan to Share the Joy this season?

Thanks to Lands’ End for including us in this project.

This month, I’ve been trying hard to create experiences for our kids so that they really get the most out of the season. Cortney is trying to do the same thing, and we are both having a similar struggle with balancing the pressure we put on ourselves to make everything perfect with just doing things that will be fun and special for the kids.

As I wrote a couple weeks ago, I made an Advent calendar for the kids. This is something that in and of itself stressed me out beyond belief because I had to make a PERFECT Advent calendar, but after a ridiculous amount of internet searching and at least three trips to the store, I made one. It didn’t turn out exactly how I had pictured it, but it’s cute and the kids love it. Because after all my anxiety over doing it right, I just did it and it worked out fine.

So, every day I put something in there… they’ve found Silly Bandz and Hot Wheels, but for the most part I’ve been putting little pieces of construction paper tied up in bows with an activity written on it. Baking Christmas cookies, going to the library to pick out Christmas books (on the day the library closes early, which I didn’t realize because I am The Awesome), that kind of thing.

On Monday morning, they ran to the Advent calendar and found a slip of paper saying we were going to go to dinner and to see a light display with my grandma. They were super excited – we go to the same light display every year and we all really enjoy it.

So anyway, we had everything planned out. Andy was working late so Grandma was going to pick up Kate from school, and then Sam and I would meet them after work and we’d go to Frisch’s and to see the lights. Except by the time I picked Sam up from daycare, I was totally not feeling it. I was late leaving work, it was incredibly cold and windy, I was going to have to swap cars with Andy before we could go, it was already dark… I thought it sounded much more appealing to stay at Grandma’s, order pizza, and get to bed early.

But I knew how disappointed the kids would be, so I sucked it up. We went to Frisch’s, where the kids ate spaghetti and hot fudge cakes and had a ball, and then we went to the light display. We ooh’d and ahh’d over the pretty lights and we all enjoyed it so much that we drove through three times. It was lovely.

The next morning, my grandma called me and said not to bring Kate over as usual because she was seeing double and having trouble walking. After a quick ambulance trip and a long day in the ER, we found out she had had a stroke. It was minor and she is going to be ok, but there was a time span on Tuesday when we weren’t sure she would be ok at all. During that time, I was so thankful we’d had such a great evening the night before. I was thankful that despite the fact that I just didn’t want to, we had done it.

So, friends, my advice to you is this. Just do it. You’ll be glad you did.