Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and a nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.
Lenora Mattingly Weber
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens
Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.
Mary Ellen Chase
I like these quotes (which I found here). I think that this year’s Recession Christmas held a different tone for many people, as we emphasized feeling and family over material things; we would do well to savor that throughout the year.
I am recovering today; catching up on all sorts of things. Normal posting (whatever that means) to resume tomorrow.
If you’re like me and haven’t yet wrapped a single gift, check out this post on making gift bags from old newspapers here! I’m going to take all those colorful papers the school sends home and run them through the shredder for the “stuffing”. That’s for everything I can’t manage to wrap in scarves or fabric or ribbon.
A last minute plea on behalf of parents everywhere:
Please, for the love of Santa, if you’ve purchased a gift for a child that requires batteries, a tagalong gift of rechargeable batteries will color you RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME.
Christmas Gift Suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.
Upload a photo of your Christmas tree to World Christmas Tree: for each picture uploaded they’ll raise enough to save a square foot of rainforest through the World Land Trust. And then check out other trees throughout the world! via Non-Toxic Kids.
Probably only of interest to Phillies fans:FCC received 26 complaints about Chase Utley dropping the F- bomb during the World Series victory parade. Really? Only 26? I’m surprised. Even my husband, who loooooves Chase Utley (asking me nearly every game if I don’t think “that Chase Utley is a handsome devil”), booed self-righteously when that happened.
I mean, c’mon. Kids all over the freaking place who’ve been waiting for hours to see you. Chase’s excuse?
“I tell all kids not to use that word. If they’re 29 and they win the World Series, I think they can say that. But I definitely would say to all the kids out there, ‘Kids, it’s a bad word. Don’t say it. And I’m dead serious.’ “
Anyway, the FCC is taking the heat on this one because they didn’t have a delay set up to keep the word off the air, but what about all the kids in the stadium? Booooooo. Chase Utley, grow up. Show some class. Cursing is the descriptive language of the uneducated and the unimaginative.
A mother explores the motivation behind her passionate Twilight addiction: Yes, I read them too. And I hated myself even as I was doing it.
Some schools are dropping their “gifted” programs: Not the programs themselves, but the elitist labelling. As a formerly “gifted” kid, I say amen to that. The less labels the better. Maybe this will lead to more emphasis on motivation, effort, and achievement? You know, the qualities that are useful in life?
Snoring burns calories: Ahhh, this is why my husband and I are the same weight. (Also, I am ALL MUSCLE.)
