Go! Go! Go!

Ever feel like your life is seriously moving in fast forward? My days are long but the weeks, months and years seem to be flying by. Somedays I can't wait to get back into bed to make that particular day be over and other days I wish I could freeze frame that moment for all eternity.

I've decided this year I'm going to enjoy Christmas. We're a church-going, Christian family who embraces the joys of Christmas and the reason behind it. We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and this year I'm making Him an awesome birthday cake thanks to my newly acquired cake decorating skills. What I don't enjoy is the endless commercials, the "I want that!", the mental stress & money spent trying to impress family & friends with gifts that actually mean very little, the parties, the pictures, the money, the cards, the wrapping, the family scheduling, the money, the driving, the here, the there, the everywhere, the money. The stress.

I'm not doing it this year. I'm just not. I refuse. I'm attending our Christmas Eve church service with my immediate family and afterwards we'll dash over to my dads church and worship with the rest of my family. As stressful as pulling that off was last year, I really enjoyed it and hope to do it again. I made a rule a few years ago and we're sticking to it regardless of the guilt that gets placed upon the new rule by others. We will not travel on Christmas Eve. Period. We will attend church as a family, our children will sleep in their own beds and they will wake up to their own Christmas morning at their own home with gifts from Santa and their parents. Period. It's what I wanted so badly as a child and am determined to give to my children as a gift.

My Christmas cards are already in the works. The pictures have been taken (oh what a day I don't wish to relive), they've been printed and are enroute to me, the cards have been purchased, the list has been checked. CHECK. Still need stamps, to write in them, address them and get them off.... I guess it's a little early to actually mail them yet.

Christmas giving. Oh the budget. Oh my, the budget. We're working diligently on really staying under budget this year. I've been shopping for deals and refuse to buy more just because I got a deal. This just isn't how I want to show my love and appreciation of others by giving them just stuff. I'm already about half way done with my shopping and it feels great!

My friend Anisa (who's friendship has truly been a Godsend and a lifesaver to me this past year) and I spent 10 HOURS canning 100% homemade apple butter and apple preserves one day last month. We actually self-taught ourselves to can to undertake this feat. My neighbor, I love her, walked me through the procedure so I'm about 99.8% confident no one will be harmed in the making of this years gifts. We plan to give our canned goodies to our kids' teachers, bus drivers, our mail carriers, our family (with their other gifts), etc. Just a nice gesture that says Merry Christmas without the need to break the bank. We used decorative jars and made cute labels and they actually turned out to be something we could be proud to give. I'm so proud of us!!

So here it is November 3 (three days into my birthmonth, thankyouverymuch!) and I'm well on my way to getting all the Christmas STUFF out of the way so I can try to enjoy Christmas, without the truly unnecessary stress. We shall see if it works.