Thinking...

I've had a few thoughts rattling around in my head that I've been wanting to share, but the realizations are still in their infancy and I need to think on them a little longer. I do want to share this clip in the meantime...

Resolutions?

I used to really enjoy setting goals for the new year. I LOVED the week in-between Christmas and New Years because everything seemed so fresh and possible. And then, a few years ago, life became really hard on almost every front. When the new year rolled around, the thought of creating resolutions was almost laughable. But I did set a goal every January for the last several years, and that goal was simply to survive another year. As things have settled down in our lives a bit the last few months, I have very tentatively thought of setting a few new goals this year. I'm still not sure if I will beyond survival, but I am thinking about it. It always is amusing to me how my life perspective changes over time - from goal crazy to virtually no goal other than survival -maybe it's time for a happy medium?

A Merry Literary Christmas

(My oldest daughter falling in love with The Hobbit)

A Merry Literary Christmas

When Christmas shopping time draws nigh,

And I am faced with gifts to buy,

I think about one relative

Who always had one gift to give.

Year after year her present came,

And every year it was the same.

While other gifts were round and fat,

(Their secrets hidden) hers were flat,

Rectangular, the corners square,

I knew exactly what was there.

I'd pass it by without a look -

My aunt had sent another book!

I'd only open it to write

A "thank-you" that was too polite,

But every year when Christmas went

I'd read the book my aunt had sent,

And looking back, I realize

Each gift was a treasure in disguise.

So now it's time to write her here

A thank-you note that is sincere.

So - thanks for Alice and Sara Crewe,

For Christopher Robin and Piglet and Pooh,

For Little Nell and William Tell

And Peter and Wendy and Tinker Bell.

Thanks for Tom and Jim and Huck,

For Robinson Crusoe and Dab-Dab the duck,

For Meg and Jo and Johnny Crow

And Papa Geppetto's Pinocchio.

For Mary Poppins and Rat and Toad,

King Arthur and Dorothy's Yellow Brick Road,

For Kipling's Kim and tales from Grimm,

And Ferdinand, Babar, and Tiny Tim.

I loved them all, I'm so glad I met them.

They're with me still, I won't forget them.

So I'll give books on Christmas Day

Though I know what all my nieces will say -

I know it from the way the write

A "thank-you" that is too polite.

Alice Low 

This video was shown at our Relief Society Visiting Teaching Conference yesterday. I really appreciated the message and thought I would share. It's a little long, but well worth the time.

Deliberate Gift Giving

 I LOVE this time of year! There are so many reasons I love November, but one that I find especially fun is that this is the month I do all of my Christmas shopping. I always try and wrap all of our shopping up by Cyber Monday. I like to have all of my shopping done by the start of the Christmas season so that I can spend time with my family enjoying all the other wonderful activities the season brings.

Christmas shopping for my children is one of my all time favorite things to do. Maybe because it's the only time of the year I've ever really been able to buy them gifts??? Whatever the reason may be, I look forward to it all year long. Over the years I have found that Christmas shopping for my kiddos naturally lends itself to a thoughtful evaluation of how each of the children are doing physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. It's been a great time to remind myself of both the short term and long term goals I have for my each of my children individually. This is where the deliberate gift giving comes in.

As I think of an individual child's interests and what he may be struggling with, I try and give gifts that will help him along his short term and long term eternal path. For example, I want my daughters to love and throughly enjoy mothering. Because of this goal, I have tried to give gifts that inspire and cultivate this desire. My mother often told me that she always felt it was her responsibility, as a mother, to help her children identify their talents and then help them to develop those talents. As my children have gotten older, it has been important to give gifts that help them enhance their talents and interests. For example, my two oldest children play the violin and cello. To help them further develop this talent, they will each be receiving fun music they enjoy to play on their respective instruments.

This is often so much easier said than done! As my children have gotten older, they have been more influenced by the passing fads and whims of a very commercialized world. It has been very tempting to buy my oldest son the latest and greatest gaming system, but as I step back and look at the long term goals, the question becomes, 'Will this gift really help him with his physical/spiritual/emotional/mental well being?' Now, don't get me wrong, we have a gaming system and we ALL love to play it! :) I just don't feel that, this year, using our allocated Christmas money for this purchase would help our son in the long term.

Now you are probably thinking we are mean parents who never get our kids what they really want, they are just kids after all and not everything should be about reaching goals! When our oldest was very young we set the rule that he could ask for one thing from Santa each year (it was all we could afford at the time) and we didn't want his gift list to breed greediness. This rule has stuck and that one request must be in writing to Santa no later than Black Friday, with no mind changing after that! ;) Our kids almost always get the one thing they ask for, in fact I can't think of a time they haven't. With their other few gifts they receive, I try to find something they would adore within the realm of what will strengthen them either spiritually, physically, mentally or emotionally.

So, I return to where I started. I love this time of year, because it offers up  a time to reflect on each child's progress, talents, interests, needs etc. and then allows me to find small gifts that will encourage their short and long term growth and well being.

Happy Christmas Shopping!