One thing that Matt and I quickly realized when we got married was how differently our families "did" the holidays. Once we had kids, we really wanted to set up our own family traditions that were both meaningful and fun. This is the first year that we haven't been able to do a few because of the move, but below is a list of our usual family Christmas traditions:
*Throughout December as cards come in the mail, we open them at dinner and try to pray for whatever family has sent them.
*We make a paper chain the weekend after Thanksgiving with the "ABC's of Advent" on each one, and the kids take turns every day ripping of a link and reading the verse. This one didn't happen this year, but we will go back to it next year.
*On Christmas Eve our kids bake and decorate birthday cakes for Jesus, which we let them eat after church services. We used to let them do their own, but last year we had so much leftover birthday cake I think we are going to have a joint cake this year.
*From us, our kids get three gifts each - one representing each of the gifts of the wise men. We try to do one thing they want, one thing they need, and one surprise.
*On Christmas morning we all get up together and the kids get to open their stockings from Santa, then we eat breakfast and read the Christmas story out of the Bible before they open the rest of their gifts.
*This year we let each of the kids pick out a gift for each other, as well as fill Operation Christmas Child boxes to help get them a little less self-focused.
*Our last tradition is that the week of Christmas I spend the entire time trying to pull my children off the ceiling from their sugar highs and gift giddiness and threaten continuously that Santa will not bring them anything. This is the most fun one of all.
Hope you all have a great Christmas!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Twelve Years Ago Today
Today marks are 12th wedding anniversary! In some ways it feels like we have been married forever, in other ways we feel like we still have a lot to learn about each other! We spent last night at the Apple Farm, which is where we also spent our wedding night. Last night my bag wasn't filled with rice though, which the maids are probably very thankful for. Personally, I am incredibly thankful for my amazing sweetie, who drives me absolutely crazy but I love him more and more each day.
Okay, so this was sappy and short, but I have to slowly get back into the whole blogging thing :)
Okay, so this was sappy and short, but I have to slowly get back into the whole blogging thing :)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
We're home. I am surrounded by boxes and mess and my kids keep asking when we are getting a Christmas tree and I am doing my best to keep my sanity. Moving is not as much fun as it sounded a month ago, but we are very thankful and are trying to keep a positive attitude.
So, a funny thing happened at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday that I have been dying to share. Despite the fact that we have a bazillion unpacked boxes I felt the need to buy more stuff and went shopping yesterday. Smart, I know. I was looking for a big glass cookie jar to hold all of my cookie cutters in, but apparently they don't sell anything like that in Santa Barbara and when you ask an employee to help you they look at you like you are on crack. Anyway, I settled on a really big clear canister and went to the check out, which is where all my troubles began. Without knowing, I chose an item that did not have a UPC bar on it. I know, I am so ashamed. The price tag was there, but no code that could be scanned. So I waited for TWENTY minutes while the checker consulted other employees, tried looking something up on his computer, and gave me dirty looks. Seriously, was it my fault that there was an item on their shelf with no tag? Did they think I purposely took it off? And honestly, I don't think he was really trying to look up the item in the computer. I think he was playing video games waiting for me to run out of patience and leave the store. I very politely asked if they could just sell it to me based on the price tag which was clearly on the item, but was given the "this lady is so dumb eye roll and sigh" and told that the computer wouldn't know what it was selling and it would throw off their inventory. Explain this to me, please. If the item has no UPC code anywhere, then how do you know it is in your inventory to begin with? I think I should have been able to walk out the store with it for free! Of course I didn't say any of this, but tried to wait quietly and patiently until the kind checker said, "Are you sure you want this?" No, I am not sure - I have just stood here for 20 minutes because I really like to look at you. I gave up and found something else. Although I kind of want to go back and see if they are still on the shelf, it drives me nuts to think that they probably just put it back and the whole scenario is going to play out with someone else next week. I guess I should just let it go, it's not my store, right?
Anyway, I should be unpacking. Hope you all are well! My email of course is not working, or my phone, but I hope you all are having a great week!
So, a funny thing happened at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday that I have been dying to share. Despite the fact that we have a bazillion unpacked boxes I felt the need to buy more stuff and went shopping yesterday. Smart, I know. I was looking for a big glass cookie jar to hold all of my cookie cutters in, but apparently they don't sell anything like that in Santa Barbara and when you ask an employee to help you they look at you like you are on crack. Anyway, I settled on a really big clear canister and went to the check out, which is where all my troubles began. Without knowing, I chose an item that did not have a UPC bar on it. I know, I am so ashamed. The price tag was there, but no code that could be scanned. So I waited for TWENTY minutes while the checker consulted other employees, tried looking something up on his computer, and gave me dirty looks. Seriously, was it my fault that there was an item on their shelf with no tag? Did they think I purposely took it off? And honestly, I don't think he was really trying to look up the item in the computer. I think he was playing video games waiting for me to run out of patience and leave the store. I very politely asked if they could just sell it to me based on the price tag which was clearly on the item, but was given the "this lady is so dumb eye roll and sigh" and told that the computer wouldn't know what it was selling and it would throw off their inventory. Explain this to me, please. If the item has no UPC code anywhere, then how do you know it is in your inventory to begin with? I think I should have been able to walk out the store with it for free! Of course I didn't say any of this, but tried to wait quietly and patiently until the kind checker said, "Are you sure you want this?" No, I am not sure - I have just stood here for 20 minutes because I really like to look at you. I gave up and found something else. Although I kind of want to go back and see if they are still on the shelf, it drives me nuts to think that they probably just put it back and the whole scenario is going to play out with someone else next week. I guess I should just let it go, it's not my store, right?
Anyway, I should be unpacking. Hope you all are well! My email of course is not working, or my phone, but I hope you all are having a great week!
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