We now continue our regularly scheduled ramblings

Sorry for the unplanned blogging break! we has some un-expected guests an ended up being insanely busy the last week. It was fun but I like a more mellow, less stressful Christmas. I don't feel like I had time to really soak in the holiday.

My very favorite Christmas present this year was a beautiful black and white bowl made by women in Africa. My mom gave it to me, along with some literature on what bowl making means to them. The steady source of income has really changed these women's lives. It allows them to buy mosquito netting that would otherwise be too expensive, send their children to school, buy fresh water, best of all instills a sense of pride in themselves and their children. I love how beautiful the bowl is, but i really love that it helped someone at the same time. Right now it smells faintly of grass. Every time I see it (or smell it) I smile and think about the woman who made the bowl.

Picture

Here is the picture I intended to upload with my last post. Does it look like it came from the dollar store to you? It doesn't look like that to me.

Christmas gift for sister in law

Sister in law's main present will be a bottle of wine. But I wanted to make her a pamper basket because she works a bunch. I'm going to add homemade soap and bath salts. The whole basket cost me $8. Everything came from the dollar store except the Vaseline lotion. Do you feel bad giving things from the dollar store as presents? I don't because these are all items I would like to receive, therefore I have no problem giving the items to others. In fact I bought the note pad, lotion, and gloves for myself as well.

Christmas tree 'O christmas tree!

My family's Christmas tree has quite a story. You see when I was a very small girl we were moving from one state to another. Along the way a box fell off the trailer. My parents went back to try and find it, but they could not find it. When they arrived and unpacked nothing was found to be missing so they figured it must have been a figment of their imagination. That is in till Christmas time. When they went to set up their artificial tree they found the top of the tree, and the bottom of the tree but no middle. The middle of the tree was lost on some freeway. What did they do? Go buy a new tree? Use a real tree? Nope! I don't know how new trees work but my parents is a sturdy pole with holes for very sturdy branches. Every year the branches are completely removed, which means there are ways to improvise. They taped the poles for the bottom and top of the tree together. Then with some creative shaping of the branches (bending to fill holes) it comes out to a decent tree. I'm not saying Martha Stewart would want it in her house but its a respectable tree. Once everything is on it, its very beautiful. My parents have used this tree every since I was little, perhaps for sometime before then. And I love this tree,i really do. For a short period when I was in middle school I was a bit 'embarrassed' by our crazy tree (even though you cant tell with everything on it, no ones knows in less we tell them!) but as I got older I realized how wonderful and unique it is. Every year my mom threatens to buy a new one, but secretly I think she loves it as much as I do. Besides there would be a riot. OK so maybe just one angry grown daughter but who wants that?

As for the ornaments themselves they have been carefully collected over the years. Every year at Christmas time my mom would buy me an ornament. Its fun to look back on them and see what ugly things I liked as a child lol. We started buying one on each vacation as well. The tree is full of memories! We have tree decorating traditions as well. There is the pink bell that we have to argue over as to who's ornament it is. (MINE by the way!) The ornaments I don't like that I hang in the back, and she moves to the front. The ugly but oh so beloved (by me) mushroom ornament house ornament with two little mice tenants (not real ones) that I look for the whole time we're hanging ornaments. The bronco tree ornament that will make us cry, my grandmother had a whole tree full of them and it makes us miss her. The random ornaments I've never seen that she picks up, and has to answer 'whats this???' The not so cute ornaments I made us a child that my mom smiles at to this day. The tinsel fight. But most of all its a day mom and I cherish as we remember old memories and create new ones.

To anyone else it might be an ugly old tree. But to me its more beautiful then any designer tree. That misshapen, duct taped, middle less tree holds so much more then a few Christmas baubles. It holds a lifetime of love.

Merry Christmas

How is everyone doing on projects and presents? I don't think we're doing too badly I at least have an idea for everyone if not the gift. I am however far beyond the projects! I hate stressing out at Christmas but its beyond our control this year. My husband's command decided this was a great time to make the guys work 92 hour weeks. That's 6am-8pm every day for three weeks. And by everyday i mean weekends too my husband has had just 1 day off in three weeks. So on top of my usually responsibilities I have all of his. See? Stress! Then add Christmas activities (decorating, shopping, cooking, wrapping) and we have a ripe case of stress!

What can I change?

Next year set up an automatic Christmas savings account.
$25 every check will be deposited. That's not much at the time but by Christmas it will be close to $600.

Continue to by Christmas presents year round as I find them.
I did shop year round this year and it helped but I want to do so more aggressively.

Start projects earlier!
I would really love to bake some cookies in summer to freeze for Christmas time.

What can I fix right now?

Take things one step at a time.
A counter of dishes tends to over whelm me. But If i squeeze in a sink full here and there it doesn't seem like such a huge problem. The dishes get done and my stress stays down. Wrapping a present here and there is not as mentally draining as wrapping a spare room loaded with presents.

Play with the dogs frequently.
That seems counter productive doesn't it? But my puppies need exercise. If they get one big playing session they don't work as much, they play far harder when they get to rest between play sessions. Which means they are more tired, less likely to get into trouble, and less likely to be in my face all day. Besides I've found that playing with them is good for me too. I relax and the fresh air tends to erase headaches.

Realize that I am not super woman.
If I push myself till I am stressed, exhausted, and cranky what good am I to anyone? I'm human just like everyone else and some times I have to let things slide. I could spend all evening cleaning, or I could sit and spend time with the husband I haven't seen all day.

Make time for things that are important.
Wednesday instead of whipping through things that need to be done I'm taking the day off to go decorate the Christmas tree with my mom. We do it together every year and the thought of doing it without me made both of us cry. This year we did not manage our annual Christmas craft fair but that did not break our hearts. Decorating the tree apart does, so it is a priority. To me Christmas is about memories, traditions and family. It is not about how clean my floors are. Every year my husband and I drive to a U-Cut Christmas tree farm. We hike all over the huge fields looking for the perfect tree, freezing our bums off the whole time. Last year the patch was far away from the office, my husband hauled the tree over his shoulder. We LOVE it. As soon as he gets some time off during the day you can bet we will be strapping a Christmas tree to the roof of our 4 door car! Incidentally its much cheaper then 'fresh' tree lots and you can see the whole tree you don't find a big bald spot when you unwrap it.

One of the things I love about frugality is it encourages you to let go of everyone else's expectations for your life and focus on things that are important to you. Why shouldn't I use that focus in my life as well as my finances?