I just closed a email response to all of my family members with this:
"Love (and respect, even if it doesn't come across in this tirade),
Clearly Freaking Insane Aubrey"
Never good. Never good.
It was in response to a "Christmas 2011" (are-we-exchanging-gifts-this-year) email...that is a dead-ringer for the "Christmas 2010" one and the "Christmas 2009" one...ad nauseum. I'm not sure about your extended family, but here's the thing about ours, while we love each other and have a really nice time spending Christmas together, that's about the extent of our cuddly togetherness time. So it is really impossible to know what meaningful and useful item to give a person that you don't really know on a deeper-than-superficial-level.
If a gift isn't personal, I don't really get the point. Isn't it just a mindless, heartless exchange? (Been accused of that one in the past, too...) Various people in my various family groups love, love, love giving and receiving gifts. To them, that's Christmas: There is an expression of love in the act of giving--even if it is a random token gift...that's probably been made in China...and may or may not be bacon strip band-aids or fart-flavored tootpaste...
To me, and call me cheap or Scroogey if you must, but Christmas is about spending time with the ones that you love (the ones that you maybe don't get to spend enough time with the rest of the year) and, well, hello!, Christ. I love the decorations, the music, the food, the fireplace, and the movies. I do! I really love Christmas...the spirit of it, the stories that go along with it, and of course the traditions--with the marked exception of superfluous gift-giving for the sake of gift-giving.
Is anybody with me? Or do I stand alone in my disgust for Black Friday's consumer frenzy? Do I stand alone wishing that preparing for Christmas involved something more genuine than purchasing STUFF? I feel dirty making a "Christmas list" or shopping for trinkets when so many go hungry or are cold...or are lacking the most basic essentials. It feels so wrong to me.
And yet, I feel very much like "Clearly Freaking Insane Aubrey," as the rest of the world bustles past me with bags busting with stuff....like I'm the crazy one...
Photos by Amanda Naylor, PThreePhoto.com
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
I Have an Idea...Is it Stupid?
It is no secret that I spend a lot of time fantasizing about doing something (beyond my house) that is good and important and fulfilling and respectable and also gainful monetarily.
As soon as our house was painted, clean, and unpacked, I started looking for work-at-home opportunities again. It's an addiction.
I realized that I don't just want to do something that makes us some extra money...although some extra money would be really, really nice. It has to be something that is "overall good." (Darn it, that rules out street walking!) I want to do something that is enjoyable for me and also provides a benefit to others. Since I don't have the ability to do a large animal rescue (which would be the ultimate!) because of liability issues, I was thinking of helping other moms. Back to the "MOMGLOMERATE" ideal.
These are tough times for families...parents, children, pets...and we need to band together to make it through (and come out better for it!). I was thinking of some sort of "swap shop" where families can bring any sort of home goods that they aren't using or have outgrown and receive credits to shop for new things. Less consignment store and more not-for-profit in nature. It would be eco-friendly and community-friendly. If it had a sort of boutiquey, high-end feel, it would be a comfortable environment for any shopper.
Is this a stupid idealist sort of idea? Does it already exist? I do know that some women do clothing swaps with groups of friends a couple of times a year... Hmmmm.
As soon as our house was painted, clean, and unpacked, I started looking for work-at-home opportunities again. It's an addiction.
I realized that I don't just want to do something that makes us some extra money...although some extra money would be really, really nice. It has to be something that is "overall good." (Darn it, that rules out street walking!) I want to do something that is enjoyable for me and also provides a benefit to others. Since I don't have the ability to do a large animal rescue (which would be the ultimate!) because of liability issues, I was thinking of helping other moms. Back to the "MOMGLOMERATE" ideal.
These are tough times for families...parents, children, pets...and we need to band together to make it through (and come out better for it!). I was thinking of some sort of "swap shop" where families can bring any sort of home goods that they aren't using or have outgrown and receive credits to shop for new things. Less consignment store and more not-for-profit in nature. It would be eco-friendly and community-friendly. If it had a sort of boutiquey, high-end feel, it would be a comfortable environment for any shopper.
Is this a stupid idealist sort of idea? Does it already exist? I do know that some women do clothing swaps with groups of friends a couple of times a year... Hmmmm.
Glue Guns, Rice Crispy Cereal, Orange Food Coloring, and SUGAR: Happy Halloween!
How was your Halloween weekend? Ours was jam-packed full of festive festivities: finishing the fish/fishbowl/fish store employee IDs for Brooke, Alyssa, me, and Greg, respectively; making orange-tinted Rice Crispy holiday figurines like they do on the television commercial; playing in the SNOW?!; carving pumpkins; roasting pumpkin seeds; having a Halloween dinner fiesta complete with Mexican food (Dia de los Muertes), Halloween tunes, Halloween plates, and Halloween sprinkles for our applesauce; and of course, trick-or-treating.
We were making memories, my friends. Mostly good ones...but a few crazy, frantic ones mixed in to be sure.
As I type this, both kids are taking naps (shocking! rare! fantastic!!), clearly hung over from our busy schedule of memory-making and from trick-or-treating gluttony.
How were your memories? What was your ratio of good:bad? Hope it was happy overall :-)
(That last line should be my motto for motherhood/life in general...Stop expecting things to be perfect/trying to make things perfect/trying to be perfect, and just shoot for "happy overall.")
We were making memories, my friends. Mostly good ones...but a few crazy, frantic ones mixed in to be sure.
As I type this, both kids are taking naps (shocking! rare! fantastic!!), clearly hung over from our busy schedule of memory-making and from trick-or-treating gluttony.
How were your memories? What was your ratio of good:bad? Hope it was happy overall :-)
(That last line should be my motto for motherhood/life in general...Stop expecting things to be perfect/trying to make things perfect/trying to be perfect, and just shoot for "happy overall.")
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