Mud Pies & Minivans: What's Your Focus?

I feel like I have not written on my blog in FOREVER! I thought birthday season was busy, forget about it! This December has been by far the most action packed ever!!! As my ladies are getting older, there are so many fun & new activities we can get into. We have also had a lot of birthday parties, Christmas parties, family fun, tamale making, Christmas play practices, gift shopping & so forth that have kept us pretty busy as well!

Well, I am definitely embracing these few seconds I have of rest to write a new lil' post-Here we go.....

I will never forget the 1st Christmas my husband & I spent together. December rolled around & I was all excited to crank up the Christmas music, decorate the tree, start Christmas shopping, & put up the lights outside when suddenly my husband commented (in his best Grinch like tone), "I don't really like Christmas all that much anymore". After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I decided to hear Scrooge out before giving him my 2 sense. Of course my husband understood & embraced the TRUE "reason for the season", but all the chaos, commercialism, & selfishness that also accompanies this holiday nowadays had definitely taken a lot of the fun out of it for him. I definitely could see his points, they were valid, but I assured him that as we had more kiddos & they got older a lot of that joy of the holiday season would be restored!

Now, here we are almost 5 years later & I am so happy to report my husband was the 1st one to point out this year how much we needed to add lights to our house. We now get to see Christmas in a brand new light, through eyes of our kids, & it is so wonderful! Now, do not get me wrong, when I say that I want my kiddos to love & embrace the holiday season I do not mean that I want to shower them with tons of presents & spoil them rotten. I actually want them to love this season for different reasons. It is a time where we can do even more crafts & cooking projects together then normal. There are even more family events that we can enjoy & even more opportunities to bless the people we love around us & also people we have never met before. Most of all, I want my ladies to realize that it is about Jesus' birthday & not all about them.

1 thing I have done to try to help my kids to focus outward is by buying them their very own lil' tree for their room & "sister stockings". Individually, I will take each of them to the store to buy 1 stocking stuffer for each sister & 1 tiny gift that they think each sister will like. They will then help me wrap their special gifts & put them under their sister tree. They will also add their lil' stuffer to their sisters' stockings. This is very fun to do with your kids, because it is not about them or what they would like, they get to think about their sibling(s) & also feel a sense of pride & accomplishment as they get to pick & purchase something by themselves. As the girls get older, I am going to have them use their actual money that they will have been saving all year long.

Another thing we do as a family is pick a family or person out that is not part of our family that we want to bless. This is a fun thing to do & it is really fun to see who the kiddos come up with, "That lady we always see at the 'Nana Store'-(Starbucks) is so nice to us. We should bless her!".

We also try to limit the girls' gifts to 3 per lady. This helps us to not go all out & crazy getting them things for a day that is not even supposed to be all about them, but it also helps battle the "I Want! I Want! ME! ME!" attitude that is sometimes brought out in kids during this season. We don't promote our kids writing lists about the things they "have to have" & aside from "Sesame Street" or "Curious George" they do not really watch television (They do not see all the constant commercials pumping into their minds the things they feel like they have to have). So, while we do get our kids a few things, we ultimately try to help them focus more on doing events together as a family & making new memories we will treasure forever!

It is definitely easy to get caught up in all the hustle & bustle of this season, but we have to remember that intentionally or unintentionally we are sending our kids messages about this time of year. Are we stressed out & anxious? Do we put a huge emphasize on getting & the things we just "have to have"? Are we thankful people or ungrateful people? Is it all about us or all about family & friends? Giving or getting? Being a parent is a huge responsibility, but if we stay off cruise control & make every daily decision with purpose & careful thought WE CAN DO IT!

-M&M Momma