It is all about the Wiggles

(Image from: http://talesfromthedad.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/the-freakin-wiggles-austrailas-greatest-musical-export/)

 

No, not those Wiggles.  Those are the creepy, insane wiggles that we thankfully managed to avoid completely in our early parenting years.  There is always the threat that they may come to haunt us in our later parenting years so beware.  But I digress.

 

It is mid-November which means that Christmas season has already descended upon us.  If you've ever lived in the South you've probably had the joy of driving through love bugs.  Christmas season is like that.  It is annoying, it is everywhere, and while you should be celebrating the love you're really just cursing being inundated and bombarded with it and then feeling slightly guilty that you just aren't embracing the love, which makes you angrier and so on.

 

The boyos are 7 & almost 10 now.  Thankfully, they still believe in Santa Claus.  That's a plus and something we really do treasure.  Unfortunately, what I shall now call "The Christmas Love Bugs" have descended.  Well-meaning relatives who are already hounding us for lists and so on.  You want to love them but you can't help but curse their jingle belled persistence.

As most parents are, we're trying to juggle the balance: find out what we want, what is important to us, how to instill those values onto our kids while shielding them from Christmas Love Bugs and general commercialization (would that be the Christmas Dragon???  Is that unfairly vilifying dragons??).

So today we had a talk about the wiggles.  And no, not THOSE Wiggles.  The wiggles that the season should fill you with.  Here's what we came up with:

1) Thanksgiving is the meal that fills you up with warm food, fuzzy love feelings, and stocks your body with nutrients necessary to support the upcoming WIGGLES.

2) You know that feeling you get when you've thought of a really great gift idea for someone?  And you're just so friggin' excited because you simply know what an absolutely awesome idea it is?  Are you starting to get filled with giddiness?  If so, then my friend, you have the WIGGLES. 

 

Isn't that what gift giving should be about?  The "EEEEE HEE HEE" excitement fueled wiggly deliciousness where it is so awesome and it is just killing you to keep it a secret because you can't wait to see their face?  It is about the Wiggles. 

And, yes, you can get the Wiggles knowing that someone is thinking about YOU just like that!!!  THAT is definitely Wiggle inducing!!! 

Yes, the holiday season is absolutely about more than just gifts.  It is about traditions, hopefully happy ones.  And if you don't have happy ones, then you need to make some!!
For us it is about food: gingerbread cookies, sausage balls, Chex Mix, and the promise that Mommy will get candy canes to put in your hot cocoa.  It is about driving around at night looking at all the lights while listening to Christmas music and singing along.  It is about getting the tree from the same place we get the tree every year.  Then decorating it.  Then cursing when it falls over and invariably our (Mommy's) favorite ornaments break.  It is about Mommy going a little insane with sparkly nail polish.  And .. most importantly, it is about our annual (this will the 10th one!!) Christmas Eve Open House party where we invite friends and family to drop by most anytime and have a good time.  ---- and then when Mommy and Daddy try to remember that staying up late having an alcohol induced good time isn't the wisest of ideas when the kids wake up at the crack of friggin' dawn. 
It is about coming together on cold nights to find beauty and love and happiness and alcohol and treats.

That, my friends, is the Wiggles.  It is about the Wiggles. 

So .. if you start getting stressed, think about what fills you with wiggly-happiness.  Embrace that.  If your past traditions have left your with a sour taste, toss them out and start some new ones.  Embrace it and be wiggly!!!


Yes, Virginia

Today I just want to share a link to a blog I follow. http://domesticwitch.blogspot.com/2009/12/yes-virginia-there-is-santa-claus.html

I've read this before, and I love it dearly. I grew up in Virginia and, even though I knew it wasn't so, I somehow always thought the "Virginia" he was speaking to was the State. Somehow I still hear it that way.

I'm posting this to follow-up yesterday's more angry-toned blog.

Believe, love, dream, be kind, be happy, be young at heart, be blessed.

Seasonal Bitchin'

This time of year there is a lot of bitchin. In fact, I think it would stand to reason that there is more bitching about the Season ... or rather the Holidays, than there is actual celebration of the Holidays & Season. And, when that is the case, something just ain't right folks.



~Our "little" tree, all decorated & lit up. The golden glow around it is from the Leg Lamp in the other corner of the room~

Above is our "little" Christmas tree. We have really tall ceilings, and so tall, tall trees are a "must have." Financially this means we stick with white pines because they're cheaper. This year there seems to be a very limited supply of them, and tall they aren't. Ours is still 8' or so, but it just seems tiny in the front room. *waaahhhh* When we began decorating it, we realized this tree's branches were particularly thin and weak, meaning most ornaments are actually hung on the wire of the lights. We ended up only putting one box of ornaments on the tree. *waaaahh* GET OVER IT!!!!
Why do I need to get over it? One, this little tree turned out to be a blessing. This year our dogs are indoor dogs for the first time. More ornaments to attract nosy dogs is something we do NOT need. Also, really importantly, this was the first year we've let the kids help decorate the tree. Our kids are 5 1/2 and 3. We made it through the one box with only one broken ornament, and I think it was just that ornament's time, not so much a slip of hands. But, again, more ornaments were not needed. Decorating with the kids was wonderful, albeit a few "AACCK!! Don't touch THAT ornament!!!" moments since we have several ornaments that are glass and were blown by friends. Decorating the tree should be one of those positive family memories. Let's just stick with the one box before we end up killing each other, ok? Ahh .. happiness.



Pardon me for going all third person here, but Mama Taney is sick of this Seasonal Bitchin'. Really. There should be signs that say "Tis the Season to Bitch and Moan." And Mama Taney ain't havin' it no more!!!
We're ALL broke, ok?? Even million-ba-jillionaires, I'm sure, are complaining and whining because they don't have enough money right now to afford luxury, solid gold, diamond encrusted crappers for everyone on their list. It really doesn't matter how much money you have this time of year, because in your eyes, you don't have enough.And that isn't the fucking point!!! It isn't about money! It's about trying to survive having to be around all your relatives without going insane and starting WWIII. Just kidding. It's about trying to be grateful for those insane relatives because it means you're LOVED. That someone out there in this big blue world is thinking about you and loves you. And you love them. *pardon me while I get my tissue*


After the tree was decorated and the kids were in bed, there was a knock on the door. Due to recent issues with knocks on doors I was more ready to call the cops than curious as to whom might be calling. It was Boy Scouts collecting non-perishable, canned goods for the needy. I gave them organic green beans. Our cupboards might not be over-flowing, but they certainly aren't bare, and even people who can't afford to buy their food deserve to eat organic food.


And there is the other point of the season. To remember that you're warm and safe and the biggest thing you have to do is bitch about the credit card bills you've chosen to rack up to buy gifts. That you have a roof over your head and food in your cupboards. That you have shoes on your feet. That your children are safe and in their beds (or wherever yours may be), but that they're safe, and healthy, and that you're know that they are and you're not praying that they were alive with you this year, or that they can be moved out of the ICU, and so on.

~My kids, meeting Santa, in the snow. I know you've seen this before, but it still oozes of Christmas Spirit when I see it and makes me smile~

It is nearly impossible to not get wrapped up in the commercialization of it all, I know that. I've started throwing catalogs away without looking at them, deleting emails without looking at them. And it feels great .. a weight lifted off my shoulders. Pass the chex mix please!

If you can't get over it, then let me know. I want to make sure to stay the hell away from you this holiday season.

Ye Olde Salem Christmas

This past Friday was Salem's Christmas Parade. We always go down there, bundling up in many, many layers and taking blankets to sit on & wrap around us. We normally take hot cocoa, but this year it was accidentally left at home. Justin's family has been coming over and watching the parade with us for the last few years ~ a really nice tradition to have.
The day after the parade is always "Ye Olde Salem Christmas." There are activities going on between the Farmer's Market and Longwood Park, but we usually just walk down past the Market and to the library where the real treat is: a visit with Santa Claus!
Every year the Santa & Mrs Claus visit the Salem Public Library. You can sit on his lap and have your photo taken, or you can take your own photo ~ and, of course, you get to tell him what you want! Mrs. Claus reads Christmas stories to the kids elsewhere in the library and there are areas for crafts and letter-writing set-up.
It is always a special time, but this year was made even more special by the fact that ... it SNOWED! We only got a dusting down here, but the timing couldn't have been better!

So, we bundled up in our warm clothes and walked the couple blocks to the library as the snow came down all around us. As we neared the library we spotted a very familiar, but wonderfully surprising sight.


~What to our wondering eyes should appear?~

Santa was outside the library! We talked with him, certain that he must've brought the sudden snow with him, down from the North Pole. Seriously, flowers are in bloom here.


~Budding pink roses covered in the sudden snow~


~The boys posing with Santa as it snows all around~

After seeing Santa outside we headed indoors to look for new books to check out, and return already read ones. We love our library, it kicks some serious library butt! We then waited for our turn to sit on Santa's lap.


~Sitting on Santa's lap~


~Telling Santa what they want for Christmas~


~Listening to Mrs. Claus read a Christmas-time story~

On our way home we walked back by the Farmer's Market. I took more photos of things going on there. Of locally grown veggies and locally made crafts, of wreaths and greenery of all sorts. We got some hot apple cider, definitely a perfectly timed treat!
By the time the boys got up from their naps the snow had pretty much stopped. Today it is already all gone, with only the cold weather and wilted flowers serving as a reminder.
Living in this area of the country, snow is no longer a guaranteed thing. White Christmases are very, very rare. I remember when I was little, getting Christmas trees and there being snow on the ground, but that is rarely the case anymore.
The snow this past Saturday, however little and brief it may have been, couldn't have been better timed. With every snowflake that fell Christmas joy seemed to fill the air. It was beautiful.