Fa La La La...

In the past we over did Christmas, perhaps out of guilt.  Maybe to make up to the kids for the lack of time we have together during the school year or possibly to create childhood memories for them.  I’m really not sure why we allowed Christmas to become excessive. 

The past two years have hit our family like a lot of families in America.  John took a huge cut in pay, and then he experienced a lay off, four months without income and finally the exciting news, a new job, closer to home, but also with another pay cut.  Then two months ago I quit a job that I deemed “my dream job”.  It was a decision made out of frustration and even though I know I did the right thing, I miss my job terribly.  So now I am trying to settle into being home for the first time in several years. I’m trying to adjust to not feeling like I have a purpose, not contributing financially to the family, and the lack of a daily social life. 

Even though we are now a single income family and by the way I did not warn, discuss or confide in John that I was quitting, we are making it. (Christmas has me panicked with ten kids to buy for).

Tanner suggested that we get “back to the real reason of Christmas” this year.  He made the observation that when I was working all the time we became too busy to really focus on the true meaning of the holidays.  The irony is that I was working for a church.  My job, as much as I loved it had consumed my days and at times I spent more time in the church building then at home with my family.

So we will scale down on the gifts, a lot.  We will buy for a soldier instead of each other.  Instead of being bad stewards with out money and putting ourselves in a financial bind, we will focus on why we put up our nativity, by focusing on the birth of the Christ Child.

However, I have noticed a few things since returning to a stay at home person after a decade in the workforce.

1. My day goes by faster at home then it did when I was out working.
2. The house stays cleaner when I am actually home to oversee it.
3. The kids seem calmer now that I am home when they get off the bus, make sure their home work and chores get done and I am even meeting them with an after school snack.  June Clever I am not though.
4. The black cloud that was hovering over my head of gloom from the stressors of work has disappeared.

The one thing I am still trying to piece together is how the laundry breeds and multiplies while I sleep.