X-Mas Begins..

Check it out, a friend of mine posted THIS on facebook. Hilarious. It's called X-Mas Origins; Santa Clause.

It seems every year something keeps me from the spiritual celebration of Yule. The mundane is consuming, loud, overwhelming...

But this XMas was lovely.
It's near 2:30 and the children have fallen to their first sugar-induced-coma. We're house sitting for my sister-in-law and her girlfriend while they visit my brother-in-law and his girlfriend and children in FL.

We're about 45 mins from home and the weather isn't the best, so I brought I few things yesterday when I went home to check on Aya and Jayne(the kitties) and pick up a few other things. Chris wasn't feeling well last night so after the kids went down(8p) he got a back rub and a nap and when he woke up(10p) he was so thankful that I got a backrub which led to excellent x-mas booty.

Yesterday while chris was out picking up the last-minute baked goods, the neighbor stopped in(a nice older lady named Maria who is native to Italy) and dropped off a large bag of her own baked goods and candy. The children dug. Hence the coma this afternoon.

My sister-in-law has recently adopted three foster children and has been VERY busy as of late and so no preparation went into decor in her home, but we put up a little statue of Santa in his silver duds and a big twinkling pink and red wreath and a fiber-optic shopping scene with a fountain that sings Christmas carols on a little end table, and after we wrapped the few gifts I brought, we arranged them in and under the table.

This morning Chris made turkey sausage gravy and we had turkey sausage gravy and egg with cheese on sandwiches before bringing the children downstairs and letting them tear things up.

We put the toys in totes with other toys like them and wrapped them together(Taven and Lylie are two and one and seem disinterested in tearing the wrapping paper off, anyhow) so we could control the mess and it was a success!! We played with each tote separately and put everything away before moving on to the next.

They still have a kitchenette and tool bench at home that needs to be set up and organized into totes.

My sister-in-law and her family comes back on the 4th and Chris and the children will still be there this weekend when I go to work. On the plus-side I havetime to complete the project of going through their toys and junking the broken and donating the neglected to GoodWill.

This time of year when status is so evident to us all and guilt rises from what couldn't be done, it's good to think about those of us spending the holidays alone or with much less to celebrate.
Do your best to help others when they're in need and you're available. Carry some shopping bags for someone struggling, hold a door for someone who's got their hands full, shovel a walk for an elderly neighbor, donate toys to toys for tots or warm clothes or canned goods to the homeless shelter, volunteer your time- you never realize how much it's appreciated until you see the effect.

When I've had times to get things organized and time and money is easier to come by, that's my goal. I wanted to volunteer at the food bank this summer but I got a job and time got shorter and shorter. Taven and Lylie do NOT like to share mommy, hehehe..

A certain kind of pride comes with philanthropy. Not much can compare, really.