Are You Ready for Christmas?

This phrase has been repeated to me thousands of times over the last week.  I finally had enough last week and mouthed off to someone "Christmas is going to happen whether I'm ready for it or not".

Seriously, exactly what is it that we are preparing for?  The birth of the Christ child?  The celebration of the birth of the Christ child?  Or the annual gift grab that so many families engage in?

We have a birthday party at our house on Christmas day, and have ever since the birth of our first child.  Cake and ice cream.  I wanted the kids to equate Christmas with a birthday party.  Just like their annual birthday party, we have lots of family over.  Before the birthday party begins, we ice the cake, and I let the kids decorate the cake with sprinkles.  Lots of sprinkles.  When the kids were still under the age of 10, it was my contention that the sprinkles on that cake alone were enough to induce a diabetic coma.

After dinner, we always have cake and ice cream.  We put candles on the cake, and we light the candles and sing happy birthday to Jesus. 

My goal, since the beginning, has been to have the kids realize that first and foremost, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth.  We do the same things at our Christmas celebration that we do at our family parties.  Lots of family, and lots of talking, lots of fun.

The presents have always been one of the last things we do.  And, we've always made a point of handing out the presents one at a time and everyone watching while each person opens a gift.  It's never been a grab.  We've never wanted the kids to race down first thing in the morning, rip the paper off, and then race off again.  Within an hour of getting up they'd ask "What do we do now?"  or worse, "I'm bored".

A few years ago, we decided to spin things a little bit more.  Just as the Wise Men hunted for the baby Jesus after his birth, we now hunt for our Christmas presents.  (Keep in mind... our children are 18, 16, and 14.  We didn't start this until the youngest was 12!)   We leave a clue out for the children to find, and we hide more clues all over town.  It's the ultimate treasure hunt.  If you've ever been geo-caching, you know what I'm talking about.  Our clues are fairly well hidden, written in rhyme, and do take a while to find.  Usually, the presents are hidden somewhere around the house or yard, but the kids do enjoy the search, and the time we spend together.

But, when I'm asked "Are you ready for Christmas?"  I am saddened.  I see people rushing, rushing, rushing, but never taking the time to stop, listen, and be thankful just for the ultimate gift that we were given so many years ago.  Christmas isn't something that's wrapped in a bag, or tied up with string. 
And it's definitely not something tangible.

Christmas is about that wonderful gift, so freely given to us all.

In these last few days before Christmas, I invite you to stop, sit down, and spend some time with your loved ones.  It doesn't matter if everything is done "just right".  What matters is that you are able to spend time together, play some games together, and make memories that will last for a lifetime.

Mom, Can You Bring?

My oldest child is a freshman in college.  He's in the midst of final exams right now.  I am to pick him up on Monday afternoon for winter break.

His last day of class was on Tuesday, so I posted a little note on his facebook page congratulating him on completing his first semester of college, and wishing him good luck on finals.  I told him, I'll see you on Monday!

Little did I know....

He called home on Tuesday night, and I asked him what classes he was taking next semester.  "Two Math classes, two Physics classes, a Computer Science class, oh, and orchestra."  he replied. 

"Sounds interesting" I said. After I hung up the phone, I looked at my husband and said "orchestra?"  We both shrugged and said nothing.

A little back story here...  the kid has been playing Viola since he was 8 years old.  He made All-County Orchestra every year since 6th grade.   And here's the truly annoying thing.... he never practiced!  He has a knack for playing.  If he'd practice, he'd be an amazing violist.

Anyway, he played his Viola for the last time in May.  He hasn't touched it since then.  I asked him in August, when he was packing up for school, if he wanted to take his Viola along with him.  "No",  he'd replied.  "I don't see playing that thing again any time soon."

I deeply sighed, but I said nothing.

So, on Tuesday night, he tells us he's signed up to take orchestra.

Thursday morning, I get a call from him.

"Hey Mom, you know how I said I was going to take orchestra in the spring?"

"Yes"

"Well, it turns out that you have to audition to get in to the orchestra.  Is there any chance you can bring me my Viola.  Like, today??"

"What?  Why?"

"Well, my audition is this afternoon.  I could borrow one of their violas, but I'd feel better if I had my own."

And that is how I found myself headed back to school to drop off his viola on a Thursday morning.  I asked him if I could just leave it at the desk at the dorm and tell them "This is for the absent minded blonde kid".  He very quickly responded "You'd have to be more specific than that, Mom."

I guess this is the mixed blessing of having a child go to school in state. 

Anyway, I am wishing the absent minded kind of blonde-ish kid good luck!

(This was originally posted in my blog "A Mom's View" in 2011)

A New Cell Phone

My old cell phone was a beloved Nokia Mural.  I've had it for years, and I loved it.  It was one of the last generation of cell phones with web access before i-Phones became an instant phenomenon.  I had used it to take pictures at events for years.  I had even downloaded holiday ringtones for Halloween and Christmas.  My favorite feature of the phone was that I could change the colors of the lights, so the phone would ring in different colors.  My phone was usually green, but sometimes orange, and sometimes purple, and sometimes blue.  My screen saver was a picture of a waterfall somewhere in the mountains, and the ring tone was gentle chimes.

Alas, all cell phones eventually die.  I'd replaced the battery twice in the last three months.  Even with the new batteries, the charge was only lasting for 4 to 5 hours at a time.  I could turn off the phone and the charge would last longer, but that didn't really help when I was expecting calls or messages from the kids.

So, yesterday I bit the bullet and invested in a new cell phone.  I wasn't thrilled with it, but the price was right.  $10.  You know, the price should have tipped me off that all was not well with that phone.  I bought the phone and paid for a two year contract.  Brought it home.. and that's when the problems began.  The charge on my new cell phone was already gone when I got home.  I charged it again, unplugged it and took it with me grocery shopping.  Wouldn't you know?  The thing shut down because it had no charge while I was driving to the grocery store.  In the 24 hours I possessed this phone, I charged it four separate times.  After the 12 hour overnight charge, it shut down once again as soon as I unplugged it.  Did I mention that it was hot?  Hot, hot, hot.  The phone felt like it had been sitting on the dashboard of my car on a hundred degree day at high noon.

I took it back to the store this morning.  It turns out that I bought the phone from an independent contractor for my cell phone company.  I took the phone to the corporate store, but I had to go back to the independent contractor in order to return it.  Thankfully, someone at the corporate store talked to me before I left, and gave the go ahead and directions to me as to what I needed to ask them to do.

I went back to the independent contractor to attempt to return the phone with it's "30 day, no hassle return policy."  Turns out it was a bit more of a hassle than they advertised.  They kept trying to get me to exchange my phone for another phone of the same model.  I'm sorry, but in my experience when one particular batch or model of electronics is defective, typically all of them are defective.  It wasn't until I pulled out the name of the person I spoke to at the corporate office that they sullenly took care of me.  Then and only then was it a no-hassle return policy.

Here's the worst part of the return... my phone got so hot that it melted the little metal squares on the back of my SIM card.  That's pretty darn hot.  We're lucky that the phone didn't catch fire while it was charging overnight.  I am honestly expecting that we'll be hearing of a house that burns to the ground sometime in the next month due to a cell phone bursting into flame while recharging.

After I left the independent retailer, I went back to the corporate store.  Half an hour later, I walked out of the store a proud new owner of an i-phone.  I had tried to resist the lure of the i-phone, but none of the little flip phones that I love can access the internet, text, take pictures, and store my music.  Even better, my photos and music are stored in the i-cloud, so I can access them again from the cloud when I get a new phone.

We've been playing with my phone all afternoon.  I think I'm more fond of this than I was of my Nokia.  I do love Nokia phones, I've used them for over 10 years now.  But... this little i-phone is a really impressive piece of electronics. 

I am very impressed by the ability I'll have to keep track of everything in one place. 

I hate to admit that I'm impressed by the i-phone.  But.... I am impressed.