A new-ish tradition

Each year, many of the teachers I work with buy some small gift for the other teachers. Each year I try to think of something I can do for the other teachers. Last year, I settled on an idea that I thought was a good one. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I baked. A lot. I took all the goodies to work and put a note that the goodies were my gift to the other teachers. An early Christmas gift from me to them. They could come by the faculty room any time that day to get a treat. They seemed to love it. It was early enough that they hadn't had a lot of treats yet, and since Thanksgiving is a long weekend, it didn't feel stressful to bake over the weekend.

So I decided to make this a yearly tradition. On Sunday, I baked pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I baked chocolate peppermint cookies. And I baked peanut butter blossoms. I took all of these to work on Monday as a holiday treat for everyone to enjoy. I enjoyed the baking, and my coworkers enjoyed the treats. I think it is my new annual tradition for my coworkers. :)

Deck the halls

I always do at least a little Black Friday shopping. It's a tradition. I went to 2 stores this year...one on Thursday night and one on Friday, mid morning. I got a few things for good deals, and I have to say that my experience has been that the majority of people are polite and friendly on Black Friday. I have seen the crazy stampedes and other injuries that occur in some places, and I'm sure there are rude people here too. But I have been fortunate to primarily see people be polite and fairly helpful to one another.

The other tradition for the day after Thanksgiving is to pull out our holiday decorations and decorate for Christmas. I love decorating! I love Christmas! So I love this. Alfredo and I decided that this year we are going to get a live tree for upstairs. We have never had a live tree in 11 1/2 years of marriage. We have 2 fake trees and neither is particularly pretty. So we are going to get a real tree. But we're going to wait at least another week before we buy it, so we just decorated the tree down stairs and the other decorations this weekend. We generally have one tree upstairs that the kids get to decorate with matching ornaments, and then Alfredo waits until they are done and moves the ornaments around to make it look perfect. Then we have one downstairs with a huge assortment of random ornaments that they get to decorate however they want. Michelle does a pretty good job of getting ornaments spread fairly evenly around the tree and does a little bossing of her sisters to make sure it isn't too bottom heavy or only decorated in the front and not the back. She takes after her dad in that way. She likes things neat and orderly. So the girls decorated the downstairs tree and we'll get the live tree soon. I'm kind of excited. As a little girl, we always got a live tree and I prefer them. I don't think we will make a habit of getting a live tree, but I'm excited to do it this year.

Thanksgiving

I have so much to be grateful for. I really felt it this year. I think I do each year at this time of year, but this year it felt especially poignant. Partly because I kept a gratitude journal specifically about my family. Partly because I was particularly diligent in my scripture study and studied about gratitude. Partly because I read that wonderful book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Partly because I've been making a conscientious effort to find small ways to serve and help others and be more kind and thoughtful. Partly because I read other people's updates on Facebook daily about what they were grateful for. And perhaps most of all because I stole my friend Sara's idea and made a grateful tree with my children this year.

We missed a few days...and a couple of days we just said what we were thankful for, but most days we each wrote down on a leaf what we were thankful for and added it to our thankful tree which is hanging in Michelle and Ella's bedroom.

I challenged each of us to think of something new to write each day, and the girls did a wonderful job. Gabby wanted to say family members over and over, but with a little prompting she was able to come up with other things as well.

Michelle has been learning at school to not use drugs or smoke. On one of her leaves she wrote "everything in the world except drugs". We had things like answers to prayers and socks, flowers, our car, new boots, organization, a clean house, electronics, the Atonement, Chester, 5 days off together, and Cookie Crisp cereal (I usually won't buy it but I did this month). Michelle wrote that she is thankful for mistakes. So am I, because we can learn from them and we can repent after we make them. We have so much to be thankful for.

My friend Brandi posted on facebook that her visiting teacher asked her what she is thankful for that she hadn't really given much thought of. She asked friends to answer the question too. Here was my response:
"The blessings of living in a nation with freedom, the right to vote and disagree (but preferably respectfully) about who will make the best leader... education is something I think about all the time, so that isn't one I hadn't considered..But still one I am grateful for. And lately, I feel very grateful for answers to prayers, even little ones. I am grateful that my husband and I have jobs and a home and that we have never had to use church or government assistance. I am grateful that my children are healthy. I am grateful that my children don't have special needs because my niece and nephew do and it is so hard for my sister to do all that she needs to for them...she is so remarkable as a mother and while I think I am a good mom, I am glad that I have been blessed with pretty good kids. I don't mean that as an insult in any way to children with special needs or parents of children with special needs...in fact, quite the opposite....I have such admiration for parents that unselfishly do so much to help and advocate for their child...but I am glad that is not a challenge I was given. I am grateful for running water and heat."

And these things are just the beginning. I have so much more to be grateful for. Of course, at the top of the list are my family. Who I got to spend 5 wonderful days with. I feel especially thankful for this, because Alfredo was planning to drive to California for the whole weekend for a cousin's wedding. But we didn't have a good feeling about it, and his uncle who was supposed to drive with him cancelled, and so at the last minute, Alfredo decided to stay home. It felt extra wonderful having him around when I'd expected to have him gone.
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Thanksgiving Day was spent at my aunt and uncle's house. My sister Suzy was there too. It was delicious and fun to be with family, including Phil's kids and grandkids.

It's all about attitude

When it comes to attitude toward snow, my attitude has been much like this:
"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water."
Carl Reiner

I don't like it. I don't like to drive in it. I don't like to walk in it. I don't like to lay in it. I don't like to have it thrown at me. I only like to look at it from inside my warm house while reading a good book and drinking hot chocolate. *I should mention that I. Don't. Like. To. Be. COLD. That is a big source of my dislike for snow.

But November is a month for gratitude and I was overwhelmed by gratitude for children a few Saturdays ago when we'd had a huge snowstorm. My children had a couple of friends over and they were talking about how beautiful the snow is. They were admiring the beauty of some icicles hanging, and how much snow had fallen over night. Their attitude was more like this:

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"
J. B. Priestley

And so, for the day, I changed my attitude. I admired the beauty of the snow. I helped them start to make a snowman....which actually never got finished because they moved on to sledding. And for the day, I did see beauty in the snow and even more beauty and magic in the happiness it brought these sweet children.

Accomplishment

Since giving birth to 3 children, I've been carrying around a little extra weight. For 3 years, I didn't drop a single pound despite some effort on my part. (Not tons of effort, but some.) My weight isn't a huge deal to me. I'm healthy. I don't like to exercise, although I've been trying to be more consistent at it. I am not way overweight and my weight is constant...it doesn't fluctuate at all. For 3 years, every time I stepped on a scale it always said the exact same number. For 9 months, I did Biggest Loser workouts with coworkers and never dropped a pound...(That is not to say it didn't help...I lost a couple of inches around my waist and definitely built muscle. I felt good doing it too.) Then back in about March, I began training for my half marathon. I was running more than I ever had in my life, and I completed my half marathon. I am a slow jogger, and I will never win any awards, but it was still a great feeling of accomplishment. And during the course of training for and running the half marathon, I lost about 7 or 8 pounds. I kept the running up really well until August and then we went on two vacations and I went back to work, and I haven't done as well. I have still been working on my New Years Resolution to eat lots of fruits and vegetables daily though. I do try to eat healthy other than that I'm a sugar addict and do eat too much sugar.

Anyway, a dear friend decided to do a contest among neighbors and friends to try to lose weight from the beginning of November until Thanksgiving. We weighed in at her house at the beginning of November, and I was thrilled to see that I was 9 pounds lighter than I was a year ago. So I'd not only kept the weight off but I'd lost an additional pound since my half marathon. I decided to participate in the contest, and while I was sure I wouldn't win, I figured it would help me be motivated to exercise. I haven't been as good as I would have liked, but I have exercised and when I weighed on Wednesday night, I had lost 1.5 pounds in the past 3 weeks. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for me, it is still a great accomplishment. If I could lose 5 more pounds, I would be perfectly content with my weight. I would weigh more than before having kids, but I was very, very thin back then and had lots of issues with my blood sugar and stuff. I actually think I'm at a healthier weight now than I was then. The contest has been extended until New Year's. I still don't think I will win, and I'm totally okay with that. But I'm excited for the weight I have lost and that I am making time to exercise. It doesn't come naturally to me.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon: A book on gratitude

This month for our book club, Jackie had us read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. It is a children's book, and it is wonderful. It is about a little girl named Minli whose family is very poor. Her father always tells her stories and her mother thinks the stories fill her head with nonsense. Ba tries to explain that stories are not a waste of time, but Ma complains a great deal. Eventually, Minli sets off to try to find the Man in the Moon so she can change her fortune. Along her journey, she meets a Buffalo Boy that has almost nothing, yet he is happy. She meets a dragon that cannot fly. The dragon decides to go with her to ask the Man in the Moon how to fly. She meets twins, Afu and Dafu, who help her. Their village even cuts a small bit out of each of their jackets to make Minli a jacket. Every where she goes, she meets people who are content and happy with their life. Meanwhile her parents are learning important lessons.

I won't give away the ending of this book, but it is worth a read. There are so many wonderful quotes, and the messages of thankfulness and selflessness are so clear and beautifully stated.

There are so many quotes that I loved.

"You only lose what you cling to." (page 140)

"For the line was only made of one word, written over and over again. And that word was Thankfulness." (p. 250)

"The woman (Minli's mother) cursed herself for her selfishness and foolishness. How lucky she had been! She was at last able to see that her daughter's laughter and love could not be improved by having the finest clothes or jewels, that joy had been in her home like a gift waiting to be opened. The woman wept tears for which there was no comfort. For all the time that she had been longing for treasures, she had already had the one most precious." (page 254)

"If you make happy those that are near, those that are far will come." (page 255)

"Fortune was not a house full of jade, but something much more. Something she already had and did not need to change." (page 259)

"The joy! How it flowed and flooded over her! More golden than the king's dragon bracelet, sweeter than a peach from the Queen Mother's garden, and more beautiful than a Goddess of Heaven! Minli smiled, treasuring her good fortune."

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On this Thanksgiving Day, I hope I remember to give thanks for all that I am blessed with. I have a wonderful family. I have good health. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have a beautiful home. I have a job, as does my husband. In fact, I not only have a job, but I have a job that I love and that I feel called to do. I have enough food to eat... bounteous food. I have great friends. I have an abundance of good books to read. My prayers are answered on a regular basis. My favorite season of the year, the Christmas season, is coming. Life isn't perfect for any of us, but if we take time to count our blessings and recognize what we do have, it really puts our trials in perspective. I really believe that gratitude and selflessness are the keys to happiness. I have found that to be true in my life when I am practicing it. Now I just need to work on applying those two principles in my life daily.

Proud Mommy Moment

A moment I wasn't even there for, but that still makes me sooo happy.

Last Thursday, I went to book club. Alfredo took the girls out for some Daddy-Daughter time while I was gone. His plan was to get some food and then take them to the dollar movies. As they were eating, he told them to eat quickly so they could make it to the movie on time. Michelle said, "Um, what time does the movie start?" Alfredo told her 7:30. She said, "So, it won't be over until after 9 PM?" He nodded in agreement. Michelle said she didn't think they should go, because she still needed to read for a half hour and it was a school night and then they would be up until way past bedtime. Ella agreed...she also needed to read for 20 minutes, in Spanish, and she thought they should head home soon so they could do their reading and go to bed on time.

So they did a little bit of wandering at the mall and then headed home, did their reading and went to bed a few minutes earlier than normal.

This makes me particularly happy because last year Michelle went through a time when she hated to read and I have worked hard to try to help her develop a love of reading. It is paying off. She never complains or argues about doing her reading this year and she often reads for longer than she is required to. I'm so happy that she wanted to make good choices and chose completing her reading and getting to bed on time rather than watching a movie.

Need some advice?

If any of my friends need some advice, I have a dear friend who writes a weekly advice column on Nauvoo Times. She gives great advice and your question can be anonymous. She gives advice on house cleaning/organization, manners, Mormon culture concerns, etc. Check out her articles here and then you can email me any questions or write them there on the site. Be sure to check out other articles there. I find inspiration there on a weekly basis.

Spirit Week

Spirit Week was last week at the girls' school. Monday was Mismatched Day. Michelle decided she didn't want to participate, so she wore uniform on Monday. But Ella was mismatched.

Tuesday was pajama day. They both wore their pajamas.

Wednesday (Halloween) was Halloween colors: orange, black and purple. They each wore Halloween shirts.

Thursday was crazy hair day. Michelle wanted zombie hair. Ella had part curled, part ratted, part braided with mismatched bows.

Friday was hippie day. They both wore tie died shirts and headbands. I forgot to take their picture.

Fun week.

Best Neighborhood Ever

Seriously, I truly think I live in the best neighborhood ever! I have such great neighbors. People help each other. My children have good friends. I feel safe (despite the fact that I live on the West Side).

(That reminds me of a funny story. Near the end of last year, one of my students asked me where I live. I told them. Several students said, "Ooh, you live there?" Inside I wanted to say, "Do you know where YOU live? Your area is way worse than mine." But I didn't. I just kindly replied that I really liked where I live and that while there are bad neighborhoods in my city, my neighborhood is great, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. And politely explained that it isn't good manners to say rude things about where a person lives.)

Anyway, back to how awesome my neighborhood is. There are constant proofs of this, but I had a few more on Halloween. A dear friend invited our family over for dinner. Yummy! Then a group of us went trick-or-treating together.

I have an awesome neighbor that decorates his garage and passes out popcorn. In years past it has been a whole spook alley and they've had popcorn and cotton candy. My younger two appreciated the scaled down version, although Michelle was disappointed to not have a whole spook alley. Either way, they are awesome.

Another neighbor makes scones and hot chocolate for all of the trick-or-treaters. It is my favorite stop on our trick or treating rounds. There is no way we miss thier house! They are the best!

I love trick or treating around the neighborhood and running into my cute Sunbeams in their costumes. I love bumping into other friends and neighbors as we're making our rounds. I love that so many of the people I see, I know. I did not grow up here like so many of my friends. My family doesn't live nearby. But this is definitely home.

Such a fun Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

The Saturday before Halloween, we had friends over for dinner. I made Korean food...so yum! (Recipe coming soon!) Then we carved pumpkins together. It was a lot of fun. I am a terrible pumpkin carver and don't do anything clever, so thankfully Gabby is still young. I asked her what shape she wanted her eyes, nose and mouth and then carved a pretty boring pumpkin. Alfredo helped Michelle and Ella. Thomas carved an amazing flag for Kaleb. Avy and Eli carved theirs with help from their mom and dad, but mostly on their own.