What Kids Really Want

Warning: Jolly Elf discussion. Not for little eyes.

Second born is in middle school. His school shares a project with the local grade schools. All first graders wrote letters to Santa. The letters were distributed to the middle school where they had the students elves respond.

Second born elf received a letter in which the child told Santa he (the child) wanted to give him(Santa) a gift this year since Santa is always giving to everyone else. The only other request in his letter was to have a fun and happy Christmas.

Simple and sweet, right?

Second born elf's best friend elf received a letter from a boy requesting two small toys. The boy also stated that if he could have his true wish for Christmas, it would be that his daddy would play with him more.

Ouch.

For Christmas this year, in honor of the letters to Santa, I am doling out extra hugs and love. I am praying the little boy's wish for time with his daddy comes true.

I am sharing this story in the hopes that it inspires all who are reading to slow down, sit in silence and feel the real Christmas spirit. Don't listen to the noisy media-bot and reach for your wallet to spread false holiday cheer. Dig deeper. Reach into your heart. Share fistfuls of love, armloads of hugs, mouthfuls of praise and compliments.

I wish all of  you a Heart Overflowing Holiday Season. Hugs all around.

This ornament has been on my tree for many years. When my oldest was just a wee lad we went to visit an old family friend. He spotted this Santa on her tree and plucked it off. He was fascinated by it. He grinned from ear to ear and would not take his eyes off of it. Diane, always full of love and generosity, insisted he keep the ornament as it obviously made him very happy. She passed away several years later, in her early 50's, of diabetes complications. Every year I hang Santa on the tree. With that ornament I hang memories of Diane, of her love, her generosity, her spirit. She resides in my tree every Christmas.

Warning!!!! Rant!!!!!

Warning: The following is a rant. If you're sensitive to this kind of thing, please back slowly away from the computer for your own good. If you care to indulge in a little personal ranting, I sure could use some advice, hugs, support. Heck, you can even join in if the spirit moves you!

I've been trying to plan Christmas for my family. How freakin' hard can it be? I grew up with a mom and two brothers (plus Grandma up the street). That's it. Five of us. F I V E ! Christmas should be easy. But it's not. We have lost grandma. That leaves four. Easier yet, right? WRONG!!!! Every year I'm stuck throwing Christmas as my mother does not deal well. My brothers put their (no longer) estranged father first, their in-laws first, nap time first, work first, everything first. I get the job of finding a few measly hours on the friggin' calendar where everyone is free. They started talking January. We're not even going gifts. What's so hard about finding two measly hours to spend together? No one even lives far!!!! They don't put it priority, they don't sacrifice, they have to be "free". BS!!!! There were FOUR of us in that house growing up through all the shit. We only had each other! FOUR!!! Why is that not of value? Why is it not priority? Why am I stuck figuring and re-figuring and re-figuring when we can celebrate Christmas because nothing works for anyone else? Any time works for me! I'm free! Guess what? I'm trying to make everyone else happy and I AM MISERABLE!!!! I should have moved ages ago but I held on to threads. Frayed threads. I'm reduced to tears. It matters to me and I wish it didn't. Now I kick myself. I am this close (holding thumb and pointer mm's apart) to cancelling the Christmas we can't seem to pull off... again. This is the note I will send out.

 ◆

i am

ebenezer

and you can

all suck it this

holiday season. i'm

do

ne

Come to think of it, why do we bother trying to get together  for Christmas if it's so blessed hard? I think some of my family members might be athiest, none of us were brought up religious, and we're not exchanging gifts! Hmmm....   bah humbug!

Warning!!!!

You know those cute little curly bulbs on the market?

The money savers?

The long lasting ones?

CFL's

Do you also know they contain mercury?

as do the long florescent ones?

We did.

What we didn't know was how obnoxious the clean-up is.

We had a bulb break the other night during dinner preparation.
Not sure how to deal with the clean-up and proper disposal,

we headed to the government site on how to do it.

Um... Yeah.

What a nightmare evening we had.

I highly recommend you do the same.

Be prepared.

It isn't pretty.

If you don't follow the directions, you may not have a thoroughly cleaned area.

Think contamination.

Mercury is a heavy metal.

Exposure adds up over time.

It does not leave the body.

The affects can be devastating.

I'm not posting this to scare anyone.

I am posting this to educate.

I don't think most people know how hazardous they are.

I don't think most people know how to properly deal with a break.

I learned the hard way.

I want my kids safe wherever they go.

Please read the US EPA on clean up

HERE

and the information on bulbs and recycling 

HERE

Tell me what you think.

I know I will be investing in LED lights from now on.

My experience with CFL's are that they don't last as long as the manufacturer claims.

Do you know why?

Because they are not built to be turned on and off, on and off.

The switching of power wears on them and they burn out prematurely.

All these years of practice turning off the lights when not in use

are now the premature death sentence to today's long lasting bulb.