A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Paring Down Christmas


I was sitting here wondering what to make this post about. We bloggers have posted about nearly all the Christmas traditions and decorating ideas...we have put photos of every imaginable thing that has to do with Christmas. We have posted about weather...pretty days, snowy days, windy days, just ordinary days. Food has been a popular topic. So much of our holiday depends on our traditional menus. We have posted about our Religious traditions a bit too. Well, we are down to the wire now...it is almost here. My husband and I are just enjoying the season right now. The house is as clean as it will be.I have made a conscious effort to pare down this year. Not because of money, but because it is such an effort to keep up all the traditions from past years. Our decorating is the first example..less is more. We have put our only what is important to both of us. A medium tree, mangers, candles, wreaths and some things in the kitchen. Speaking of the kitchen...fewer goodies. I made two kinds of cookies. At our little gathering last night...no one missed the huge tray of sweets like I used to do. We ordered a pizza and had cookies...so simple and we had a good time. Our gifts have remained about the same. I did make a few more this year. The kids are getting useful things and one fun thing. Our grandson, a teenager, loved his gift last night. When the adults were busy watching a concert..he and I went down to my work room and I helped him paint a picture, dry it with a hairdryer, frame it and bring it upstairs to show everyone. The look on his face was priceless. He went home with a whole armload of painting supplies. His parents work and he spends a lot of time alone, until they get home. He will be busy doing projects now. We still have some parties with our family to come. We will be with my kids and grand kids. We always have fun together and we do simple things. Christmas Eve food isreally easy at the kid's house. Just snacks...everyone contributes. The kids do a lot of fixing and setting up. It all looks so pretty. They are learning how to cook....the boys too. We all praise them and we hope it prepares them for life, when they go out on their own, and have memories of the times we had together.

Balisha

6 comments:

OhioMom said...

....but see that is what Christmas should be about .. family and love. You gave your grandson a precious memory .. one he will carry forever.

Merry Christmas Balisha

Judy said...

Sounds like you had a great time and your grandson my end up being an artist. My son majored in art in school and loves it. That is kind of how he got started. We are not doing as much this year either. I have a Santa collection that I put out every year. We all go to the farm for Christmas. I did do a lot of baking but not nearly as many gifts this year.

Balisha said...

Hi O'Mom and Judy,
Thanks for reading and your comments. We still have Christmas Eve with my side of the family and Christmas Day with my hubby's son and friend. We will have a traditional dinner for Christmas. Ham, twice baked potatoes, green beans, salads, cookies and apple pie. Then the next week it will be leftovers.
You are both such loyal readers. Thankyou, so much. I wish you both a Merry Christmas.

Margie's Musings said...

We pared down Christmas too. Bob is no longer working and we are finding money very tight. I carefully chose each gift to be useful.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Balisha said...

Hi Margie,
You know, my mother-in-law always gave the boys packages of tube socks...after she died one of my boys said,"Grandma always kept me in socks...who's going to buy them for me now?" Of course he could buy his own...it was just a simple thing that he would miss.

Anonymous said...

Happy Holidays.