My son came home this week with an armload of gifts for our family, some from his work and some from church friends. I cried.


Then I got a message from a friend, thanking me for something I wrote a year ago and encouraging me to continue blogging and writing. I cried again.

For me, those unexpected gifts (Yes, I consider words of affirmation tangible gifts ... can you guess what my love language is?) are often the ones that mean the most. They become the gifts that stay with me well beyond the holiday season.

I wonder if that's how the shepherds felt when the angel appeared and announced the arrival of the Savior of the world? Surprised, blessed, humbled, grateful...

Despite my pre-Christmas season commitment to avoid the annual commercialized Christmas pressure, I find myself drowning in a sea of cheap bows and ugly wrapping paper yet again.

Besides the nasty glue gun burn on my finger (yes, the same finger I snipped open with kitchen shears last summer) obtained while obsessively creating 3D paper stars so we would have some "new" decorations this year, I've depleted my "slush fund" like a cistern in a drought to buy presents for my kids and grandson. Not lots of presents, mind you, just one or two apiece. Now I'm fretting over the dearth of gifts and the depletion of my slush security fund. And there are still names on the list...

It doesn't help that everyone around me seems to have a surplus of Christmas funds this year. From iPads to the latest gaming system, to those wretched commercials where the wife presents her husband with a brand new Lexus with a ginormous bow on the top and the husband cracks open a box of "he went to Jared"...

Besides the gift issues, in order to spend Christmas Day with grandbaby, I did something I would ordinarily NEVER do. I finagled (manipulated) an invitation to the home of my SIL's parents for Christmas dinner. The kind of invitation that comes because folks don't want to say "no, we'd rather not include you, but we won't say so because we don't want to be rude."

Blea. Why do I do this to myself again and again? Can we just skip this season?

Don't try to tell me it's all about worshiping Jesus, because I had a more spiritual worship experience with the Lord last night in my dream montage (which involved a marble grotto, holy water and a genuinely intense one-on-one with Jesus) than I've ever had doing the Christmas thing.  Seriously, there's so much hype involved in Christmas and Easter services at church that it's often hard to hear His voice.

© Photographer | Agency: Dreamstime.com

As for the "creating family memories" and "togetherness" idea, that disintegrated sometime after my kids became teenagers.  Yeah, I remember opening gifts and racing to the phone in the hallway (the kind that was attached to the wall, folks, with a cord and everything!) to call my friends and compare gifts. I remember wishing, desperately, that one of my friends could keep me company for Christmas dinner with the fam. I really don't want to force my kiddos to endure my idealistic holiday vision against their will, either.

*sigh*
Hubby just came home and announced we must have a "state of the finances" meeting, which means nothing good. This is where I need a fast-foward button ...


Like I said, this is my whiny post. I'm sure I'll come out of it soon. Please forgive me for pity partying!

Every year coming up with a Father's Day gift that won't require me to auction off a child, won't get stuffed in a drawer, or shoved to the back of the closet before day's end is a huge challenge.

And if you're like me, it's now two days until Father's Day 2010 and you still haven't picked out a present.

That's why I was thrilled with this post from Alphamom. Using simple (FREE!) printables, I can customize a gift for my own special superhero, turning things he loves (like giant-size boxes of Mike & Ikes, and Orville Redenbacher Homestyle Microwave Popcorn) into a personalized gift for Father's Day! How cool is that?


For the whole post, with downloadable PDFs and complete instructions, click here:
http://alphamom.com/family-fun/holidays/diy-fathers-day-gift-superhero-craft