When I was little, I enjoyed crafting. I remember one day cutting little circles out of white paper, folding them up, cutting them into snowflakes, tying them to string then tying each of them to a hanger. I remember the smell, the feel, the look of my basement playroom, I remember the colour of the dimly lit space and I remember the final product was hung where I could admire it.
This comes to me as a melancholy thought however; It brings up my only-child childhood, my single mother, and the sadness that I had when I was just so small. I can't say that I had a horrible childhood because it would be disrespectful to my mother who did her best, my step dad who still loves me today and my father who I didn't really spend time with until I lived with him later on. I will say that I was lonely and sad or that I remember I was and that I don't have all too many happy memories but I say this with a GIANT BUT...
My Christmas memories are all among my happiest. Almost to the point of bringing tears in my eyes because the joy that was brought to me at that time overshadowed the rest. My mom had SO much fun with it and always told me that she loved making it all about me and making me feel special. I loved the crafts that we did in school and when I was sick one year on the last day before the break, they did a craft that I still regret having missed. I still remember doing most activities, the tissue paper pattern on the cut out stocking, the stocking you "sew" up with yarn and construction paper, the smell of the blue ink copy machine word searches and crosswords, a paper plate with a thing cut out and pasted into the center with pasta shapes all around and spray painted gold and paper chains. I love Christmas crafts and have done them on and off for all my life. I think while I was a teenager I probably stopped crafting although Tanya made it fun because we'd by the cheapest, ugliest and tackiest cards and filled and handed them out. When I had Hope it was like the craft bug was rekindled and I began crafting again as an adult but I stopped somewhere and this blog is going to help me figure out where and when I stopped. But my memories of crafting make the memories stick!
I am referencing Christmas in all these notes:
1996 - Hope is 7 months old. For Kevin I made A HUGE polar fleece blanket from a "seconds" piece (I paid 10 bucks which was a steal back then) I made matching Stockings from offset green and red flannel and edging stuff the name of which escapes me,I bought enough material to make more in the event that we had more kids.....
1997 - Hope is 19 months and Austin is almost born. Made a few extra stockings. That year as I impatiently waited for Austin's birthday, I sat in Mom and Dad's basement (Laura and Phil) and painted ceramic and wooden ornaments for gifts, a shell mobile (for MIL) that was SUCH a cool colour, a matching tealight holder, pineapple marmalade for FIL and remember that I wasn't allowed to be around when the varnish was sprayed.
1998 - I made these super cool glass balls. Okay I "crafted" them by adding snow to the tops. Kevin adores them and we only have 2 left :(
1999 - Kevin and I broke up a week before Austin was to turn 2...no crafts
2000 - I only crafted because I had a friend who had older kids who crafted and just joined in...it was bead crafts.
2001 - uh, no crafts and uh no crafts
2002 YAY we had just gotten back together in September and announced the pending arrival of Samuel on Christmas eve. For crafts it was low key but, the kids and I had fun gluing big confetti to differnt shaped things but not more than that crafting happened.
2003 Daycare year... did lots of crafts with the kids to keep them busy PLUS a TON of wooden ornaments, with Mom, (Laura) and we even got to sell some of these at craft fairs. Painting was FUN that year because I was able to loosen up and not make it so "perfect"
but 2004-present seems like a blur.... the twins (in 2005) bless them, made it difficult to craft.
2008 - It all started with me getting yet again, fed up. I have told a few of you what happened but I am SO embarrassed about it that I won't blog it, but needless to say all I thought of was how on God's green earth was my tree going to stay safe for the 4 younger ones if it has ornaments on it. In a fit of venting I had one friend say just get the kids to decorate, another say, oh they will learn and when I finally had said NOPE, only lights, one said just make em and decorate as you go. ... ... ... WHAT A BRILLIANT IDEA and that re birthed my crafty side.
So here I am realizing that all at once I am cutting away my melancholy as I foster creativity in my kids while we glue the smells, sounds and feelings to our times together, sew memories on our hearts and hang them on our minds to admire and look back upon.
Tomorrow is tree putting up day and I have something planned for everyday of Decemeber. I hope the kids remember these times for ever :)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Christmas List ... seems to be catchy...
No one has actually asked me what I want but I was feeling sorry for myself today because I see people making lists and I know they will get some of the stuff on their lists... hmmm feeling sorry myself... chewing on that reality. I hate that feeling so to turn it around, ironically enough I wrote my Wish List.... there is no BS attached to this one, it's simply what I want for Christmas.
I don't know about sharing this because frankly I don't have anyone who I expect to get things from but processing it out and reading it over again it's a laugh because I didn't add the few things that I desire to have like a GPS unit, an 8Gig iTouch and Animal Crossing for Wii... those things added up equal my first born or my right arm, both of which I am quite attached to (bahdumbum chishhhhh) so unless the million dollars that I have been asking for comes in... those are unrealistic for December 25th, 2008...
"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people."
- A nicely decorated house that I feel all Christmasy coming into and makes others feel loved
- Lights everywhere in and out
- A well taken family portrait of all 8 of us; one that makes the viewer go awwwww....and letter to send out
- Inspiration, motivation and fulfilment of making gifts for people other than my kids
- People to come to our party on the 21st (details to come)
- Money to buy the things that I can't afford for my kids. (vtec/playschool digital camera, wii controllers/games/accessories)
- All 8 stockings filled
- Christmas morning snow
- Music all month
- money to buy somethings expensive for Kevin
- Christmas dinner to go off without a hitch
- go to church on Christmas eve and NOT have a freaking out family at the end of it
- a diagnosis for Austin that we can incorporate into our world
I don't know about sharing this because frankly I don't have anyone who I expect to get things from but processing it out and reading it over again it's a laugh because I didn't add the few things that I desire to have like a GPS unit, an 8Gig iTouch and Animal Crossing for Wii... those things added up equal my first born or my right arm, both of which I am quite attached to (bahdumbum chishhhhh) so unless the million dollars that I have been asking for comes in... those are unrealistic for December 25th, 2008...
"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people."
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Thanks for Blogging Lara now here is my "comment"
I just read my friends blog HERE and she mentioned me. My comment was way too long to post as a comment and I started laughing while I wrote it out so I decided to copy her idea of her blog and do it too.
To Lara: (spoken in teenager "like hello" tone of voice) Yaaah.....hello!?
We have little kids but we still go through:
21 bananas min/week
10-15 apples,
42 yogurts,
2 bags of granola,
we've banned the kids from cold cereal because they go through 3 boxes a week and waste a cumulative total of 3/4 to half a box that gets left in the bowl all yuck and soggy (That adds up to 20 bucks a month!!!)
2kgs of oats/month
10kg of flour every 2 months
3 bags of brown sugar and I get the demerera or best brown stuff - $$
4kg frozen chicken breasts/month
3 family packs of ground beef/month
3 pizzas every week or so (Costco frozen ones)
1 lasagna/week
I think I buy granola and oatmeal bars every 5 days
2 best buy cheese from Safeway every week and now I think I need to switch to the behemoth one from Extra Foods,
4L of milk every 2 days,
2L of soy milk every 3 days,
30 dollars in misc fresh fruits and veg/week
now a box of oranges every 3-4 days,
a pack of spaghetti or 2 bags of pasta every week
10lbs of potatoes
HUGE bag of rice every month,
oh salad dressing; 3 bottles every 2 weeks, plus a 16 serving bag of salad every week nowadays
3 loaves of bread and 2 dozen buns (and THANKS be to God for free Cobs bread products from the church across the street and 4 properties down)
oh gosh does it end?
No?! and yep Lara! I see my future quite clearly with the two preteens who eat like teens, and teens, for those who do not know, eat like 1.5-2.5 adult portions and the little kids are still in the "serve a small amount and they might eat it or....not" and if they eat more, it's like a 2/3 portion for an adult plus they eat like ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL morning...all the toddler, preschool, K aged kids moms say WORD!!!
I think of myself and Denise and Lara and Kristen because we all either have kids who eat A LOT or just a large number of children.... can I get my chef hat and responded to like Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey, I promise to stop swearing so much ;)
So let's also think about cleaning up all of that; dishwasher detergent that we go through because we are a team playing family who's older children are responsible for dishes and they use too much......or uh, newest found awe inspired thought is LAUNDRY det..... this is the 3rd one to come into the house that I said as I read it on my list at Costco, "didn't I JUST get this last time I was here?!" and last week I decided that now indeed it is worth it to save the 9 bucks every time and get the Kirkland one.....
PS the last time I bought canned soup I almost wanted to scream at how much it cost and how little there was
Homemade soup equation is great though. Eat roasted chickens costing around 10 bucks (1.5 worth of chicken meat to be fair) boil the bones with salt for 2 or 6 hours. Take out bones. That cost me the cost of the water (it's filered), the salt and not the chicken because I could have thrown it away. Then the 10 dollars of carrots, onion and celery and the left over chicken (or not) and a dozen free buns..... I LOVE making that meal! OH! I made salmon chowder with an 8 dollar fish the other day. I used better than boullion, which is 7 dollars for the jar and makes like 10 of my soups and other than that I added the veggies and meat... Soup can never be bought again becuase of the $$$$ of it but also because I don't like the canned ones anymore....
Who's next....
To Lara: (spoken in teenager "like hello" tone of voice) Yaaah.....hello!?
We have little kids but we still go through:
21 bananas min/week
10-15 apples,
42 yogurts,
2 bags of granola,
we've banned the kids from cold cereal because they go through 3 boxes a week and waste a cumulative total of 3/4 to half a box that gets left in the bowl all yuck and soggy (That adds up to 20 bucks a month!!!)
2kgs of oats/month
10kg of flour every 2 months
3 bags of brown sugar and I get the demerera or best brown stuff - $$
4kg frozen chicken breasts/month
3 family packs of ground beef/month
3 pizzas every week or so (Costco frozen ones)
1 lasagna/week
I think I buy granola and oatmeal bars every 5 days
2 best buy cheese from Safeway every week and now I think I need to switch to the behemoth one from Extra Foods,
4L of milk every 2 days,
2L of soy milk every 3 days,
30 dollars in misc fresh fruits and veg/week
now a box of oranges every 3-4 days,
a pack of spaghetti or 2 bags of pasta every week
10lbs of potatoes
HUGE bag of rice every month,
oh salad dressing; 3 bottles every 2 weeks, plus a 16 serving bag of salad every week nowadays
3 loaves of bread and 2 dozen buns (and THANKS be to God for free Cobs bread products from the church across the street and 4 properties down)
oh gosh does it end?
No?! and yep Lara! I see my future quite clearly with the two preteens who eat like teens, and teens, for those who do not know, eat like 1.5-2.5 adult portions and the little kids are still in the "serve a small amount and they might eat it or....not" and if they eat more, it's like a 2/3 portion for an adult plus they eat like ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL morning...all the toddler, preschool, K aged kids moms say WORD!!!
I think of myself and Denise and Lara and Kristen because we all either have kids who eat A LOT or just a large number of children.... can I get my chef hat and responded to like Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey, I promise to stop swearing so much ;)
So let's also think about cleaning up all of that; dishwasher detergent that we go through because we are a team playing family who's older children are responsible for dishes and they use too much......or uh, newest found awe inspired thought is LAUNDRY det..... this is the 3rd one to come into the house that I said as I read it on my list at Costco, "didn't I JUST get this last time I was here?!" and last week I decided that now indeed it is worth it to save the 9 bucks every time and get the Kirkland one.....
PS the last time I bought canned soup I almost wanted to scream at how much it cost and how little there was
Homemade soup equation is great though. Eat roasted chickens costing around 10 bucks (1.5 worth of chicken meat to be fair) boil the bones with salt for 2 or 6 hours. Take out bones. That cost me the cost of the water (it's filered), the salt and not the chicken because I could have thrown it away. Then the 10 dollars of carrots, onion and celery and the left over chicken (or not) and a dozen free buns..... I LOVE making that meal! OH! I made salmon chowder with an 8 dollar fish the other day. I used better than boullion, which is 7 dollars for the jar and makes like 10 of my soups and other than that I added the veggies and meat... Soup can never be bought again becuase of the $$$$ of it but also because I don't like the canned ones anymore....
Who's next....
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