Santa Claus is here?? (6WS)

The Santa Claus Parade is Today!!

Well, it's officially the holiday season. Halloween is over - which is pretty much the key determinant for Christmas season kick-off in Canada - the malls are playing carols and Santa Claus is coming to my town.....this afternoon.  This also means that Christmas shopping is upon me.

I've got to be honest, I used to love shopping for presents for my family because I knew that they would enjoy receiving gifts picked especially for them.  It was fun to dip into the stores with the money I had earned from my part-time job between Charlie Brown's Christmas special and the large-scale production put on by my church. The shopping took a backseat to baby Jesus and family time and was joy-filled. Nowadays, however, that joy is gone. My family is huge (and growing) and my income is no longer 100% disposable.  Christmas shopping seems to be one of the largest hassles of the holidays and a major financial headache. I've got bills to pay and kids (ok, kid) to feed!!  Here's the shopping list:

2 parents
3 brothers
2 sisters-in-law
7 nieces and nephews (ages 1-13)
1 son (he's 7)
1 for my son's dad (a gift from lil' man)
2 of Lil' man's godparents
2 Secret Santas with different groups of friends plus one at work
and a partridge in a pear tree....

Phew!!!!

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to (a) enjoy the holiday season without getting caught up in the stress of shopping (b) give gifts to everyone without breaking the bank and (c) find a way to balance gift-giving with the true meaning of the season?  I'll be grinning through the parade as I contemplate a second mortgage to make it through to January....

~gg~

Play Six Word Saturday along with Cate at Show My Face. The premise: Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. Sounds easy, right? It is....and fun, too!! Click on the button to see what other six words people are putting together.

Affirmations (6WS)

I'm loved. I'm learning. I'm Yours.

Play Six Word Saturday along with Cate at Show My Face. The premise: Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. Sounds easy, right? It is....and fun, too!! Click on the button to see what other six words people are putting together.



~gg~

Stop procrastinating, do it now! (6WS)

Happy Saturday, y'all. I made it through the work week - praise the Lord....by Wednesday I wasn't sure I would. My six words from this week are lifted straight from my morning devotion for today:

Procrastination saps power; completion gives relief.

A truth about myself: I often procrastinate when I am faced with something challenging. While it seems easier in the moment to put the task off until later, it doesn't then dawn on me that the mental strain of thinking about it over time, plus the added stress of having to do it at a later time (when I could potentially have additional challenges to face) will actually make the task harder. 99% of the time I feel better once the task is completed, so the question on deck is: Why wait?

~gg~

Play Six Word Saturday along with Cate at Show My Face.  The premise: Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. Sounds easy, right? It is....and fun, too!!  Click on the button to see what other six words people are putting together.

A letter to my Son (Six Word Saturday)

Sometimes I write things that I can't say out loud, either because I don't have the confidence or opportunity. My son (and the love of my life) is a well-adjusted, happy seven-year-old, but I often wonder how my choices will affect him and for some of those choices, I feel he deserves an apology. 

I wrote this a while back and never did anything with it...in fact, I think I wrote this just before I wrote Baby Mama (I'll link to that piece once I post it.) But today's six words just describe what is embedded in this piece:

A Letter Written to my Son

There's something about holding a pen to the paper helps me to release...

It is as if writing helps me to purge my mind of the offensive thoughts that are held as prisoners in these brain cells.
"Silence!" is what my brain yells
as memories, regrets and wishes fight each other for a chance to escape.
Even when I am not writing about you
or about the things I wish I could do
or about the truths in my life that I wish were un-true,
the deeds I wish I could un-do....
writing helps me to break away from the thoughts that circulate through my system
and like a cholesterol-rich diet, clog up my natural and necessary functioning,
causing my heart to ache and often to arrest,
slowing to a halt in my chest.
But somehow,
picking up a pen changes that.
My thoughts run back
from my heart, through my veins.
My pen cuts me at the fingers and my thoughts bleed on the page,
showing my eyes my very own real.
I can write the words i cannot say
(and often wish I could not feel.)

Words like:

Dear Baby Boy,

Please forgive me for all the things i can't be to you.
For being young
and strong
and ambitions
and wrong
a lot of the time.
For having so many questions
but not all of your answers.

I'm sorry.

For not being able to teach you how to stand to pee.
For our own definition of the word family...
which means that sometimes I can be there to tuck you in at night,
turn off the light,
and check under your bed for monsters.
I'm sorry that sometimes I take up a space on your bed.
It's just that, like Aerosmith said:
I would stay awake just to hear you breathing
watch you smile while you are sleeping
because with that sound and smile in my head
it's not as hard for me to leave you with grandma and papa so I can try to give you all the things you need
and some of the things you want, too.
Even though sometimes my best won't do...
I'll try for you.

I'm sorry.

For letting him treat me differently than I hope you will treat a woman one day.
For the things I let him say.
For the amount of time I stayed.
You never saw those things - just mommy's tears,
but even that was too much...
I hope that, through  my whispered prayers at night,
your memories can instead be shaped
by the smile you see (that you've put on my face)
and the happiness found by God's grace
that gives me the strength to keep writing.

To keep fighting
for us both.
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Play Six Word Saturday along with Cate at Show My Face.  The premise: Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. Sounds easy, right? It is....and fun, too!!  Click on the button to see what other six words people are putting together.

~gg~

Six Word Saturday

Actions do speak louder than words

I guess it should be expected that when you live/speak/behave a certain way for, oh, over a quarter of a century, changing this pattern is going to come as a surprise to people who know you. Nevertheless, I'm still getting used to it when I politely decline to join my friends at bar or club (for example) and then they make this face:

"Why not??"

Then after I explain why I'm not really into that type of entertainment anymore, I get this: "Oh! So, you're serious about this God thing!"

Yeah. I am. But I guess I'll just have to let my actions be the proof. After all, talk is cheap, right?

~gg~
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Join Cate over at Show my Face every Saturday as she hosts Six Word Saturdays. Click on the button to see what six words others have to share and, maybe, share your own.