I got all my Christmas cards written and mailed out. We put up the tree on Saturday and got it decorated. After Church on Sunday, I started working on wrapping the gifts that needed to be shipped and boxing them up. I took them to the Post Office today and got them headed off.
Then I came home and did some baking. According to my "Master Schedule", I was supposed to start decorating the house today. But decorating didn't seem much fun and I love baking, so I made two batches of magic cookie bars and a double batch of fudge. Then I started working on the decorating. I got the dining room table cleared off and a Christmas tablecloth on it. Then I got the bureau cleaned off and the nativity scene put out. I made a fresh spray from some Frasier Fur clippings that I hand in the archway with a red velvet bow and a bell and hung a garland around the kitchen serving window.
After dinner, Don took Dane to a Scout meeting, so I started working on the outside decorations. I put the two light trees together and both the reindeer and got them all outside, only to discover that they didn't work when plugged in. I've decided Don needs to work on them. But, I'm moving along on my list, and, so far, I'm still on schedule.
The children are suffering a little. Yesterday, at Church, I discovered that the gifts for the Angel Tree were due by 4:00 p.m. I had taken two angels off the tree - one for a 1-yr. old girl and another for a 2-yr. old boy. Because everyone was feeling puny, we slept in and went to our 11:30 service, so it was 1:00 before we got home. While Deanna changed clothes, I gathered a variety of gift bags, tissue paper, and tape and well as the angels so I'd know what to get and for whom.
Deanna and I took off for Wal-Mart, did our shopping in record time, wrapped them in bags in the van, and headed to the church for the drop-off. Then I took her out to lunch. We had a wonderful time. Wonderful time only seem to last momentarily with Deanna, however. By today, she was surly again, fussing at me because she left a book at school that she needed tonight. By bedtime, she wasn't even speaking to me. What is this with her? I've been told that I shouldn't let her get away with being ugly to me. I do the best I can to stay on top of it, but it doesn't seem to matter what I do. Everything is always my fault. Don says it's that mother-daughter thing, to which I respond, then I must not have been a daughter, because I never treated my mother like this. I told Deanna that last night and she said, "But you and I have a different relationship that you had with your mother." Boy, ain't that the truth. I would have feared for my life if I had ever tried to pull some of the things Deanna attempts regularly.
After sending her to her room once today for disrespect, she came back into the kitchen, very repentent, and apologized for her attitude. She really is a sweet girl and I'm crazy about her, I just wish we could get through these hormones a little smoother.
Tomorrow morning, I've got to take her to the Dentist. I'm hoping she's over her attitude problems before then, or we may have a very uncomfortable morning. Then, it's back to decorating and baking and preparing the house and the family for this JOYOUS Season. Somebody please tell Deanna.
1 comment:
Sometimes our expectations of this season are at fault. There is too much busyness, as we try and prepare for a day that usually whizzes by.
I think your joy is obvious in your attitude and love for your family. And, I think we all hold on to the joy of knowing that we have a God who is greater than all our problems, and who can turn a situation around overnight if He so chooses. I haven't been through a difficult time where God hasn't been trying to teach me something. When I see my children acting in hurtful ways toward me, I remember just how often my attitude toward God has been exactly the same. Sometimes I react to the circumstances in the same way my kids do - grouchiness, abruptness, disrespectfulness. His lesson to me in this situation is always the same - I always forgive you. Never stop loving you. And, display my amazing patience with you as you grow and learn. I hope that I can have the same patience and mercy toward my own. But, there are still times when I put my foot down and say, "That's enough."
Praying for extra patience, and God-directed wisdom to handle this situation. I think you'll do, are are doing, a great job.
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