Oh, Christmas

I am struggling. I am really hating how I, and it's me and no one else, feels the pressure to give gifts. I thought I made peace with all this, but as Christmas is nearing I find myself struggling. Why do I feel like this? Why has it been conditioned in our minds that we have to give to EVERYONE and their mom on Christmas? Here's my dilemma I love to give, whether it's Christmas or not. I have had to come to terms that sometimes I cannot do this, because Joe and I choose to live a different kind of life. We have chosen for me to stay home with our kids, and as our family grows so do the expenses. We choose not use our credit card and refuse to use it for Christmas buying especially. We live on a pastors salary. We are blessed, but is it wise and being good stewards of Gods money to go buck wild and buy for everyone that our hearts desire? I do not believe it is. We have landed on giving very little gifts. The gifts we give will be thoughtful and or useful,  and in a price range that are not too big.

This now leads to how we we hope to shape what Christmas looks like for our kids. I know that we will only give 3 kids. Just like the wise men gave to Jesus. What I would like this to kinda look like is one gift being something homemade. This year I will put my VERY beginning stages of learning to sew to use and make Owen a Lightning Mcqueen blanket. The second gift being something educational or useful. The last gift will be something fun.  We want to keep the season and especially the day focused on Jesus. Not gifts. We have not landed on the Santa thing. That is a whole other post. I will say we don't want to steal any kind of fun or magic, but I DO NOT want my children to focus on Santa and not Jesus. Just haven't made any solid decisions on this subject just yet.

This is my heart my honest heart.

I will miss you old blog.

Oh, blogging how I have neglected thee! I will start by saying the first reason I disappeared was because through my other google account I apparently ran out of photo storage space. And, what fun is blogging without pictures?  This is so weird because I have many friends who blog and attach way more photos than I do and they have not encountered such a problem. Second reason, Joe went to Africa for 14 days. I was a single parent of a two year old for 14 days, and did it while being pregnant! I was tired!!!!! Last reason...too lazy to figure the picture issue out and do anything about it. So where does this leave me??? It leaves me with a lot of catching up to do. Basically all of October and November! YIKES!

I have missed my little blog. I will miss my old blog, It was just easier to open a new account. It makes me sad. It was my way of communicating all my thoughts and emotions of becoming a new mom, and a way of journeying through almost three years of Owen's life! It seems fitting almost, opening a new blog at this time. We are about to have our second baby. It's a new journey, a different one, a super exciting one! We are becoming a family of four! This blog will serve the same purpose as the other...to help our family and friends stay connected whether they are near or far.

I am going to be printing my old blog entries and make them into coffee table books for our family to enjoy for many years. That sure is going to be one long process and such a big job! I am thankful for my old blog-it served me well!