This Christmas ...

well, this Christmas is going to be 'different'. One of my dear friends told me that she only does 3 gifts from Santa for her kids ~ as I looked at her in awe and WHY?!?! she explained that too often we get lost in the true meaning of Christmas ... and that Jesus received 3 gifts from the 3 wise men ~ so that was all her children were going to get, and then a few others from herself, her husband and each sibling. As I think back on Christmases past, I kind of get disgusted in the amount of money Chad and I have spent on our kids ~ only to have the toys break or fade in to a fast memory once something better comes along. I honestly can not even really tell you what the kids got last year - I do know Chad fell from a book case, but that is a WHOLE other post .. one that I can finally tell without tears running down my face from laughter. I have also gotten much deeper involved in a charitable foundation here in our town and I have come face to face with families either losing loved ones to cancer or caring for loved ones with cancer. We recently gifted a 13 yr old boy with a new mattress - a $400 mattress. His parents said they couldn't believe a mattress cost that much and how much more comfortable their son sleeps at night - now friends, I know how much I spent on my mattress and it was A LOT more than $400. Seeing these things, well, it really puts things into perspective. I was telling Kennedy that Christmas would not be crazy this year. She would still get AWESOME presents like she does every year, but it wouldn't be so much. She asked why and so I told her the story of the Three Wise Men and so on ... now the reason for this post ... because her response was "Well, he must not have been a very good boy" ...... out of the mouths of 5 yr olds!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving ~ we are heading north for a very much anticipated trip to visit my parents and my sister and her family. I've got my camera ready! Yes, we are going shopping at 4 AM on Friday ..... 'cuz that's how we roll.