Not Me! Monday

Check out this blog to find out more about Not Me! Mondays. I love to blog hop and this is a great way to do just that!

And now, for my Not Me! Monday...

I did not leave the dishes out all night last night, promising to get to them today. They are not still sitting in my sink. No, that would be gross.

I did not put off going to Wal-Mart all day today and then waited so long I was not late for my hubby's basketball game.

I did not wait until 3:00 today to do so much as brush my teeth! No, because that would be gross too! and lazy! Sheez. Good thing that wasn't me!

I'm glad I have not put off Christmas shopping until 2 days before Christmas. Gosh, if that was me, I would probably feel all panicky right about now.

I did not think bad thoughts today when the other coach said something rude about one of my husband's players. That would make me no better than him, so I am sure I did not do that!

I did not have to clean out my dog's crate in the freezing cold outisde today because he had an accident in it over a week ago and I chose not to take care of it on Friday when it was 70 degrees and now we are going out of town and need to take said crate with us on the trip. Not me! That would make me such a procrastinator so that was definitely NOT ME!

:) Being brutally honest, one Monday at time! Enjoy!

The reason...

Today at my staff Christmas party at school, one of my co-workers opened the party up talking about how a student asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she knew the student didn't have a lot of money, so she responded by telling the child she wanted "isn't" from him instead of "ain't" and the other students went on to figure out what kinds of things they could give her like that. My co-worker then told us that Jesus feels that way about us this time of year (and always). He wants us not to buy Him expensive gifts but to give of ourselves to Him. She went on to ask us what we needed to give Him this season. Our anxieties, our fears, our sickness, our pride, our worry, our selfishness, etc......that is what Jesus wants to take from us.

She went on to read the Christmas story in the Bible. I had tears in my eyes by the time she finished.

It made me really stop and remember the reason for the season. Take some time to remember and enjoy this holiday. This time of year is about one little baby that would change the world, a gift to all of us that would receive it, a gift that changes everything.

Merry Christmas!

(The best part of that to me is that all of that happened today at my public school staff Christmas party. LOVE that!)

Christmas time!

I love this time of year! I love the sights, the smells, the tastes of the holidays! I am so happy that it is cold outside and that there are twinkle lights lighting up houses and storefronts everywhere!

Don't you just love it?

Another exciting thing for me is that my school actually celebrates Christmas! My old school was so afraid of offending anyone else that they didn't allow us to even really use the word Christmas. It was winter break, winter party, winter this, winter that. Not here though! We have Christmas trees ready to greet you right as you walk in the school, the library, and almost every classroom. It's fun. The kids love it.

Speaking of the kids. Another thing we do at my new school is write letters to Santa and they get published in the newspaper. I remember doing this as a kid...anxiously awaiting my letter to get published...anxiously awaiting Santa's reply. Oh, I loved it! And so do my kids. They were so excited to write their letters. The best part is that each kids still believes. I was waiting for someone to say, "But Santa's not real." But no one did. I just sat back and listened to one of my classes as they talked about how Santa is magic. How he must be magic to get their bike into the locked garage. Or how he must be magic because he gets down the chimney. Or how he must be magic because they don't have a chimney and he still makes it in.

Oh, the wide-eyed wonder of kids at Christmas. It is just so fun!

When there are no toys...improvise.

Since we have no children, our house is not very kid-friendly. Now, I don't mean that in the sense that we have such nice stuff that kids could mess it up, no, I just mean that we have no fun toys for kids to play with.

We get together often with our friends, Phyllis and Brandon and their three kiddos. You would think the kids would not enjoy coming to our house, or that they would feel like it is boring. But, no, not these kids. They make the best of a no-toy situation. I thought their improvisation was too good not to share!

Cade made a toy out of a cabinet with sliding doors.

and then the brothers wanted to play.

"Come on, Cade, let us in!"So Cade gave in and let the big brothers take a turn.
Jake and Spencer slide in
All smiles!
And finally, the dog crate tunnel/fort.

Who needs expensive toys? :)