Day One

There are a lot of amazing Facebook quotes, stories, and videos out there. Some of them make you feel like a total loser, while others leave you wanting to do better. Well I read one of those stories today, and the funny thing is that it left me feeling both. It was a little Christmas article that one of my cousins had shared with the tag "If you want a good laugh." The article talked about the way people did Christmas in the 70's and the way they do Christmas now. I saw myself in the now and thought, "What have I become!" Yes I put my tree up before Thanksgiving. Yes I eat gingerbread to help me get in the Christmas spirit, and Yes we do have several activities lined up to make sure that the season is memorable and magical for our 6 little children. I did stay up until 2 a.m. Thanksgiving morning to shop online while the sites crashed from the masses that were doing the exact same thing as I was. I do spend way to much time ask my kids what they want for Christmas to make sure that I get it right and in hopes that no child will whine or cry on that magical morning because they didn't get every single thing that they wanted. This article was an eye opener for me. I also decided that I didn't want to be that person who puts the pictures on Facebook just to see how many likes they get. I did that just yesterday. The minute my family left a live Nativity which should have been a spiritual moment, I was posting a picture that turned out so beautifully of my daughter looking at Mary and Joseph with the tiny baby Jesus. It wouldn't have been bad for me to post that picture, but if I am completely honest with myself, I did it to see how many likes I would get and to throw it out to cyber space that I am a good Mom and do fun things with my children at Christmas time. Now in my defense, I don't think my entire motivation was attention from friends. I have posted lots of fun pictures to Facebook in hopes that it is some sort of journal method, but if I am at all worried about who will see it or read it or judge me(petty I know) it will never be an honest, from the heart look into what our family and life consists of. I want my kids to remember that our lives weren't perfect, but that we had joy. I want them to remember that their mother wasn't perfect, but that I love them and that they are my joy. I myself want to remember the vacations and the everyday, including the potty training accidents, as well as the perfect photo of the family touched up with several heads rearranged to make sure that everyone is smiling. I want to document my life. The real deal. All of it!

Thus the writing of a new blog. I hope that as my children read this post someday they will say, "When my Mom had a funny Christmas article make her feel like a loser she changed it around and decided she wanted to be better."