Tonight, Larry took me out for my birthday dinner. My sister kept the kids (Thank you, Jennifer!). We went to Johnny Carino's (http://www.carinos.com/) & I had the chicken milano (it's under the classic italian list here: http://www.carinos.com/menu/dinner.aspx). YUMMY! Of course, after having eaten some of the bread & olive oil, some salad, drinking my drink a little & eating 1 fried cheese thing I was only able to eat about 2 bites of my chicken. That's alright though...I brought home the rest! It was a nice night out w/ my sweetie.
This weekend, the kids got a copy of the Target Wish Book from the mail. Watching them go through it & circle things they want gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, it reminded me of my childhood when Granny would give my sisters & I the Sears Christmas Wishbook & have us pick out our Christmas gifts. Watching how excited they were made me grin. But on the other hand, I saw an ugly side of my kids that I don't usually see. We never have asked our kids to "make us a list" for Christmas gifts. They don't realize that other children do this. We've always felt like it breeds selfishness & greedy-ness for them to sit around dreaming up extravagant list of "gimme, gimme" items, so we've never asked them to create a list. And ya know what...on Christmas morning, they're happy with WHATEVER they get because we are usually good about listening to things they've mentioned being interested in during the year, so they tend to get things they've wanted anyway. Now, relatives have asked what they want for Christmas & so we try to have a short list on hand for that, but otherwise we don't do "wish lists". Anyway, watching them devour the wishbook from Target was sorta weird for me. Sarah circled just about every item in the book, giggling maniacly as she did ---which is totally out of character for her because she's usually very generous & giving to everyone. I guess it's alright for her to want a few things, but I was surprised to see just how MANY things she circled. Savannah put her name by a few things, mostly all items I already knew she'd want. Samuel looked at the book w/ the girls but never got a chance to mark things he wanted w/ a marker. Yet. I guess we'll see how he does. Anyway, I found that interesting.
As we get into the middle of November, I am beginning to get excited about the season that is upon us! THANKSGIVING is my favorite holiday. Ya know why? No one has figured out a way to mess it up yet! At Easter, we have the bunny & eggs & baby chicks & all the commercial stuff that goes along w/ Easter. Christmas is advertised in July & August and children are prone to greediness at that time of year. Don't even get me started on the commercial size of Christmas. Pretty much every holiday has been messed up in some way by commercialization & yet, no one can commercialize Thanksgiving b/c no one makes money off of our being THANKFUL. Interesting, huh? Of course, that's why the stores just skip right over Thanksgiving. You see Halloween costumes by September, quickly followed by red & green decor. You rarely see much of a display of Thanksgiving items. And ya know what? I like it that way! I'm proud that we still have one holiday where we can just be thankful & not ask for or expect anything! Join me this year in creating a tradition with your family of listing all the things you're thankful for & reminding each other how thankful you are for each other! If I've learned anything this year, it's how precious family and friends are...and how much we have to be thankful for.
Ok, stepping down off my soapbox & heading toward bed now....enjoy your Monday. God bless.
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