Step One- Fight the Greed!

Early in our family life, we set some parameters for our extended families and gift-giving.

This is where the whole issue becomes a battlefield.

No matter what their station in life, Americans are very, very defensive about Christmas and how it should be celebrated. Giving gifts is seen as an inalienable right, and any attempt to curtail that right is met with petitions, threats, and jail time. Or at least it feels that way. Nonetheless, we’ve stood our ground, for the sake of our children and their long-term mental health, and requested that the gifts be limited to one per child from each family member. Now, this is not exactly deprivation, and adds up to a total of about twenty-five new things that our family receives each year. And it means that our children get nicer things (since we don’t limit the amount of money spent, just amount of gifts.) that they can remember and appreciate, rather than piles and piles of junk that immediately get stepped upon, broken, and forgotten. It also means that we can move some of the focus of Christmas away from greediness and more towards what we value as a family- things like self-sacrifice, love, and eternity.

I know-we’re weird.

Fight the Greed! Step Two

The last couple years we’ve taken the money we would normally spend on the children for Christmas presents and have instead given it to charity. Last year, we bought goats through Samaritan’s Purse to give to poor families in South America, and this year we are giving it to people we feel could really use it. It’s fun for us as a family to think about how we can bless another family during the holidays, and moves the focus away from what we get to what we can give. Our children don’t feel deprived since they get so many presents anyway, and we have the blessing of knowing that our money is going someplace it can really be used, rather than ending up in the pile of discarded stuff on the children’s floors.

Good sources of gift ideas:

Samaritan’s Purse

World Vision

Heifer International

Local shelters and food pantries that probably have a long list of things their guests need!

Fight the Greed!

It always amazes me that the Christmas holiday is celebrated in the name of a man who was born, raised, and died in poverty. I have heard many people justify the excesses of holiday giving by talking about how God gives lavishly to us, and we should we reflect that in our lifestyle.

Hmmm.

Well, rather than delving into the theological tenuousness of that position, I’m going to focus on its results- the greediness that settles into almost every American child during the month of December. We as a family have very deliberately tailored our holiday festivities to encourage thankfulness, generosity, and joy among our children, rather than feeding into the ‘what am I going to get’ syndrome- which comes naturally to humans anyway.

A couple of important notes- we start from a foundation of a frugal lifestyle, where we limit shopping expeditions to about once a month and allow no TV commercials in the house, and we never whine about ‘if only we had enough money to buy (fill in the blank)’. Also, we have discovered that fighting the greed makes us unpopular with lots of people this time of year, no matter how politely we try to explain our position. So- be warned!

To prevent this post from getting too long, I’m going to write about this over the course of the next few weeks, rather than addressing it all in one post.

the tempestuous toddler

No, it’s not a recently discovered Shakespearian drama, it’s the (current) story of my life.

I’ve been asked on occasion how I handle homeschooling with a baby/toddler in the house. I, too, asked this question, of my wise friend Mary, mother of seven and veteran homeschooling mom. She suggested homeschool ‘lite’ for the first year of the baby’s life- I’ve now extended that to three years, and am considering making it a permanent philosophy.

In conjunction with that, I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to relax. The kids will learn. The house will never be clean. Insanity will be lurking around every corner. Time passes; seasons change; children grow; insanity creeps closer. And finally everything seems manageable, thru the grace of God. For truly Jesus spoke: Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you…even the strength to enjoy parenthood.

Things I have to do before 4 pm Thanksgiving Day

Tuesday:

• Change sheets (it’s been an embarrassingly long time since the last household sheet change…) but before I change the sheets, I have to…
• Battle the fearsome Laundry Monster. It’s about thirty-feet high, twenty-feet wide, 6 tons and multi-colored. I shiver with fear.
• Make pie crusts

Wednesday:

• Make pies
• Start twice-baked potatoes
• Maybe cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving breakfast?

Thursday:

• Clean house (such a simple statement…such a Herculean task)
• Finish twice-baked potatoes
• Make salad
• Bake ham

Good thing I have slaves.

On a completely separate note, it’s amazing how quickly David and I can polish off a liter of Bailey’s. I was planning to save some for baking, but oh well- guess I’ll have to buy a new bottle!

A Day in the Life of G.W. Carver Academy

The children thudded down the stairs this morning at seven o’clock- the earliest they are allowed to get out of bed! We did the usual breakfast routine (breakfast is the only meal they are allowed to request separate foods, so I have to bustle about toasting bread and pouring cereal) and moved right into school- preparing stew for tomorrow night’s dinner. Stuart peeled carrots and potatoes, then Anastasia and Malachi chopped them while India watched them, and I browned meat, opened canned tomatoes, poured wine and mixed in the rest of the ingredients. The kids then scampered upstairs for the usual changing, teeth-brushing, and so forth while I did last minute preparations for the school day, like typing up an apostrophe test for the boys.

We are studying ancient Mesopotamia right now, so we first read chapter five of the book of Daniel, then a few pages from our history book which detailed the Persian conquest of Babylon (India and Anastasia don’t really pay much attention to that, but I make sure Anastasia gets the important points.) The boys passed their apostrophe tests with flying colors while Anastasia danced downstairs to reggae and made herself and India a snack. Math followed snack time (which also included forays into the online world of Club Penguin ) and after that the girls played outside while I made lunch listening to my favorite industrial band, Mortal.

We’re in the middle of our lunch break now, and will work on some fractions and then gardening in the afternoon. Not all days run this smoothly, but it sure is nice when they do!

we are handfuls of dust, yet made of stars…’ten-O’, Mortal

Am I really that weird?

This morning we attended a library class geared towards homeschoolers. There were a few dozen of us there, and it was a good time. The kids got to interact with some other kids, we did some fun math games, and of course checked out about a million books. There was only one note of discord during the experience: for the most part, the other moms did not talk to me. And yes, I tried to talk to them. Usually I received short replies; in one instance, a hostile, silent glare.

I usually don’t complain about this kind of thing, and I’m really not complaining now. It actually doesn’t bother me- I have an overabundance of self-confidence and generally bite my thumb at anyone who slights me. But there are a couple things about this particular occasion that strike me as worthy of comment.

First, these are primarily conservative Christian women. I am a conservative Christian woman as well- in some ways. In other ways, obviously, I am very different from most people who fit that category. (I mean, are purple tights really that weird? Apparently so. I had no idea…) So, my question is, ahem, what about Christ’s love for the outcast? Shouldn’t we encircle those who are different than us, showing how God loves them, trying to bring them into the fold? From the reaction I received this morning, I would have to assume that odd people are not welcome in the kingdom of God, and brightly colored shawls are sinful. Hmmm....

Second, the librarians are very friendly and I had several good discussions with them. This proves my long-held theory that librarians in general are strange people and can associate freely with other strange people- which now means me.