About Me

My photo
I'm Beth. I'm married to my best friend, and he's pretty awesome. We have two equally awesome kids, Gavin and Sophie.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Thanks to my kids

Well Christmas 2010 is over. Ernie argued that its still the Christmas season, and I suppose it is. There's still Christmas music playing on the radio, and our Christmas decorations are for sure still up (like I'd be on the ball enough to have taken them down by now). The kids have opened their presents and we've had our Christmas dinners. It was different this year because we had "Christmas day" a few days early, so we could celebrate with Gavin. It was exciting to see it through Sophie's 2 1/2 year old point of view. She understood a lot more this year. Last year she was of course excited, but this year she seemed to really get into it. Its so much more magical, the holiday season, when you have kids. We teach them the real meaning of Christmas, and that Jesus is the biggest gift to us, and that's why we give gifts, to celebrate that ultimate gift to us. But its also okay to get into all the magical wonderful fun stuff. Like decorating the Christmas tree, and wrapping presents, and watching Christmas movies. Playing games together as a family and having hot chocolate...its a much different kind of celebration when you have kids! A wonderful kind of different, in my opinion. And take New Years...I'm looking forward to it, but I bet our celebration seems kind of boring. We will have Gavin. We're going to go to the ocean to go clam digging, then coming back home and hanging out with the kids. I don't think of New Years Eve as some big party night anymore. And I feel better off because of it. I don't know how my life would be specifically different if we didn't have these kids. I do know that overall, it would be. It would be *completely* 100% different. Just like those jobs like nurses or doctors...no matter what you are doing, you are always a doctor. Well no matter what I am doing, where I am, who I am with, I am always a mom. Can't change it. Every single part of my life is affected by that title. The way we celebrate the holidays, the way we make sure we get to spend a little bit of time with each part of the family so the kids can see them, the way we arrange bedtimes around activities we want to do with the kids. What we watch, what we eat, where we go...the activities we plan definitely are different. And I am a much better person. The first person on my mind when I make a decision isn't myself. Its the kids. What will I make for dinner? Well I'll tell you its not always going to be what my first choice would be if I was the only one who was important. I have to take their little kid tastes into mind. What show do I want to watch? Well I think about the little observant eyes and tuned in ears that can pick up so much more than you would think. How am I going to decorate? Well maybe this homemade garland isn't my first choice, but the kids sure liked helping make it and they love seeing it displayed where everyone can see. And what is the meaning of Christmas? I don't want them seeing that the most important part is Santa Claus, and how many presents you can get for yourself and who gets the coolest toys. While I'm not against all of that, because the kids for sure got some cool stuff (Gavin got the Harry Potter Lego Castle...awesome. I mean, you know...for him...), we make conscious decisions to let them see that "getting" isn't what's most important to us for Christmas. Because we could tell them all we want, do what I say, not what I do. But I see in the way my little Sophie copies things I say, uses the same facial expressions I do, that my example has the most impact. So for this coming year, 2011, I am going to try to set the best example I can. And I'm thankful, so thankful, to these kids for making me want to be the best person I can be.

Followers