Christmas WTF

Christmas is a time of cheer,

A great excuse to drink more beer.

But some people take it a bit too far; 

Enough to drive me to a late night bar!

Here are the things that bug me to no end;

And a few things that bug some of my new Facebook friends.

 High Five - The Mommy Ref

Hope you enjoy, or at least can relate...

#1 - Reindeer ears on door windows or any other decoration of the car.  I don’t get it.  It doesn’t look like a reindeer.  You have to keep your windows up at all times or the person behind you will have an antler in their grill.  Just don’t get it.

#2 - Giving Christmas items as a Christmas gift makes no sense to me.  Nothing says, here is something for you to store for a whole year and enjoy it later like this.  Why would I want to open a holiday ornament on Christmas just to store it until next Christmas?  

#3 - Christmas clothing, because nothing says “sexy” like shiny ornament balls hanging off my shirt.  Oh, don’t want to forget my dangle ornament earrings and sparkly pin to put it all together.  Bling baby!  Someone had the right idea starting the trend of “Ugly Sweater” parties.  Put those hideous things to go use…again only once a year.  I already dressed up once this year, it was called Halloween.

#4 - Holiday baskets filled with cheer, scratch that, cheap foam fills and  sub par candy.  Oh and popcorn that is edible if you are lucky and not just packing peanuts.  What says I love you, care about you, am thinking about you more than a 90% empty container made to look full.  Ironic.  Now be honest…you have re-gifted at least one of these in your time.

#5 - Jewelry commercials – They go all out making partners around the global feel guilty if they don’t drop at least $500 on some diamond sparkly jewelry.  If you don’t buy into this, no worries they will try again in February.  Pile on the pressure.

#6 - Christmas Movies – not all of them, just the ones that people feel the need to remake over and over.  Lifetime channel and Hallmark are repeat offenders of this.  They are already advertising it.  How many ways can the Christmas Carol be remade?   Three ghosts visit someone being a bunghole and then they change their ways.  Call it what you want, the story ends the same.  If you are bored look up the adaptations of a Christmas Carol on Google, it is nuts.

#7 - Laura S - The over abundance on the Christmas Music  - I totally agree and and not sure how I missed this one!  It is so bad that one station out here in MommyRef Land has it on loop and you can listen to the same song at the same time each and EVERY day....  Why?  Too much!

#8 -  Catrina A - Fruitcake  - Another duh moment for me!  Do people really eat that stuff?

#9 - Diary of an Unbreakable Mom - The commercialization of Christmas.  Indeed I remember as a kid eager for Thanksgiving to be over so the Christmas stuff would start to appear.  Now it starts even before Halloween in some cases. Black Friday started on Wednesday night this year.  Cyber Monday started on Saturday.  However, Thankful Tuesday didn't start early, don't give back early...just take take take...spend spend spend.

What is it that drive YOU crazy?

Is Christmas Over Yet?

This weekend we put up our Christmas tree and all of our favorite decorations. It was fun for us all with reindeer ears on and wine in my hand. But then today my middle minion (5yrs) asked me to take down the Christmas tree, all the decorations and skip Christmas this year. My heart breaks for this minion. She does not like Christmas and the magic it brings. She believes so strongly that she is willing to give up any promise of presents to just make the big fat guy and his toy making elf stay away. She is terrified. Not scared, but terrified. No Christmas movies, no stories, she actually wants no Christmas. We can't have a countdown calendar because it makes her more anxious. It breaks my heart. If she was the only child I would just tell her the truth about all this Christmas stuff. About the hype it brings. I would tell her there is no Santa and that elves are not real either. I would strip all the magic so she can sleep at night. But I can't. I still have 2 other minions that are all excited about the promise of magic. The excitement of the season. Last night she was at my bedside at 1:30 sobbing with fear that the big guy was going to come even though we are over a month away. Last year, we taught the real meaning of Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Jesus in an attempt to redirect the attention, but she is stubborn. She is strong. And she will not let go of the magic she believes in so strongly it scares her. This will be another long holiday season for us. I will be undecorating on Dec 26th first thing in the morning and I will have one very eager helper to do so.

Trying To Focus

Looking at myself lately…looking at the good and the bad. Evaluating decisions that have led me to where I am today. My family and kids are what I am most proud of.  I can think of everything awesome for my hubby, kids and family, but I keep finding myself forcing to refocus on things about “me”. It is sad really.  I mean I have never been a selfish person.  I am content with going without for others…but this time…it is not ok.  I need to refocus.  I need to make myself a priority.  I am not happy with where “I” am.  I am not talking about as a Wife, Mommy, or Career… I am referring to the rawest form of me.

I have been trying to digest why I get so angry at the drop of a hat.  Why am I “that” person now?  Why can I not control it?  Why do I continue to blast off just to cry off the embarrassment later?  I don’t have the answer, but I have some background thoughts.  Although I have the world… I am missing me.  I need to invest in me.  I have said this before and it lasts about 2 weeks.  My “me train” gets derailed and instead of getting back up on the rails….I stay on the sidelines.  Instead of plunging forward, I slip backwards.  Instead of doing things for me, I slip back into doing things for others…then I feel lost again.

Reality should have set in when the doctor identified me as obese.  My blood pressure high and in need of meds if not controlled.  My knees hurt going up the stairs.  I am tired after playing with the kids for short periods of time.  I am embarrassed in family pictures.  I avoid cameras.  But it hasn’t…and that bothers me…but it still hasn’t been enough for me to change.  Why?

With everything I do I want to be the best…I excel and make sure it is executed in a timely manner…but for myself I am continuously missing the mark.