Am I ready?

I can't believe it's already the 19th of December. Christmas day will be over in just a week. The year will be over in less than 2 weeks. Am I ready? I have all my envelopes addressed for the Christmas cards that should have been signed and mailed out last week. There are gifts I purchased through out the year that I haven't even tried to find where they are hidden. Some of those presents should have been mailed out already. I've been thinking about making cookies. The butter has been out on the counter for almost a week. It's probably soft enough to work with now. Ken, my darling husband, has had the colored lights up outside for the past 2 weeks. He put the tree up about that time and has been adding ornaments to it every day or so since then. Yesterday he put the star on the top.

So what have I been doing? Well, I finished the church newsletter for January. Last week there was a Christmas party for the kids. It was "Lunch with Santa" and Father Christmas was there to talk to each of the children and gave everyone a bell from his sleigh. I was in charge of lunch. Yesterday the ASPIRE students and volunteers, meet with the Daybreak people for a party. Daybreak is a daycare facility for adults. The young met with the elderly and everyone sang Christmas songs, had snacks, met with Santa, received gifts and a warm recognition was given to all the volunteers.

Somehow, what I've accomplished doesn't seem to add up to very much. I feel like I've really been busy running here, there and everywhere. Through out the month, I've felt tired and worn out.

Yesterday was my birthday. It's no big deal. Yet I craved attention. My birthday frequently gets lost with all the preparations for Christmas. I have 4 sons and only heard from one. It's my own fault as I'm notorious about not getting cards in the mail for their birthdays. It's not that I don't remember everyone birthdays, anniversaries and special events. I do! I even purchase cards that never seem to get mailed. When I die, they'll find enough cards stashed away to compete with Hallmark. Kenny, my youngest God bless him, called and we had a nice long chat on the phone. My sister sang happy birthday on my voice mail. Saturday she will be making a family dinner, complete with blueberry pie, to celebrate. My dad took me out for a wonderful mani-pedi. Ken gave me an adorable Precious Moments figurine.

Yet for some reason, today, I feel a sense of contentment. If the cookies don't get made it's not the end of the world. The gifts and cards will be mailed out even if it's after Christmas. My family should be used to this by now. The tree will get most of it's ornaments hung, up to the time for taking them off and packing all away once more.

The most important thing is to let all of my family and all of my friends know that I love each and everyone of them.

ASPIRE: kids, homework, tutoring, fun

Our church, Abounding Grace elca, hosts an after school program for elementary kids (average age is 12) called ASPIRE.  Lutheran Social Services provide the teacher, one assistant and all the supplies.  Thursdays and Fridays are the days I volunteer to help.  It's only for 2-4 hours.  And that's long enough for me.  

Yesterday Jim, another volunteer, and I were whistling a song together.  I don't remember the tune now, but it had something to do with our mental state at the time.  

The average number of kids are 30 and really quite an ethnic soup.  One would think that here in southern Arizona we would have mostly Hispanic, Native American & Caucasian.  But most of our kids are from Africa and the rest are from Iran, Iraq, China and Caucasian.   Religious backgrounds are also varied so snack time has to have a substitute for any pork items on the menu.  

During last month's holiday, halloween, it was realized that some of these kids didn't have a clue about American  celebrations.  They couldn't believe that kids actually got dressed up in costume, went around the neighborhood ringing doorbells and would be given candy.  Just what kind of holiday is that?

Well, they caught on fast and had a great time.  We also realized that another holiday was just around the corner.   What would they know about Thanksgiving?

I'll continue tomorrow...