“Do the next thing”

I want to do Christmas differently.  The thought keeps going through my mind, “There must be something more.”  That seems like a Hollywood quote.  How many movies have you seen where one character or another voiced those words?  Speaking of Hollywood, I fear I might be taken for a Scrooge or a Grinch, just by saying the words.  Yet, you must remember that they both turned into nice guys in the end.  You can also admit that you have thought the same thing a time or two, but have squashed it…like I always have.  This year, however, I want to mean it….

Some tell me it’s because our family has changed.  Some tell me it’s the economy.  Others tell me I’m just a little tired and burned out from a crazy year.  I just keep wondering if I’m too selfish to exert myself beyond me.  Whatever it is, I think it has merit.  Determining that something has value is the first step, but it seems the harder task might be sorting out how to pursue the idea.  I searched the internet for articles or bloggers who have said the same thing, and found very few.  I think it was three, but one of them was filled with vulgar language, so I didn’t even read it; I’m not angry about the dilemma, just thoughtful about it!

Have you figured out how to do Christmas differently?

My oldest child, a son, is getting married.  The engagement took place just over a week ago and I’ve already found myself on the floor in tears.  It seems tradition requires the grooms parents to be more disengaged and unconcerned about the wedding than the brides’ parents.  What’s up with that?  Help me figure out how to do that.

What I didn’t say at tonights local meeting held by the Democrat Senator of my state district.  The meeting was supposed to inform the masses about the Republican Governor’s state budget proposal, and the dangers it contains.

“I’m happy to tell all of you here today that my husband and I have taken it upon ourselves to carry the burden of educating our own children so that you don’t have to spend your money, time and effort on them. We are almost done privately funding the KI-12 education of four of this state’s future citizens.  We shopped the market and determined that the best bang for our buck was for me to sacrifice potential income and stay home with them.  We have payed for, or borrowed, or bartered for all of our curriculum, extra curricular activities, private lessons, tutors, field trips, etc. with my husband’s paycheck, our own creativity, and God’s grace.  It wasn’t always easy. Sometimes the strain on our early married years of meager income required resourcefulness.  It built character in all of us.

I know what you are thinking.  Never fear, we did indeed pay every dime of the property taxes due from us as property owners in Bath these past 12 years.  Even the 55%, give or take, that went exclusively toward the education of everyone else’s children.

Now, I’ve heard a lot tonight about things in the new Governor’s budget proposal being “so unfair”.  I don’t exactly believe that our household paying twice for education is exactly fair.  We have not expected a refund, however, because we know life is not fair, and we realize that it never will be. Life is hard;  it always has been, and it always will be.

We’ve gotten over it.

I woke up to snow falling today.  It does cover all the dirty snow with a fresh coating.  It also reminds me that winter is long in Maine.

Today Fran is traveling to Fort Jackson to deliver a care package to Adam, and to try to snap a few photos.  I hope he has a successful trip.  It’s only an hour away from where he has been going to school for the last two months.  Adam will be there until May 12th.  Fran will be leaving his school in Georgia on Tuesday and will be home sometime that night.

Micah received an Army Achievement Medal in a ceremony in Iowa yesterday.  Micah returns home tonight from his two week Advanced Training with his Maine Army National Guard unit.

Today Anna and I travel to Winthrop for her SMASH cast party.  It’s a long one, lasting from 3:00 to 8:30. Should be interesting.  Lot’s of teenagers, and lots of food…hmm….

Friday and Saturday Anna and I attended the homeschool convention in our state.  It’s an annual event, and it’s more of a reunion then anything else.  Anna gets to swim in the hotel pool and hang out with friends inbetween attending workshops.  I took a lot of photos of convention goers in between workshops.  The speakers were inspiriational as they usually always are.

When we got home we returned to our first letter from Adam at basic training.  He’s doing fine but has run into some of the same frustrations that his brothers did.  Why do some of the trainees think that “no talking” doesn’t refer to them?  The order to “give me 20″ certainly does.

Tried to do taxes today.  It’s the same software program I’ve been using every year since 2006.  Why does it seem so much more complicated this year?  Didn’t it used to auto-fill some demographic and other information from old returns?  Whatever, I had to stop and save my work;  I’ll tackle it another day.  I’m pretty sure we’re paying, so I’m not in a hurry.

There is this lingering comment waiting for my approval to a post I put up a week ago.  I don’t know the person, and I’m not used to getting comments from strangers.  I’m aware of only a few people who ever even read this.  Usually if they are strangers, they introduce themselves, and say what made them read and comment.

Sipping coffee because I’m tired.