Late night ramblings...

Why do I always find my thoughts rushing me late at night when I'm really too exhausted to write? I have SO much to say and SO much that I've been keeping in. I need a good Saturday morning on my front porch with nothing but music, my iPad, and thoughts flowing from my fingertips. I hope to have this SOON!

But, for now I'm going to leave you with my latest mantra and something I'm chanting in my head over and over....

You can't change how someone acts, but you CAN change how YOU react!!

Merry Christmas....

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful day with family and friends today!

Christmas for me has changed and probably for obvious reasons. I mean, let's be honest, Christmas doesn't have the same effect on a 28 year old as it does on an 8 year old. I didn't have a hard time falling asleep on Christmas Eve in hopes of catching a glimpse of Santa surrounding the underneath of our tree with presents. I don't really even care about getting presents anymore. In fact, about 5-6 years ago when the Madre was asking what I wanted for Christmas, I told her that I had everything I needed and that we should buy for those who would otherwise go without. It has since become our family's tradition to "adopt" a family and purchase gifts for them. It is something that I sincerely love doing!

Now, we do still open presents between the three of us (Madre, sister, and myself), but we have a rule to not go crazy with spending and therefore most (if not all) of the gifts come from the dollar store. Some of the gifts are practical while others are for shits and giggles. Some examples of the funnies: Spotted Dick sponge cake (this is a real dessert that you can find in the grocery stores), pooping animals (little plastic cows and pigs that "poop" small chocolate candies), and what I didn't find very funny, but the madre and sister did...the re-gifted gifts. Which I was the recipient of most of the re-gifts and these little gems were gifts that I had purchased last year. Not so cute, but we will blame it on the early onset of alzheimers for the Madre.

Notice the sister (whose gift this is) is wearing a Piggly Wiggly shirt in the background. Appropriate...I think so!

For those nights when your sweet tooth is craving something...bahahaha!

Eventhough the magic of the day is really no longer there for me and gone are the days of the sister and I anxiously waiting on the steps for the Madre to get her cup of coffee before we are allowed in the living room to see what Santa brought us from the North Pole; I do enjoy our quirky spin on the gift giving. I look forward to seeing what funny dollar store finds are waiting for me underneath the tree and now I anticipate the endless amounts of laughter that are sure to escape each of us!

I do hope that each year we are able to provide a little bit of magic for the families that we adopt. That maybe those kids had that same anticipation that my sister and I shared as kids while waiting to see their Christmas tree surrounded by presents from Santa. That they ended up having big smiles on their faces when Santa brought them what was on their wish list! That for me makes Christmas special and meaningful!!! Well, that and spending time with the ladies that mean the world to me!!!!

I would like to add more to this post as it has been some time since my last one, but I can barely keep my eyes open. So nighty night and Merry Christmas!