Christmas Traditions Old and New

Everyone has their Christmas traditions.  Some involve when you open your presents - be it Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.  Some involve the types of food you eat and who you spend it with.  My family always opened presents Christmas morning (even though we never did the whole Santa thing), while my husband's family always opened presents Christmas Eve night.  Now as we have children we do a little of both. I always give my kids new pajamas on Christmas Even for them to wear when they come down to open their presents Christmas morning.

We have a couple of other traditions in our family that have evolved from some crazy experiences that have happened around the holiday.  One is known as "The Christmas Squirrel". 

Daren and I had been married just a couple of years and we were living in Michigan in our first house. We had decorated for Christmas and every day that I came home from work I would notice a few of the ornaments from around the tree on the floor.  I would scold our dog, Baxter and move on to the next thing.  But it was happening like every day.

One Friday night we had a large progressive supper that we participated in with our church.  I had left overs the next day.  We were both having a lazy Saturday and I plugged the leftovers in the crockpot and turned it on low and we were snacking on them through out the day as we wrapped presents and did various things to prepare for Christmas.  At one point we needed to leave to run some errands.  We put Baxter in the bathroom and unplugged the crock pot and left.  When we got back we let Baxter out and then went about our business.  A little while later I noticed that some of the food that had been in the crockpot was on the other side of the kitchen counter and some of the sauce was smeared across the counter.  I scolded Baxter and showed Daren.  He also scolded Baxter.  But after some reflection he came to me and said "You know - I don't think that was Baxter."  Of course it was Baxter - how could it not be.  "Well, if it was Baxter there would be nothing left - he would have ate it all and licked up all the sauce."  You're right.  "I have a feeling that happened while we were gone and we just didn't see it.  And I think it's a mouse."  Seriously?  A mouse.  I am not having it - you have to get rid of it.

Well later that night we had yet another Christmas party to go to.  When we were done it was quite late - around 2am but we stopped at the local Meijer (think Super WalMart) to pick up some mouse traps.  I gave very specific instructions that Daren was to take care of the situation and I wanted to know when it was taken care of, but I did not under any circumstances want to see any of the evidence that said mouse had been taken care of.

So when we got home I went back to the bedroom to get ready for bed while Daren went about setting the traps around the house.  Suddenly I heard all sorts of chaos in the kitchen.  Daren was running and jumping and laughing.  Before I could come out to see what was going around he came bounding down the hall with Baxter - threw him in the room with me and said "Whatever you do - don't let him out."  WHAT?

Apparently, Daren had gone to put a mouse trap behind a radio in our kitchen and when he pulled the radio out from the wall there was a little tail wagging at him.  But it wasn't a mouse tail ... it was a squirrel tail.  So Daren was chasing this squirrel all over the house trying to catch it.  At one point he lost it so he came back to the bedroom and said "Let Baxter out - maybe he can find him."  Before he even finished the sentence Baxter had found the squirrel and was chasing it around the house - his nose just inches behind the squirrels tail.  They were tearing through the house at an amazing pace.  Finally the squirrel jumped into the Christmas tree.  It was literally like the scene out of the Chevy Chase movie "Christmas Vacation".  The squirrel was scared to death - was making crazy sounds - the tree was shaking - and Baxter was just inches from the tree - barking and growling and generally going crazy.

Daren eventually caught the squirrel in a box and let it outside.  But every Christmas since then we have made it tradition to put a squirrel in the Christmas tree.  I found a small stuffed squirrel the next year and when we went to put our tree up we turned to Baxter and said "Where's the squirrel?" and darn it if that dog didn't go straight to the tree and start sniffing and growling.  So every Christmas we make a spectacle out of putting the squirrel in the tree while we are decorating it.

The first Christmas after Baxter was gone it was so bittersweet to bring the Squirrel out and put it in the tree. It brought tears to our eyes to remember our dear sweet baby on the other side of the rainbow bridge.  But now we have two more precious doggies in our lives.  And wouldn't you know that they think the squirrel lives in the tree too?

Here is the squirrel and where it is living this year:

And this year we have started what we hope will be a long standing tradition in our neighborhood.

All of us in our neighborhood LOVE the Christmas movie Elf (starring Will Ferrell).  So a bunch of us in the neighborhood decided to have an Elf party this year.  One of the neighbors managed to get Elf hats for everyone.  We had spaghetti - complete with syrup - and we watched the movie together while partaking in the 4 major Elf Food Groups (candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup) and some fantastic dessert.  At the point in the movie where Buddy the Elf lets out an epic burp, we paused the movie so that we could have our own burping contest.  And can I just tell you - the moms represent!

So what are some of your Christmas traditions?

Have to share

I have a friend at work who is becoming quite the budding photographer.  She did a photo shoot of my family a few weeks ago and the pictures came out amazing.  I had to share just a few of them.

They came out fantastic!  Just one note - I am not at all happy that my son is now apparently up to my shoulder and looking like such a young man.  When did that happen?  NOT COOL!

I've missed you!

I know - bad bad bad blogger. I have no good excuses - none.

Nonetheless - here's what's been going on with me - keeping me from blogging ...

Work.  Work.  Work.  It sucks right now.  I'm trying to ride it out - but he simple truth is it really sucks right now.  I'm super busy and dealing with a lot of political drama that is totally dragging me down.

I've been a little down that I haven't been able to run.  When I have tried I have hurt.  Elvira's ghost is alive and well and she likes to remind me that I have had major surgery this summer and she's not done torturing me.  I was supposed to run a Turkey Trot but heeded my body and my husband and laid off the running for a bit.  I hate it.  It feels like I haven't really been able to run all year.  I'm trying to walk more and do situps and pushups to keep me going in the mean time.  I could use some encouragement here.

Rubber is meeting the road as far as "real life" in Kanga's world.  I can eat more ... sometimes.  I can eat things I couldn't eat before ... sometimes.    The reality that gastric bypass surgery is not a miracle cure all is staring me in the face.  I am not regaining, but I am scared that I easily could.  I can see old habits trying to creep back in.  I'm trying desperately to stay grounded, etc...  I will not be a statistic.  I will make this work.  I can not get this far only to slip back.  I will make this work.

And, of course, life in my house is insanely busy.  Kids are starting up basketball and cheerleading season.  I usually coach cheerleading, but was able to recruit enough coaches this year that I can focus on just being the Cheerleading Comissioner for the Upward league that we are involved in.  It is something I love and I am really looking forward to this season.  This time of year just tends to be so busy anyway with all the extras going on.  Of course, I love the extras.  :)  But life is just crazy hectic right now.

Speaking of hectic - I have 3 lia sophia parties this week.  Yeah!  I love doing lia sophia parties.  There are great deals to be had for Christmas gifts and it seems that lots of people want in on them.

I have talked about my BAHA on here before.  Mine suddenly stopped working this past weekend.  No bueno.  I have to get that checked out and I'm not looking forward to that bill.  I love my BAHA, but dang if it ain't expensive.  I have had it for 5 years and have never had a problem with it.  But this not hearing is really for the birds.

Ok - so how is that for an update?  I have all sorts of blogging madness going on in my head - so hold on because I'm about to be a blogging fool here in a hot second.

Blessing

What I am thankful for today - a day to work-at-home.  This is a new thing for me. It was just recently decided that I could work from  home one day a week.  I would love for it to be 2 days a week, but I'll take what I can get.  :)

What many people don't understand is that when I say I'm working from home ... I'm actually WORKING while I'm at home.  Yes, I'm able to get a lot of things done around the house and I can take the time to go to the doctor or run some errands, but I actually get a ton of work done on my work from home days - more than I do in the office.  With my kids at school it is a very RARE opportunity for me to have some QUIET time to myself.  I can't tell you how much I need this time to myself.  I can't tell you how much I look forward to my Wednesdays.  I need my Wednesdays.  I love my Wednesdays.

Get the picture?

November 2 Blessing

I forgot to post this yesterday, but I wanted to fill in anyway.

My blessing on November 2 is that I am thankful for living in the home of the free and the land of the brave.  I am thankful for the sacrifice of the many men and women (including both of my grandfathers, two of my uncles, and my father-in-law) who lay their lives on the line so that I can live in this great country and exercise my right to vote.

God Bless America.

Running Again

So I am finally running again.  It's slow going, but I'm doing it.  I'm up to running a 5K right now.  I guess it's more of a jog, but I'm doing it.

In an effort to get myself back in the right frame of mind I have signed up for the Ridgewood Turkey Trot for Thanksgiving morning.  It's an 8K (5 miles) race that I hear is pretty hilly.  This should be interesting.

Blessings

With Thanksgiving coming up I thought it was time to resurrect my "Blessings" posts.  I lost site of them a bit after the craziness of the summer.  So here we go. 

• I am so thankful for my mom.  I don't know what I would do without her right now.  She not only takes great care of me - she takes great care of my kids.  She is not only a great mom - she is a great friend.

BUNGEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Living in Raleigh, NC the North Carolina State Fair is a HUGE deal.  I never realized what a big deal a state fair could be until you lived in the city that hosts it every year.  But it is always lots of fun.  Tons of midway rides, tons of ridiculous fair food, and fair freaks as far as the eye can see!  :)

We went to the fair today.  The kids loved it.  One of the things they really wanted to do was go on this bungee jumping thing.  There are these little trampolines and they jump in a harness that is attached to these huge bungees.  We waited in line for a while and when we got to the front of the line I was reading the rules, etc... and there in front of me was the weight limit.  I had to blink a couple of times in order to make sure I was reading it right.  I was UNDER the weight limit!!!!!!!

Well, in that case - I gotta ride this sucker!

Getting ready!

I'm doing it!  I'm doing it!

WHOA!!

It was utterly exhausting!  And, of course, right before she strapped me in all I could think was "I really should have gone pee before I did this ..."  I tried awful hard to flip, but I just couldn't bring myself to throw myself back quite far enough.  It was a bit un-nerving to be getting that high up, but it was exhilarating at the same time.  When I was done I could hardly walk. and I was breathing so hard.  But I did it!  It was so fun!

Dumping

I have referred often to dumping.  It sounds nasty because it is.  But what exactly is it?  The most amazing Melting Mama has just recently posted a great explanation adapted from the OAC (Obesity Action Coalition) and so I thought I would share.

http://www.meltingmama.net/wls/2010/10/dumping-syndrome.html

Since my surgical ERCP I have started early dumping again and my late dumping has gotten worse.  Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Self Limiting Beliefs

So it seems my last post was quite timely. I was actually in the midst of taking a training class at work on Negotiating. The next day we spent quite a bit of time talking about self-limiting beliefs. It got me to thinking about my last post where I was talking about how I still see myself as I was before my gastric bypass surgery. I don’t recognize myself in the mirror all the time, etc…


So I thought I would share some of what I learned in my class as I felt it was quite applicable.

When we believe that we have a right o what we want, and when we believe we can be successful in achieving it, then we tend to go after it with a certain amount of gusto and confidence. When we do not believe that we have a right to something or cannot achieve something, then we tend to overreact or underreact or not try at all. Our disbelief makes us afraid and our fear makes us distrustful and unempowered. Consequently, we either approach what we want in a whimpering kind of way that others do not take seriously, or we puff up our courage and approach it so aggressively that others become defensive and non-cooperative. If we get scared enough, then we do not bother trying at all.

The amazing thing about our beliefs is that others believe us. Beliefs are contagious. When we believe that we can’t, others believe we can’t. When we believe that we can, others pick up on our confidence and believe that we can do what we say we can do. Others do not question us unless we question ourselves. They respect us as much as we expect to be respected. It is as if we walk around with a price tag hanging on our hat. Sometimes our price tag says we are worth a dollar, and other times fifty cents, and still other times we are willing to pay others to take us off their hands. Other people always seem to know what we believe we are worth, and they rarely give us more than we believe we are worth.

Our beliefs are formed out of particular experiences but we generalize those particular experiences. We assume that what happened to us in one situation or with a particular person will also happen in other situations with other people, especially in other situations and with other people who seem similar. Hence, we become scripted or predisposed to expect certain things in life. Our beliefs act as a filter system through which we interpret all of our life experiences.

Our self-limiting beliefs were formed from those times in our lives when we were not successful in getting what we needed.

Our empowering beliefs were formed from those times in our lives when we were successful at getting the results we needed. From these experiences, we developed the internal trust in ourselves that we could act and be successful.

What we say to ourselves creates boundaries around our behavior and therefore the results that we get. We act or don’t act effectively depending upon what we say to ourselves. What we do or fail to do produces our results.

All of us will find ourselves grappling with self-limiting beliefs in life. The important issue for us is what to do when we find ourselves feeling unempowered. We have several options for managing self-limiting beliefs.

Option One: Check Out the Data
Sometimes we are stuck in self-limiting beliefs because we don’t have all the facts or our facts are inaccurate. Having distorted or incomplete data can cause us to make false assumptions that unnecessarily limit us.

Option Two: Get Input From Others
A second option for moving beyond our self-limiting beliefs is to talk to others in order to get a broader perspective on the situation and what our options are. Sometimes too, others have had different experiences that may apply to our situation. We may be able to learn something from their experience.

Option Three: Take It a Step at a Time
Sometimes the way through our self-limiting beliefs is to divide our situation into easily manageable steps. Sometimes we castrophize our situation or blow it out of proportion and overwhelm ourselves by what we are saying to ourselves.

Option Four: Resolve Past Issues
At times we are stuck in our self-limiting beliefs because we are unresolved about some past experience. We may need to get resolved either with ourselves or with others in order to change our beliefs.

What we believe about ourselves and what we need can either help us succeed or lead to failure. If we believe we deserve what we need, we will be empowered by the belief.

I think for so many years I didn’t believe I deserved to be anything other than fat. I assumed that because I had tried to lose weight before and failed – that was going to happen again – so why even try? That belief became my script for life in so many things other than my weight.

And because I believed that I did not deserve that – neither did anyone else. Why should they?

But if I “check out the data” and look at the numbers and the pictures – I’m doing it – I’m living the life I never thought I could have. If I get input from others – they see what sometimes I can’t see in myself. If I take it a step at a time and make it manageable steps – I can deal with it. If I resolve some of my unresolved past issues I can change what I believe I can do and therefore what I am capable of in the future.

I am a work in progress. My brain has not caught up with what I see in the mirror – but I’m working at it. It took me years to get to where I was 120 pounds ago. It may take some time to un-do that. But I owe it to myself and to those around me to stop my self-limiting beliefs so that I can empower not only myself but my children, my family, my friends – much the same way they have done for me over the past few years.