15 days until Christmas, and Hanukkah is almost over! Can you feel the stress revving up? Places to go, parties to attend, shopping to do, all while keeping up with the already packed schedule, whew! I’m determined to enjoy the holidays, and stress is a real joy killer. For me the key question is to ask myself, “What’s the point?” It helps keep my perspective clear and the end goal in focus. There are so many expectations around this time of the year, it’s also important for me to remember that good? Is good enough.

This year was the first year our Christmas picture wasn’t a hassle. Getting three kids to sit still, look at the camera, and smile– it’s a little like giving ferrets crack, and then teaching them how to eat with a fork. It usually ends up with about 18,000 unusable photos and me yelling SMILE G*D DAMMIT! Yeah, Merry Christmas to you, too. But this year was different. The point of the Christmas picture is to have a good memory, and to get the darn thing done. So we dressed the kids up, went to the mall where they give carriage rides, I yelled smile (in a nice way) and snapped a few pics. No, they’re not great photos, but the goal was accomplished. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently we’ve cut the amount of TV our kids are watching to one show a day. So far this has been a boon to our family, except for one problem. Read the rest of this entry »