Good evening/morning, everyone!!!
It's been over a year now since I made some major life changes. Changes that definitely needed to be made. In some aspects of life, the relief was immediate. In other areas it's been getting used to the new schedule and getting myself completely back on the right track.
So, needless to say, seeing as 2022 was mentally and physically healing for me, I'm truly hoping 2023 is spiritually and creatively healing as well. Because frankly, I need to get my whole self-back in balance.
I promised my sister I would share a little bit of our family Christmas in this blog post. As any of you who have read my blogs know, we changed up Christmas a few years back doing homemade or second hand/flea market type gifts. Last year, sis and I did opposite baskets for the families of our nieces and nephews. It turned out really cool. She did outdoor and summer activities baskets, and I did winter indoor activities baskets.
This year we decided to stick with a family minded theme only we gave things a BIG twist, LOL. All three of us sisters pitched in and bought experiences for all of the kids and their families.
What are experiences you might ask??? You know like season passes to the zoo, the Science Central, Wolf park, camping, ect.
Now, that wasn't the entire gift. You see, we could have just given each of them a gift and left it at that, BUT, that isn't how we sister work, LOL. No, they had to play games that we enhanced after our family game night searches, LOL.
We started with five boxes all Christmas wrapped one inside the other, with the final box holding an envelope inside saying they could not open until the last of the games were played. Now mind you this game sounds simple enough, however, we NOT only made them wear oven mitts to unwrap the boxes while the next person in line tried to get doubles on the big dice, we picked up for this, but they had to put on a flashy Santa hat, a flashing red nose, and a light up Christmas bulb necklace before they began trying to unwrap the gift, LOL. Oh my, was it funny.
Now mind you the kids had no idea we were planning this so imagine their surprise when they got to my sister's house and the normally present crowded dining room, wasn't so crowded, LOL. Then when we announced to receive your gifts, you have to go through our little torture, LOL.
Our next game was that saran wrap ball. You know the one that you pass around the circle while the next person tries to roll doubles on the dice. Yeah, that one. But again, we threw in a twist. We had these cards that had things on both sides that you had to do. Whenever one of those fell out of the roll, they had to stop, pick one of the two activities, do it, then they could continue trying to unwrap before the next person rolled doubles.
We did a Family Feud final round game. Asking our parents how they would answer certain questions about Christmas. The kids had to guess their answers. Of course, we made it fair, asking our parents to give their first and second answers.
We also did a Jeopardy round. Our board was made up of three categories, Who said it? Who did it? What Year? Everything pertained to someone in our family. Some of the questions were even a little family history for all the kids. The points ranged from 100 to 400 and whoever had the most points at the end won.
They also had to fish for candy canes with a homemade fishing pole where the hook was another candy cane and the candy canes they were fishing for were placed around the top of a bucket. Then another was wrap a present with two team members from two of the teams. Unfortunately for them, each team member only had one arm they could use, because we used a Santa scarf and tied their other hands together behind their backs, LOL. They also had to do a game where they were blindfolded, holding a spatula that was as tiny as we could find, LOL. In front of them was a Christmas bucket, and about 24 tiny bows. Their partner had to stand across the table from them and try to give them directions on where the bows were and they had to scoop them up with their little spatula and put them in their bucket, LOL. Good times, good times.
As a team won a gift, they would sit out until everyone had a gift in hand. BUT that wasn't the end. One member of each team (the teams were made up of each family, I believe I forgot to mention that earlier), got in a circle holding the envelope as my sister read a Christmas story to them. Each time she said the word, "Right" they would have to pass the envelope to the right, each time she said, "Left" they would have to pass it to their left.
And if all that wasn't enough, once they opened their envelopes and saw the family experiences inside, they had the option to trade off their experiences with another family so that each gift suited each family.
The laughter was amazing. The fun was thrilling. It was a beautiful night of family. A night I am sure to remember and chuckle about for many years to come.
I feel blessed to be able to finally feel free enough to really focus on what's most important in life. Family and adventure go hand in hand. I had been so consumed in the past with a job that refused to give me freedom even when I wasn't working, to remember this. Your job should never consume your entire existence. It is a job. A place you go to help you provide for your family, that's it. It is nothing more than that, regardless of your position.
Your days off and vacations should not be interrupted by your place of employment. You are entitled to your 'me' time. That job will go on whether you are there or not. Put your best foot forward while you're there, do your job to the best of your ability, and give it your attention during your working hours. But no company, no matter how big or small has the right to consume your whole life. Because there is a life to be lived outside of that place of business. There are children growing up right before your eyes.
Sure, children need to be taught a good work ethic, but they also need to be taught a good relax and play ethic as well. Balance that shit!!! Life isn't all about the job, it's also about adventures.
Everyone have a lovely day!!!
Blessings to all!!!
It's been over a year now since I made some major life changes. Changes that definitely needed to be made. In some aspects of life, the relief was immediate. In other areas it's been getting used to the new schedule and getting myself completely back on the right track.
So, needless to say, seeing as 2022 was mentally and physically healing for me, I'm truly hoping 2023 is spiritually and creatively healing as well. Because frankly, I need to get my whole self-back in balance.
I promised my sister I would share a little bit of our family Christmas in this blog post. As any of you who have read my blogs know, we changed up Christmas a few years back doing homemade or second hand/flea market type gifts. Last year, sis and I did opposite baskets for the families of our nieces and nephews. It turned out really cool. She did outdoor and summer activities baskets, and I did winter indoor activities baskets.
This year we decided to stick with a family minded theme only we gave things a BIG twist, LOL. All three of us sisters pitched in and bought experiences for all of the kids and their families.
What are experiences you might ask??? You know like season passes to the zoo, the Science Central, Wolf park, camping, ect.
Now, that wasn't the entire gift. You see, we could have just given each of them a gift and left it at that, BUT, that isn't how we sister work, LOL. No, they had to play games that we enhanced after our family game night searches, LOL.
We started with five boxes all Christmas wrapped one inside the other, with the final box holding an envelope inside saying they could not open until the last of the games were played. Now mind you this game sounds simple enough, however, we NOT only made them wear oven mitts to unwrap the boxes while the next person in line tried to get doubles on the big dice, we picked up for this, but they had to put on a flashy Santa hat, a flashing red nose, and a light up Christmas bulb necklace before they began trying to unwrap the gift, LOL. Oh my, was it funny.
Now mind you the kids had no idea we were planning this so imagine their surprise when they got to my sister's house and the normally present crowded dining room, wasn't so crowded, LOL. Then when we announced to receive your gifts, you have to go through our little torture, LOL.
Our next game was that saran wrap ball. You know the one that you pass around the circle while the next person tries to roll doubles on the dice. Yeah, that one. But again, we threw in a twist. We had these cards that had things on both sides that you had to do. Whenever one of those fell out of the roll, they had to stop, pick one of the two activities, do it, then they could continue trying to unwrap before the next person rolled doubles.
We did a Family Feud final round game. Asking our parents how they would answer certain questions about Christmas. The kids had to guess their answers. Of course, we made it fair, asking our parents to give their first and second answers.
We also did a Jeopardy round. Our board was made up of three categories, Who said it? Who did it? What Year? Everything pertained to someone in our family. Some of the questions were even a little family history for all the kids. The points ranged from 100 to 400 and whoever had the most points at the end won.
They also had to fish for candy canes with a homemade fishing pole where the hook was another candy cane and the candy canes they were fishing for were placed around the top of a bucket. Then another was wrap a present with two team members from two of the teams. Unfortunately for them, each team member only had one arm they could use, because we used a Santa scarf and tied their other hands together behind their backs, LOL. They also had to do a game where they were blindfolded, holding a spatula that was as tiny as we could find, LOL. In front of them was a Christmas bucket, and about 24 tiny bows. Their partner had to stand across the table from them and try to give them directions on where the bows were and they had to scoop them up with their little spatula and put them in their bucket, LOL. Good times, good times.
As a team won a gift, they would sit out until everyone had a gift in hand. BUT that wasn't the end. One member of each team (the teams were made up of each family, I believe I forgot to mention that earlier), got in a circle holding the envelope as my sister read a Christmas story to them. Each time she said the word, "Right" they would have to pass the envelope to the right, each time she said, "Left" they would have to pass it to their left.
And if all that wasn't enough, once they opened their envelopes and saw the family experiences inside, they had the option to trade off their experiences with another family so that each gift suited each family.
The laughter was amazing. The fun was thrilling. It was a beautiful night of family. A night I am sure to remember and chuckle about for many years to come.
I feel blessed to be able to finally feel free enough to really focus on what's most important in life. Family and adventure go hand in hand. I had been so consumed in the past with a job that refused to give me freedom even when I wasn't working, to remember this. Your job should never consume your entire existence. It is a job. A place you go to help you provide for your family, that's it. It is nothing more than that, regardless of your position.
Your days off and vacations should not be interrupted by your place of employment. You are entitled to your 'me' time. That job will go on whether you are there or not. Put your best foot forward while you're there, do your job to the best of your ability, and give it your attention during your working hours. But no company, no matter how big or small has the right to consume your whole life. Because there is a life to be lived outside of that place of business. There are children growing up right before your eyes.
Sure, children need to be taught a good work ethic, but they also need to be taught a good relax and play ethic as well. Balance that shit!!! Life isn't all about the job, it's also about adventures.
Everyone have a lovely day!!!
Blessings to all!!!
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