Let's Celebrate!! - A Wendy Post!

When I was in junior high I won a book at Sandy Cove Bible Camp:  Shadows Don't Hurt by Linda Massey Weddle.  The book starts out like this:

"I think we must be the only family in the world who celebrates Arbor Day and Benjamin Franklin's birthday.  You see, it's because of my mom.  She believes that life itself is a celebration, so she makes green Jell-O in honor of the trees, and she ices cakes with squiggles of lightninglike frosting in honor of Ben."

 This book really made an impression on me, and even back then, I thought- "I want to be that kind of mom."  I came about this quite honestly, because my mom threw birthday parties like no other!  My mom will often nowadays marvel at something I've cooked or made or made time for, but I think she's forgotten all that she used to do for us!

My birthday is the day before Halloween, so I had plenty of Halloween-themed parties.  I think this is also in part because Mom bought a Halloween-themed cake pan that could be decorated a number of ways, and we wanted to get our money's worth!  For one party, she had a "witch" come.  The witch took us in the basement and told a story of a little girl who was killed, (I can't remember if the witch killed her, or what!).  She then brought out bags of body parts.  We had to stick our hand in each bag and guess what body part was in there!  By the way, I had plenty of sweet, doll-type parties too!

My mom and dad also celebrated Children's Day every year, including giving us each a present.  (I never hear about Children's Day nowadays.  You?)  We made May baskets and I was encouraged to make crafts and cards for nearly any holiday I wanted to.

The writing was probably on the wall when, as a highschooler, I put out cards on Christmas Eve for all the reindeer and as a college student I was still leaving letters for Santa.  Keep in mind that I never for one second actually believed in Santa.  In fact, I popped that bubble for my best friend, Bethany, when we were in second grade.  After that I learned that it's best not to share the truth about Santa!

Today is the first day of Spring, so of course we celebrated.  How can one not celebrate??  (This will be a repeat for you if you are my facebook friend.)

It's odd, because I don't have a particularly sunny personality, and I'm kind-of a low-energy-type person, but I Looovee to celebrate.

April Fool's Day

 The Olympics

Birthdays, (of course- have a million of those.)

Fall

President's Day

Leap Year/Day

The list could go on and on, really.

I don't have a lot of use for New Year's Eve, New Year's Day or St. Patrick's Day, but I still have made homemade fortune cookies for New Year's Day and this year we did green jello pinwheels for St. Patrick's Day.

All that to say, please know that although this is my thing, don't feel guilty, because we each have a thing.  Or several things.

One of my things is not decorating!  At some point after moving to Carmel my lovely mother brought me two tablecloths.  She then mentioned that perhaps my home could use some fabric!  It's true!  I have almost no curtains or carpet and things are a little plain-jane around here.  Actually, they are messy and plane-jane.

Sometimes I have a hard time getting past my own imperfection to celebrate, even though it is my thing.  A few years ago I began doing Secret Keeper Girl dates with the girls.  (If you aren't familiar with them, and have 8-12 year old girls in your life, check them out!)

www.secretkeepergirl.com

Anyway, I had a hard week, I was stressed, and the house was a WRECK.  Our first date was supposed to be a feminine, lovely, tea party and I did not have one clean room in my house.  I had made some fun food and I purchased a teacup to give to Noelle and a mug to give to Denali.  However, I wasn't feeling it.  My heart was just NOT in it.  I prayed about it, took a deep breath and confronted the ugly truth that life is not perfect, I am not perfect, and we oh-so-often have to take Plan B, (C, D, E, F...), and run with it.  With a better outlook, I set up a card table outside in the beautiful outdoors and it seemed enchanting.  Only I knew that my feelings had followed my action, and not the other way around.

Enjoy your thing, whatever it is that God has given you.  Maybe it is

being funny

gardening

hair & make-up

animals

sports

botany

I don't know what it is.  But I bet you do!

I admire my homeschooling friend who can cook truly gourmet meals and make beautiful paper snowflakes.  I adore my cousin who has such a way with words - 

www.tryingnot2blink.com

It would be lovely if my kiddos had a clue, an ever-loving CLUE about sports, especially since I always liked sports, was even a P.E. teacher.  But it is not their thing.  Today Micah said, "I have no idea what people are talking about at basketball games, so I just say whatever they are saying, 'Rebound!'."

Your family is soooo blessed by your thing.

God can use your thing.

Enjoy your thing.