Happy Holidays!

Many blessings to you all for a joyful festive season and a new year filled with peace, love and joy.

We are enjoying the summer weather with lots of swimming and crafts and reading. AJ is happy that we have some extra guests in our house at the moment - baby geckos! They must have been in the roof and we've seen several in our bathroom so they are probably coming down through the heat lamp / light / fan. We recently had a baby blue tongue lizard in our back yard. It obviously wasn't well, but AJ cared for that critter for several days until it was still, and then buried him. We recently found a dead bat on the side of the road. It hadn't been there long as there were no bugs on it so we explored it for some time, felt it's thin leathery wings and the claws, stroked it's soft fur and felt a great tenderness for this mysterious creature of the night. So much so that we brought it home and buried it. AJ is such has such a sensitive side, he feels deeply for all animals and was very sad at the bat burial and the passing of his lizard friend.

Nicholas is more rough and tumble and into the smorgasbord of life, a joyful fellow who loves to do whatever AJ is doing or whatever else seems to be a good idea at the time.

Summer loves swimming and looking through cookbooks, playing her DS and singing. Last Sunday night she performed in the choir at a large Christmas celebration we went to with our regular Spiritual Gathering group. She's made a very nice friend through that group who lives just a few blocks away, and also homeschools.

All is well here.

celebrations

Cary arrived home on Thursday. The heat and humidity were a bit of a shock for him, but he's adjusting. We enjoyed a belated birthday celebration on thursday for him and the day after we celebrated Summer's 11th birthday. After some sunny days, it chose to rain all day on her birthday. As she had the magical birthday power to choose our outing for the day, we went to the movies and saw 'High School Musical 3'. Cute and fun in a candy kind of way. Then out for some pizza for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. Saw some friends in the evening and overall, I think she enjoyed her day.

I have been thinking about Christmas and the meaning it has for me and how it can be more meaningful for my family. I've also been on a mission to decrease even more material things. But how to do that within a homeschooling family that needs 'stuff'? So I didn't want Christmas to get out of control with excess decorations, presents, food etc. But I also remember being a child and how those things helped add to the anticipation that was all part of the excitement. I've also been concerned about my children being disappointed on christmas because they won't have a hundred gifts under the tree. - I was thinking they'd get the idea about this from speaking to other kids and watching some christmas movies where it shows a floor filled with gifts under a huge tree on christmas morning.

So I realised that I had several conflicting thoughts and that I was creating most of them in my own head. If I thought my kids might be disappointed, they probably would be. If I changed that to the joy they'll get from the few things they'll get, then we'll all be blessed.

We were driving to the mall the other day and I was starting to dread facing the crowds. Instead, I released that feeling and focused on the joy of anticipation, seeing the decorations and feeling the excitement instead of focusing on the materialistic side and complaining about that. I want my children to remember happy christmases, filled with fun and joy no matter where we are or what we are doing. That's really the main gift I want to give them.

blah blah

a quick little post...kind of crazy at the moment. Cary is still in the usa. He had his birthday last week and what did we give him? A phone call. Summer will turn 11 in 6 days. And I am just not ready for anything to do with Christmas. Though after Nicholas' pleading, I did give in a buy a cheap tree which he adores. We went to a mall last week that I usually avoid and I could not wait to get out of there. Too much 'stuff'! people rushing around with no smiles but big bags filled with stuff. Where is the meaning??????

Last week we happened to catch some filming of a kids show "H2O" about three teenaged girls who turn into mermaids when they get wet. It's usually filmed at the local Warner Bros. studio, but they were on location at 'our' headland. So we stopped and watched for a while. AJ got a bit bored as each scene took sooooo long to film and they did it over and over from different angles. Summer was excited and had "a million questions". If we'd had our camera, the kids could have had their pic taken with the girls, but of course I didn't.

Some travelling homeschool friends that we met when we were on the road are back in town. They have 3 kids and one of their sons and AJ are best friends. All the kids get on well together so it's lots of fun when we get together.

Just got off the phone from Cary who said he'll be home on thursday. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!