Christmas Strings

A few weeks ago, I posted THIS note on how thrilling it was to have two more kids joining the family’s strings group. Well, yesterday, our little group got to perform those Christmas songs for the residents of Custer Care Assisted Living Center. We had such fun. It’s great to have an audience to share our songs with.

Flylady and Perfectionism and Decorating on the Fly in Zone 1

Ever since I wrote about perfectionism a couple of days ago, I’ve noticed more subtle occasions when perfectionism tries to sneak into my life. For example, I had purchased and decorated my Christmas wreaths for Zone 1. I had only to purchase the door hangers, which I did. Then, right before I was about to hang the wreaths, I decided that I would add bows made from the leftover ribbon from my Glittery Fruit Wreath. That was when perfectionism sneaked up on me.

I found myself frustrated with making the bows because they didn’t look “perfect” and I came very, very close to setting the whole project aside. Well, you know what happens when you set aside a project because of perfectionism! Those wreaths, hangers and all, would have been right where I left them on my kitchen counter, quietly, constantly reminding me that I needed to finish them, until I got fed up with their nagging and banished them to the storeroom until “later” when I had time to make a “perfect” bow.

In that scenario, we wouldn’t be enjoying the wreaths or the decorating I’d already done on them. AND I would have an unfinished project lurking in the back of my mind. So, instead of banishing the wreaths, I banished perfectionism. I looked online for simple bow-making instructions that might work with the ribbon I had. In the course of about 10 minutes, I came up with a couple of decent, presentable bows that were NOT perfect, I attached them to my wreaths and I hung the wreaths on our front and back doors to be enjoyed throughout the holiday season.

That was one perfectionism situation recognized, hauled into the light and dealt with. Wait until I tell you about the gift-giving perfectionism, though….

P.S. This is my 100th post!

Christmas Family Fun

Our Family Fun this weekend involved the production of a multitude of sugar cookie Christmas trees, stockings, candy canes, snowmen and bells, along with an entire army of gingerbread men and women. Since I really dislike rolling out cookie dough, I was very grateful for Levi’s enthusiasm for the job. The younger kids cut out and sprinkled most of the sugar cookies, but the older kids got fairly wild and crazy with the gingerbread folk. I do believe some of them will be making an appearance on Facebook soon.

If abundant laughter = Family Fun, then we had some on Sunday afternoon.

Christmas Decorating on the FLY in Zone 1

I was so excited about my new wreath that I decided to hang it on my pantry door where I can view it all of the time. So, when I read the Decorating on the FLY in Zone 1 this week, I decided to deliberately purchase some inexpensive outdoor wreaths and one strand of additional outdoor lights. I got two, $2 wreaths and a $1 strand of red garland, which I wrapped around each of them. They are now going to be hung on our front and back doors. If the weather becomes frightful, I have no worries since I didn’t really invest much in either wreath nor put many additional decorations on. Yet, the glittering garland is rather festive, I think.

The lights I bought probably fall into this month’s habit category since I love big, colorful, bulb-y Christmas lights. It was a treat to me to buy an additional strand so our two porches now have coordinating lights. (Joey said he knew I would do that since I like symmetry and matching and stuff like that. Oh, he’s so clever, isn’t he?)

So, for about $10, we’ve decorated a little more for Christmas.

Twice the Family Fun

On Saturday, we had the Family Fun of putting up Christmas decorations…twice. In the morning, we helped our dear friend, Cindy, decorate her Bed and Breakfast. Cindy is a very flexible person when it comes to decorating, so we had a great time being creative with her decorations. She let the kids do pretty much whatever they wanted to do in setting up her Christmas villages and stringing garland everywhere. AND she fed them all pizza when we were done.

In the evening, we began putting up our decorations. Joey got the lights up, which set the mood for the rest of the decorating. And instead of making it a marathon session on Saturday, we put up some decorations on Sunday afternoon, too.

I used to have some expectation of the decorating being a scene from a Christmas movie, with carols playing in the background and every child cooperatively, joyfully participating. The reality is that the interest varies among the kids. This year, Charlotte, Eleanor, Lydia and Margaret were all enthusiasm while the other kids drifted in and out. (Anne was quite enthralled, too, but she was more interested in how great the lights looked and how much she could get away with undecorating the tree.) Because of all of the practice I’ve had with Flylady of recognizing and letting go of perfectionism, decorating really was Family Fun. It was okay that not everyone was participating every moment of the process. It was okay that we got it done in spurts.

So, our home is festively arrayed. The lights are twinkling. The tree is laden with a motley combination of well-loved ornaments. Our advent calendars are hung and ready for today. And we had Family Fun doing it.

Flylady, Christmas and My Flybabies

Several years ago, Amelia, Clara and Jacob began using their 4-H premium money to buy Christmas gifts. The younger kids have followed suit and it works out really well. The other day, Margaret and Eleanor had already made out their gift lists, so we went Christmas shopping. They did a splendid job of keeping to their lists and not getting distracted by other items for sale AND staying well within their budgets. I am so happy to see my little Flybabies planning ahead and sticking to a budget. They are well on their way to FLYing!

And they even have their gifts wrapped, already.

Flylady and Christmas Music

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday. Last summer, I spent some time de-cluttering our music CDs. So, yesterday, when I went to get out the Christmas CDs, I found them all in one spot, ready to go.

Christmas is coming….

Flylady and Music

I got a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) thrill last night when all six of our strings-playing children played together for the first time! What this means is that Margaret and Eleanor have now progressed to the point of being able to join Amelia, Clara, Jacob and Tim (and Joey and me) in our family strings group. To hear three violins, a viola and two cellos cranking out our familiar Christmas tunes was, well, music to my ears.

What does this have to do with Flylady? Well, when I developed a Control Journal with my Flylady routines, we set a specific time each week to practice special music for church. Establishing that habitual time for all of us to get together to practice has been a huge blessing.

But, then I thought about another Flylady association when it comes to playing music. None of us learned to play these instruments overnight. We all play at this level because we practiced day after day, year after year, sometimes 15 minutes at a time.

Holiday Control Journal

I printed off the Holiday Control Journal the other day. This is the first Christmas season that I’ve been on Flylady and I’m so excited about the possibilities. Just reading the introduction is motivating.

And, with the snow coming down the way it is right now, I am doubly motivated to start thinking and planning ahead for Christmas….