Thanksgiving 2009

Before

After


In Short, it was a great Thanksgiving. Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful day as well.

I know A Secret

I know why it is so much harder for modern moms to raise their kids than it was for early 1900's -1950's moms.
exhibit A- No child labor laws
exhibit B- corporal punishment in school. (think about it "do your homework" takes on a whole new meaning if when you don't get it done you have to write on the board through recess) Now they just call and nag the parents.
exhibit C- No worries when it came to letting them wander about outside alone. My dad once lost track of me in Bloomingdales (Nowadays they wouldn't worry with the parent, they would prosecute them)
exhibit D- Children consumed less calories, and much less sugar. (I can't imagine giving a sugar virgin a sugar cookie on Christmas Eve-lookout world!)
exhibit E-Neighborhoods were close knit communities who looked out for one another.
exhibit F- No violent cartoons or kids shows meant they had to imagine tortureing one another up on their own, and it was just as easy to devise a method of play as it was to not be nice.
exhibit G- No wasted time. Wise men have said "idle hands, idle minds"
exhibit H- Wii is blaring, DS is on, The mp3 player is on standby and you must raise your voice for them to hear you. (Pushing buttons for kids had a wholly different meaning fifty years ago)
exhibit I- Moms couldn't do anything but be a mom so they wanted to be the best at it.
exhibit J- In short being a mom in 2009 isn't as easy as it looks so cut yourself some slack.
WARNING: this post makes lavish use of sarcasm, if you are someone who does not understand sarcasm it means that I do not agree with corporal punishment or child labor with the exception of cleaning their bedrooms, but have included these items in the hopes of being amusing. If you are however offended in someway by what was written I apologize profusely and will add that no children were harmed in the making of this post.

What I Did Today.

We didn't make it to church today as I came down with the worst sore throat and chills. That is right, we have the I word! INFLUENZA!!! I do not know which type as the Doctor didn't see fit to test for the two types. We did get meds so that has been great. My kids are dying to set up the Christmas decorations early, and I am not much in the mood for that as it is a tradition extending back as far as I can remember to do it Thanksgiving day. We studied scriptures, watched a few Christmas movies, and moved our computer to our living room (it was in a den, but the Baby would run and unplug it always when I was in the middle of an essay or short story. We moved it to the front bedroom so that I could shut the door, let the baby play toys and work on stuff in the room while dad watched the baby, but in addition to Pres. Hinkleys council that computers should be in common rooms the baby decided that toys are not the fun thing- Mommy is, and dad tends to agree.) It is more crowded, but then there is no ability for kids to sneak online when they should be doing other things. I am glad that we moved it. I am thinking about giving my turkey an extra day or two to defrost. I will never understand Black Friday. My friends are all gearing up, and I am thinking that no deal on black Friday is worth Black Death, stabbings, muggings, general competition. I have a theory that it is people who wish they were olympians that love the Black Friday Crazy for a toaster. I could be wrong of course, maybe Black Friday is the adrenaline equivalent of hang gliding, rock, climbing, or cliff jumping. I can't help but wonder if the risk of injury or death is higher Friday morning at Walmart than at the peak of most mountains. I like the thrill of mailing Christmas Cards Friday, and decorating to Christmas music and Movies. I guess I am just very old fashioned.