The boxes are still scattered around upstairs and I still
haven’t found the nativity set. Of
course, I haven’t had that much time to look for it but we’re half way to
Christmas and I’m still running behind.
My goal is to not be stressed out about that. The cards and newsletters are printed, but
not in envelopes. I wish they could mail
themselves.
Both Kory and I were having second thoughts about all the
fuss we make for Christmas and what it really costs to keep up traditions. Kaleb’s getting old enough now that he might
be willing to switch gears a little and do things differently, but all the
preparations seem so hollow. We want to
focus more on the meaning, so we’ll see how that desire plays out this year.
This week has been consumed with Kaleb becoming a
teenager. We took him to the Space Needle
for lunch on Tuesday with his mentor, John Foreman, so we were gone all
day. Wednesday we had the neighbors and
Grammy J here for lunch and some other friends dropped by in the afternoon, so
that took care of that day. Saturday
will be spent downtown Seattle with Kaleb and his buddies going to a big arcade
down there and celebrating his birthday with his pals, so I haven’t had much
time to get stuff done – the least of which will be Christmas baking. Turning 13, apparently, is a big deal.
We bought Kaleb a few things he really wanted for his
birthday, and then surprised him with the news that we’re taking him to Florida
in a few weeks to go to Disneyworld and Universal Studios – a sort of farewell
to his childhood years now that he’s becoming a young man. And with all that – the only thing he was
really excited about and went on and on about – is that now that he’s 13 he can
have his own Facebook account! Something
that costs nothing, but connects him easily to his friends in Norway and here,
and I’m sure if that’s all that he got for his birthday, he would have been
just fine with that. I was kicking
myself afterwards. At least now I have
another “tool” to use as motivation for him to complete his chores and schoolwork,
since that’s an easy thing to restrict him from if he doesn’t obey. In just a few hours he’d already gotten 28
“friends.” It seems he’s already drank
the Facebook Kool-aid as I had to order him off it the first night to get to
bed and first thing the next morning it was better than an alarm clock, as he
was up and checking his account to see who had accepted his friend
requests. Oh, brother.
I do look forward to the teenage years with him. He’s been so advanced his whole life so I’m
thinking he’s already been through those snarly difficult teenager years –
starting at about age 8, and now he’s passed them. Wishful thinking perhaps, but I do believe
these years with him with be special. I
bought him the book “Do Hard Things” – written by twin teenage boys about rebelling
again low expectations for teenagers and not letting them get lazy or
surly. I’ll be assigning him that to
read for his health class for school. I
also bought him “The Power of Positive Thinking” and “How to Win Friends and
Influence People.” Who says “health” has
to be just about our physical bodies?
With that kid, his mind controls it all.
At his birthday lunch, Grammy J (age 75) asked for some
Sweet-n-Low to put in her coffee. I only
have that stuff in our house for when she comes over. It’s so artificial I can’t stand it. As I gave it to her, I also gave her my
opinion of her putting something so nasty in her body when I said, “This stuff
will make you die young,” to which Kaleb immediately replied, “It’s a little
late for that.” We all had a good laugh
over that one. Quick thinker – that kid. We are indeed blessed to have him in our
lives.
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