The good...

I love, love, love Cullen and I love, love, love the gift of generosity.
Here my poor darling husband came home from working out in this crazy weather and tried to lay down. Kylie is here and the kids were playing. I tried to keep them quiet so Cullen could get some much needed and deserved sleep, but it didn't work so well. Then the neighbor came over. His son in law is up at the cabin, and he couldn't get the snow blower to work and wondered if Cullen could help.

So I went in. I felt horrible for waking him up, but how many times has Cullen gone to do the driveway only to find it's been done? Or gone to mow and Other Chuck comes over with his rider? I went in and whisper asked him if he'd mind terribly getting up and helping D get the snow blower going.
The next thing I know, I see him over the blowing their driveway for them. D and O were out there shovelling, and in no time at all, it was taken care of. I felt so proud seeing him do that. I just love it.
I say it all the time, but in this crazy society we have set up where we all break off into these teeny, tiny families and try to "make it" on our own (which doesn't work!! It doesn't! Our kids shouldn't go away 6 weeks after they are born! Everything in us tells us it's wrong! We shouldn't be "forced" to work to maintain our extravagant lives!), where more people than not live by TO EACH THEIR OWN and SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST...well, it's just good to have landed in a space where we have good neighbors.

And I love nothing more than seeing people think of others instead of themselves. Guess what my precious babies got to do? 2 nights ago Cullen took CJ and Josh to the store with him to pick up a couple of things. The bell ringer called out to them, and they stopped to put money in. He asked if CJ and Josh would like to ring the bells with him, and pulled out 2 bells! They were so happy to help. Cullen went in and shopped and my sweet babies rang the bell and a steady stream of givers stopped by to contribute. Isn't that the BEST?!?!?!?! What a sweetheart that bell ringer was. And my darling husband bought him a $10 subway gift card for volunteering his time and helping us in teaching the kids about doing and giving and the difference they can make.

I'm pretty sure at some point after Christmas I am going to tell the kids The Truth about Christmas. It feels horrible lying to them and so many things don't make sense. Our kids trust us to tell them the truth about stuff and I really dislike the lying. So at some point after Christmas I am going to talk to CJ and Josh, and we're going to have a discussion about Santa and how we are Santa's to so many people in so many ways. It's not about buying a ton of shit. It's about giving from the heart. Coloring pictures for Bob. Cleaning someone's car off for them. The way they hug me when I whimper when I'm being tag teamed to death. How freakin SWEET they are as they sit around making eachother gifts. We can research Santa and St. Nicholas and learn all about who St. Nick was, and how the idea of Santa came to be. We will talk about Jesus and why we make such a big deal about his birth and how we can continue to act like Jesus and Santa, and Buddah, and Allah, and Krishna and all of the people we "look up" to. How we can share love, especially with those whose lives are not like ours. There are kids suffering right now, people being beat by spouses right now, people outside in this horrible weather right now. There are also people who opened up their hearts and houses to someone who would otherwise be outside right now, and someone else is feeding someone who'd be hungry....there is so much good going on. Did you see the HALO awards? Freaking AWESOME! Helping And Leading Others--- Nick Cannon hosted and these people are TEENAGERS and they are doing AMAZING THINGS. GOD, it was just the best to watch. It made me cheer so loudly and cry happy tears. Good things ARE happening. Not everyone is wrapped up in their own lives. It's awesome. LOVE IT!