Friday, December 10, 2010

Giving away Christmas.

So yeah…we’ve talked about it, prayed about it, and we feel pretty strongly that this is the right thing for OUR family at this time. We are biting the bullet, having the ‘talk’, returning the gifts, and GIVING AWAY CHRISTMAS. Yes, you read that correctly – Christmas as we know it will not longer occur in the Norton household. We have been convicted, challenged, moved…whatever you want to call it…to make some changes, to ‘take a stand.’ For a while now it has been upsetting and unsettling to us how spoiled and ungrateful our kids are / can be. We have taken some other steps to improve this, but we feel like something drastic NEEDS to be done. We have too much STUFF as it is…we are slaves to it and certainly don’t need any more! On top of that, they had a conversation the other day that sealed it for us…Savy was asking when we were going to put up the tree…because we needed lights…because Santa won’t come if we don’t have lights!! Now, I’m not denying that it was a little cute…and we’ve been going back and forth on the decorating issue because we are moving in about 10 days (PRAISE GOD…we finally found a house in Hillandale’s District! – Now Savy can go to school with her brother next year ;) BUT…here is my issue…AND this is what I said ‘NOW HANG ON! Is Christmas REALLY JUST about lights and Santa?!?! I mean…WHO is Christmas REALLY about???’ Now…thankfully they both did respond with the correct sing-song ‘JESUS…’ answer! ;) But I was so irritated by then…

I wish we could totally quit cold-turkey…I would LOVE to do that, but then again I also think that is a little harsh – since we HAVE created this monster. So here is our plan…each person is getting 1 gift this year ($25 limit) from us…and Santa (yes…they still believe…) will still bring stockings. And that is IT. Now for the REST…for all the other people who we would normally buy gifts for (parents, siblings, teachers, friends, etc) we will be purchasing charitable gifts in their honor (the kids will pick these out). In addition – the kids will be helping to make cookies and crafts (ornaments, etc) and we will be delivering these to local nursing homes, hospitals, etc. We are also looking into local missions and soup kitchens to find a place where we can go and serve others on Christmas Day and throughout the Holiday season.
So, yeah – we (and by we…I mean Jay ;) loaded up the van yesterday and I returned ALL the gifts…then we sat down together (just the man and I) and had dinner on the couch. And to be honest…I don’t think we have ever felt so good about a joint decision we have made and done for our kids.

I leave you with the words of Tiny Tim…God bless us, everyone.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

God’s Grace is simply amazing....

I had a heartbreaking day at work on Monday…I had a L-O-N-G meeting, but that wasn’t the hard part.  It was the realization of ‘what could be’…that truly broke my heart.  I have very few students that come from a 2 parent, church-going, issue-free household ;)  But this new student in particular…hmmm.  Well, here’s the thing…if it were not for God’s Grace and the difference of probably 10-20 HORRIBLE days in his life…he could be…MY son.  Seriously, no kidding.  The entire time I was sitting there I just kept thinking…OH MY GOODNESS…this could be Justice.  This could SO be Justice…and THAT could be me (the mom sitting there!)  Really…for those of you that didn’t have the pleasure of knowing me…I was NOT an easy kid    I was…much like my sweet Justice…shocker, I know!  I was high maintenance, I have made mistakes, but we have raised a GREAT kid…but for the Grace of God.  Because, like I said….that could have been him, sitting there with me.  I could have NOT stopped with alcohol in college and turned to drugs…I could have had more kids…and then walked away at my wits end on a bad day…I could have stayed in THAT relationship, and he would have beat ME.  The reality of the difference of a few simple weeks and God’s sweet, pure, simple grace…was almost too much for me to handle that day…it has taken me several days to digest it all and get this blog done.