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Old 12-10-2008, 09:52 PM   #1  
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Default I'm so happy!!!



This year has been horrible for DH and I. Earlier this year his employer went bankrupt. Thankfully within a week I got a full time job. I wasn't making nearly enough as DH so we started going into debt....but we were still hopefull that DH would find a job. This worked out well all summer until I lost my job in September. My jobsite closed down. Since the time DH lost his job he probably applied at 200 different places here which is a lot since this are is so small. A couple of months ago DH FINALLY got a job offer, but the town is 15 hours away. My kids miss him like crazy and so do I. We are trying to sell our house in this crappy housing market....and it's been on the market for 2 months now. We are living paycheck to paycheck (paying morgage here and rent for him up there). We still have the debt...but we'll pay it off as soon as the house sells.

I have been so depressed lately thinking about what Christmas is going to be like for my kids. They are 3 and 5 and huge into Santa. I kept thinking how crappy it's going to be for them when all of the things they asked for from Santa they won't get. I managed to buy them one small gift each, so hopefully they will be happy with what I chose.

Your probably wondering why I'm happy. Well today I woke up and said "Smarten up! Don't be miserable!". So I came online, googled for some ideas and today I have broken up all of the kids crayon stubs and made them new crayons. I printed them off some transformer and spongebob coloring pages. I've made playdough. I made fingerpaints. So now my kids will each have a coloring book (5 year old LOVES transformers and 3 year old LOVES spongebob), brand new cool crayons I made, playdough and paint. Even though Christmas isn't going to be big and extravagant this year, I'm hoping these small gifts will mean a lot to the kids. i have more craft ideas that I am trying to figure out.

I'm just so happy that I kicked myself out of the rut and can think positively about it all!

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Old 12-10-2008, 10:01 PM   #2  
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aww... you are such a good mom. Those kids are lucky to have you around.
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Old 12-10-2008, 10:12 PM   #3  
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WAY TO GO KIDDO!!!! You still have you're brains so that puts you a step up!!
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Old 12-10-2008, 10:16 PM   #4  
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You still have you're brains so that puts you a step up!!


Sometimes I wonder.
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Old 12-10-2008, 10:41 PM   #5  
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wow - now if that's not a gift from the heart, I don't know what is...

You are an inspiration babygrant - wishing you a MUCH better year ahead and a happy holiday season.
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Old 12-10-2008, 10:56 PM   #6  
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My kids are grown, but their favorite gifts were the ones I made. Congrats on stepping up and doing what you CAN do to make their Christmas special.

I hope your family is blessed this Christmas! Enjoy! You and your family are in my prayers!
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Old 12-10-2008, 10:56 PM   #7  
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wow - now if that's not a gift from the heart, I don't know what is...

You are an inspiration babygrant - wishing you a MUCH better year ahead and a happy holiday season.
Thank you!!!
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Old 12-10-2008, 11:01 PM   #8  
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Great job!!

On years where we were having problems, we would call the food banks and christmas hamper charities and see if they were willing to help out...

They provide plenty of food (healthy food) and toys for the kids. It never hurts to ask for help as well

I also live for dollar stores!!
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Old 12-10-2008, 11:16 PM   #9  
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Great job!!

On years where we were having problems, we would call the food banks and christmas hamper charities and see if they were willing to help out...

They provide plenty of food (healthy food) and toys for the kids. It never hurts to ask for help as well

I also live for dollar stores!!
The food banks here are dry. The place my hubby worked at was a huge saw mill that employed 400+ guys.

Our dollar stores here BLOW. They are "dollar or more" stores.
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:15 PM   #10  
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Congrats to you! You've made some wonderful gifts! Be sure and check some of the thrift stores. I don't know about Canada, but this time of year people donate stuff to get the tax write off. You might find some puzzles and stuff there.
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:27 PM   #11  
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Homemade gifts are just as meaningful to most (especially kids) as store bought ones, if not more so. They speak for the heart so much more than something from the store.

Your kids are young enough that they won't see anything but the love that went into these gifts.

Congratulations on working through the financial problems (sorry to hear about them, btw) and still making the kids' Christmas magical.

ETA: More things that you could do would be to create a "coupon book" full of things they like to do - a trip to the park, a trip to the bookstore (my 2 y/o uses this all the time to play with the trainset), a special afternoon with mom, getting out of some chores. They don't have to be coupons to things that cost money, just things that the kids will appreciate. I don't know what kid wouldn't want to get out of cleaning his room once in awhile

Last edited by zeffryn; 12-11-2008 at 05:16 PM.
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:33 PM   #12  
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babygrant, I burst into tears when I read your post..your kids are so lucky to have a good momma
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Old 12-11-2008, 02:35 PM   #13  
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Also--there are several churches that are having song services around Christmas, you could also take your five-year-old some place to donate some of the toys they no longer use to people less fortunate, also go caroling if you can!
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