Not Me Monday - Christmas Edition

There's still over week until Christmas yet I have accumulated enough Not Me's since Thanksgiving to dedicate this week's post entirely to Christmas. I've already made a mental note to myself to read this post right after Thanksgiving next year so I don't find myself in the same situations again. I take that back. Some of these short cuts I've taken worked for me. Maybe you do them to, but haven't admitted it until now. They say confession is good for the soul so join me and others who benefit from this free therapy session each week at My Charming Kids.

I did not find a typo in my Christmas letter after I put seven of them in envelopes, but before I sent them out. I did not send them out anyway. I did not write over my mistake in pen and send the "corrected" letter to a bunch of people so I didn't have to buy more paper.

I did not drag all our Christmas boxes up from the basement more than two weeks ago.
This picture wasn't taken yesterday. Not a chance! I would never leave this stuff sitting around the entire month of December. I haven't come up with a plan to stash the boxes and bins outside on the porch when we have company over on the 28th. Not me!

I didn't drool over the 14 and 15 foot Christmas trees the day we picked out ours. We didn't put our 10 1/2 foot tree inside the van for the ride home because a few pine needles were only a drop in the bucket compared to the mess inside my van.


When it came time to decorate our tree I didn't rearrange most of the ones my dear children placed on the same two branches.


See our star dangling off to the right of the smoke detector? What? You can't see it because it isn't lit? That's right. Our star isn't lit most of the time. It's a Moravian star that is lit by a non-replaceable bulb. I keep it unplugged to save electricity - not because I don't want to have to replace a $20 decoration every couple of years.

You can't see it behind the gifts, but I got a new tree "skirt" this year. If you could see it, it wouldn't look like a white fleecy blanket wrapped around the tree stand. Nope. Not one bit. I would never buy a cheap blanket at Walmart to cover the ugly tree stand with the intention of handing it over to Julia after Christmas to use on her bed. Not me!

When Julia asked to watch a video instead of helping finish up our gingerbread house, I didn't give in just so PapaBear and I could work uninterrupted on our...er...their creation.


Our kids are not getting toys that I bought off of Craigslist or at Once Upon A Child. I am not taking full advantage of the fact that they won't have a clue their gift isn't brand new.

I did not chose a cookie recipe that takes 3 hours to finish. Nope. Not me! I know better than to spend that much time making 12 cookies.

Our stockings are not still waiting to be hung on our railing two weeks after we decorated the rest of the house. I am not overwhelmed by the task of decorating a different house with decorations that don't "go" here. I am not handling it by simply ignoring it.


When I went to the post office to mail a gift and buy stamps I wasn't the mom who pretended the screaming children in the corner weren't hers. That was NOT me! Nor was I the one who put the wrong stamps on and had to peel them back off.

I didn't force my children into slave labor to get my gift wrapping done. Who thinks they can get MORE done that way? Not me!



The white paper is paper I have been using for the past 4 years.
The blue paper? Bought on sale after Christmas last year.

I did not wrap six gifts the other day before I realized they are almost identical.

I did not return this vest that BrotherBear is wearing in this photo after he wore it for our Christmas card shoot. I would never do that. (I did intend to keep it, but then I found a better deal on a different coat, but couldn't justify both coats.)



I am not sooo sick of hearing Charlie Brown Christmas songs because we let the kids watch the movie year round. I am not disappointed by the fact that I'm starting to get sick of Christmas music in general. I don't blame the radio stations for playing the same 20 songs over and over again all day.


I didn't go straight for my computer to figure out why Julia's cheeks were white when PapaBear and the cubs came in from playing the other day.


Julia did not end up with frost nip. I didn't think that she was old enough to tell me when she got cold and wanted to come in.


We are not 5 days behind on our advent chain. Not me - the one who blogged about our advent activities and have been slacking on following through with this one. I do not lose all motivation when PapaBear isn't home to help with bedtime and our nightly Bible verse. I don't use that as an excuse to rush through our routine and let the kids read to themselves instead of me reading to them.


I did not send the following letter to Santa. Nope. Not this grown up.

Dear Santa, Please don't put me on your naughty list for the fibs I've told these past 12 weeks in my Not Me posts. They are all written in good fun and provide an outlet for people around the world.

If our family's focus appears to be on CHRISTmas more than you, you'll have to excuse us. That's just how it is in our family. But....If you have room in that sleigh of yours, I would love some patience, a crockpot that magically creates a healthy and tasty dinner for four, and a few extra hours in each day.

Yours truly, MamaBear