'Tis the season to go shopping....
Fa La La La La, La La La La!
Christmas Wish Lists keep me hopping...
Fa La La La La, La La La La....
Oh, yes. The consumer season is upon us. I'm not a big shopper for most of the year, but give me a reason to shop and permission to spend and I'm right out there with the best of them.
What really gets me...in the wallet...are all those shiny gadgets, colorful gift boxes, and new, never marketed before, glossy or sparkly, or just plain cute...THINGS just begging to be bought!
During the year I walk past displays in Target (or Wal-Mart--I don't discriminate), head held high, motivation intact. Nope. Don't need that. I came for the dog food on sale. I don't need the latest sweater or the matching individual casserole bowls in fall colors. But starting with Black Friday, I am way-laid by the sparkly tops. I gaze at the Christmas dishes. I find my cart filling with cute toys for kids, 'adorable' stocking stuffers, and...oops...what to my wondering eyes should appear, but holiday wineglasses to help spread the cheer!
And I confess I am a sucker for a MAN gadget in a gift pack!
Let's face it. Is there anyone harder to shop for than a man? First of all, most men can't come up with a (decent) list of things they want for Christmas so it's really their own fault when they end up with the stuff marketed for men at Christmas. And even if they do give you a wish list, it's for work gloves or something silly like drill bits! I mean, what kind of gift is that? It's like giving me an iron! Why don't they want fun stuff? How many wrenches, drill bits, or black electric tape can they use?
And that is the crux of the problem and the reason for all those glitzy gift packs. Women like shiny and glitzy. Men like useful and practical. The result is predictable. He gets the charging station and the matching briefcase, billfold and credit card holder, when what he really wants are the floor mats for his truck. She gets the crockpot and set of cookbooks from the Food Network, when she was hoping he'd go to Jared's.
Do we need anymore evidence that 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'? Christmas should be the exclamation point on that concept!
Before I close, I need to add a disclaimer here. My husband and I both go towards the practical side. I like a bit of glitz in my own life and I am guilty of buying that gift item marketed towards women to buy for men, but overall, most of the gifts we buy for each other are simple, practical, and right on target. He doesn't really need to go to Jared's to reach my heart.
And now...back to the store. There are only a few shopping days left and I'm pretty sure I hear Target calling my name.
Fa La La La La La La La LA!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
It's been a tough weekend. A community in Connecticut is reeling from a tragedy that is unimaginable. While we go about our lives putting up trees and wrapping presents they are planning funerals. What else they are going through, I can not even imagine, and I won't try. I haven't gone through anything like what they are. I won't put myself in their place.
I had a blog post ready to go, but it is way to cheery, blythe, and light-hearted to post just now. I will post it in a day or two. But I felt as if I needed to say something. So I will speak to one area I do know. I was a teacher. My daughter and son-in-law are teachers, as is my niece and two of my husband's cousins.
I remember one interview I had for a pre-school teaching position. It took place at night. Shortly after we began, the power went out and we were thrust into darkness. As they searched for candles or flashlights, a faceless voice said, "Mrs. Rosenberry, if this happened when you had a roomful of children, what would you do?" I thought for a moment and then answered that in a calm voice I would tell the children to be very quiet and listen to my voice. Then I would tell them to carefully walk towards my voice. Shortly after that the power came back on. (I guess I did ok. I got the job.)
Teachers handle all kinds of situations from fire drills to lock-downs. I was teaching in an elementary school on 9-11. It was so hard to know what to tell children. My daughter tried to find the right words, the right balance, for her 4th graders. Later, I listened to the stories of teachers in an elementary school near the World Trade Center as they took care of their children until parents could get there. I tried to imagine what it was like for them. A friend of mine lived in Arkansas in 1998 when the middle school in his town was targeted. He was not a teacher then, but he did become one later.
Nothing can prepare you for a school shooting, but learning how to calm children becomes inherent in the job. Drills help them set the stage and help children respond calmly when panic could ensue. Even so, there is always one child who knows 'it's just practice', but still gets really scared. We take that one by the hand and help them lead everyone else.
Now that I've said all that, I want to add that every story I've heard this weekend about teachers makes me so proud of them. They were heroes. They hid them, read stories to them, made it into a game of pretend, or told them a fox was in the hallway. They found amazing ways to keep the children calm and protect them when surely they knew it was very bad out there.
They are heroes.
But it's not over.
When school reopens, be it this week or in January, they will have to do it all over again. They will have to help their students find a sense of normalcy while validating their fears. There will be counselors all over that school, but after the parents, the classroom teacher will be a student's first counselor, and the one that will be there every day, all day, whenever a child's fear bubbles to the top.
No teacher goes into teaching thinking about protecting a classroom full of children from a crazed killer. But when fate puts them in that situation, they rise to meet it with courage, calm, and ingenuity. They do it well.
I had a blog post ready to go, but it is way to cheery, blythe, and light-hearted to post just now. I will post it in a day or two. But I felt as if I needed to say something. So I will speak to one area I do know. I was a teacher. My daughter and son-in-law are teachers, as is my niece and two of my husband's cousins.
I remember one interview I had for a pre-school teaching position. It took place at night. Shortly after we began, the power went out and we were thrust into darkness. As they searched for candles or flashlights, a faceless voice said, "Mrs. Rosenberry, if this happened when you had a roomful of children, what would you do?" I thought for a moment and then answered that in a calm voice I would tell the children to be very quiet and listen to my voice. Then I would tell them to carefully walk towards my voice. Shortly after that the power came back on. (I guess I did ok. I got the job.)
Teachers handle all kinds of situations from fire drills to lock-downs. I was teaching in an elementary school on 9-11. It was so hard to know what to tell children. My daughter tried to find the right words, the right balance, for her 4th graders. Later, I listened to the stories of teachers in an elementary school near the World Trade Center as they took care of their children until parents could get there. I tried to imagine what it was like for them. A friend of mine lived in Arkansas in 1998 when the middle school in his town was targeted. He was not a teacher then, but he did become one later.
Nothing can prepare you for a school shooting, but learning how to calm children becomes inherent in the job. Drills help them set the stage and help children respond calmly when panic could ensue. Even so, there is always one child who knows 'it's just practice', but still gets really scared. We take that one by the hand and help them lead everyone else.
Now that I've said all that, I want to add that every story I've heard this weekend about teachers makes me so proud of them. They were heroes. They hid them, read stories to them, made it into a game of pretend, or told them a fox was in the hallway. They found amazing ways to keep the children calm and protect them when surely they knew it was very bad out there.
They are heroes.
But it's not over.
When school reopens, be it this week or in January, they will have to do it all over again. They will have to help their students find a sense of normalcy while validating their fears. There will be counselors all over that school, but after the parents, the classroom teacher will be a student's first counselor, and the one that will be there every day, all day, whenever a child's fear bubbles to the top.
No teacher goes into teaching thinking about protecting a classroom full of children from a crazed killer. But when fate puts them in that situation, they rise to meet it with courage, calm, and ingenuity. They do it well.
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