Forego Black Friday, Cancel Cyber Monday, Go with Giving Tuesday!

Mappy Thanksmaskuh!

It's November, possibly one of my favorite months out of the calendar year. The weather is cooler in most parts of the country (annoyingly the same in Florida), but not quite freezing. Halloween is over, the candy has all been eaten or "donated" in our case, and there's a stillness in the air. That calm before the storm so to speak, a quiet month of reflection on gratitude and all that truly matters. The sense of impending fulfillment that can only come from watching your crazy relatives do what they do best, drive each other crazy! Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday, because it was the simplest of all the holidays. No muss no fuss, just food, family and lots of love.

(*Best Holiday movie EVER!)

Well, NOT ANYMORE!

Have you strolled the aisles of any of your local chain stores lately? They barely cleared away the halloween costumes before bringing out the cheesy tchatchke's or tacky blow up Santa's you find on every lawn around the holidays. To be clear: I AM a lover of Christmas and decorating, although I've learned to streamline it over the years. Quality decorations over quantity. More hand made with love, less cluttered crap. I don't enjoy my home looking as though I cleared the X-mas clearance aisle at Walmart. I use this opportunity like any other to decorate our home with crafted items we've made while creating lasting memories, or anything passed down throughout the years that bring fond memories of holidays past.

I'm fully aware of the morbidity of what actually took place on the first Thanksgiving, and am trying to figure out ways to convey a positive message from this celebration to our boys over the years, but how when the holiday is being phased out completely?

Over the years I found it strange that some people would actually put up their Christmas tree on Turkey Day. Call me crazy but growing up in New York we would buy our X-mas tree the first days of December, you know the actual month of the very holiday we were celebrating. Nowadays I even see in some homes the tree is already up and decorated tinsel and all, in family Thanksgiving Day pictures. 

It's bad enough consumers can't wait a whole evening for the infamous "Black Friday" sale that they had to move it up to midnight the night of Thanksgiving! I find this appalling on a lot of levels.. Not only do these companies plaster their shelves with merchandise in the month of October, but they require their workers report for duty at midnight on the day of a National Holiday! How far have we come from the family unit in this country that we feel the need to rush through turkey carving, so we can hurry up and get to the matter at hand... Consumerism! How much value do we put on "family" if were constantly sending the message to our children that the "almighty sale" is more important than spending time with your loved ones. I see more  Black Friday waiting line selfies on social media than I do family portraits.

Is it ever really that serious? Do we really HAVE to have that electronic device or toy so badly that we are now willing to sacrifice the peace from one holiday in order to rush into one that comes with presents? A little respect for the bird people! A little more presence perhaps and less presents. This poor turkey gets no love! He lost his life so that you can stand in line at Target with hundreds of other people waiting for a toaster oven? Shouldn't we at least pay homage to this foul by way of a tryptophan induced semi-coma?

To make matters worse, they've added Cyber Monday! In case you didn't get enough on Friday and still have something left in your 401k, there's still time! Except it's even better, you don't have to leave home at all, you can spend your retirement right here online! Thanksgiving is now the "Cinderella" of holidays. I truly feel as though this holiday is getting the raw end of the deal, being phased out completely for its lack of oh I don't know, REVENUE??? Can't we just enjoy this holiday and all that it brings? There will be plenty of time for more holiday festivities in December, it lasts all month long! Societies are built around MORE. More of EVERYTHING. More money, more cars, homes, devices, toys, vacations, clothes and jewelry, etc... More of everything, except time. All of these easily become distractions from more important matters. Time cannot be bought, sold or replaced.

I'm relieved by a  growing trend to help offset all of this holiday madness and get back to what really matters, giving back! Giving Tuesday is the day after Cyber Monday, it is set for December 2, 2014 this year and if you haven't participated before, now is the time! Giving Tuesday is a global day dedicated to giving back to all sorts of causes that have partnered up with this movement.

You can find hundreds of your favorite organizations partnered up with Giving Tuesday and donate to the charity of your choice. Sunflower Creative Arts is one of the many on the partner list and a wonderful way to give back to a local center contributing to the future of our community, our kids!  You can find out more about #GivingTuesday here. Join today and post an #UNselfie this holiday season! Sunflower is dedicated to protecting the freedom of childhood. I invite you to give the gifts of Play + Nature + Art  on #GivingTuesday bymaking a donation to Sunflower's Operating Fund.

There are many ways you can give back. Giving of your time is one of the most rewarding of all on both ends. If you can't afford to just donate freely to all the charities that call to you, then you can make it your business to give something much more personal, your time. Sometimes the call to service is there, but we don't always know how to answer it. That's what sites like Volunteer Match are for! They partner good people with good causes. I found them while trying to volunteer at local soup kitchens with the boys last year, which was more difficult than I anticipated because most of them were fully staffed. If you are sure you would like to volunteer on some level and give some of your time, all you have to do is visit their website, they will provide a list of organizations in your area that need volunteers and even provide you with their contact information and specifications on what that particular organization is in need of. 

Whatever your traditions or holiday celebrations consist of, I hope you'll consider giving back this season in whatever way you can. Take time and enjoy company instead of credit cards, people instead of presents, and giving instead of getting. 

Happy Holidays!

Essentially Yours,

Erika

DIY: Our Homemade Halloween Costumes

Most of our home life is homemade. We skip boxed, canned or frozen foods of any kind for the most part, I bake mostly everything from scratch and I usually rehab old furniture around the house.

I have fond memories of sitting in my grandmothers home and watching her sew and mend everything on her old fashioned black antique Singer sewing machine. That room always seemed magical to me as a kid, the possibilities were endless. It didn't matter what was torn, worn or just beat up she could fix it. I always dreamed of having a craft room of my own to store all of my fabric swatches, hot glue sticks, card stock, yarn and thread. For now, my husband puts up with the constant clutter on our computer desk and storage boxes filled with scrapbooks chronicling our lives. I've been on the hunt for one of these Singer sewing machines on my many thrift store hauls for quite some time now, maybe "Santa" will bring me one this year (hint, hint).

I've wanted to make the boys Halloween costumes for a while now, but always assumed I would need a sewing machine to create them. Until this year.. Until Pinterest! I'd had it with the over priced cheesy commercialized polyester get-ups offered in costume stores and was desperate for a new creative outlet in this area. Sadly, it seems even the children's female costumes have been effected and followed in the footsteps of the cliche` sexy women's costumes (Sexy Sesame Street, Really?!?!?). We'll save that for another post.

I always ask and somehow let the boys decide what they want to wear each year, obviously this year was the easiest as they are now able to communicate their wants much more effectively. It was a hard yes on the train costume, but they had already worn a store-bought conductor costume in the past. So we scoured the internet for some inspiration. As soon as I clicked on the DIY Thomas the Train costume, their faces lit up with joy and excitement. Now THAT is the reaction I was looking for. Not only could we create memories making it together, but they would enjoy it and love the costumes all the more. SOLD! To the lady with the hot glue gun!

Off to the craft store we went! It was like a neat scavenger hunt for the few key materials we would need. Not that it was all roses and rainbows. Have you ever tried navigating the narrow aisles of Michael's with two boys under the age of five, sans naps? I do not recommend. But we made it, multiple trips until we had the proper adhesives and box scraps needed. 

Another element of "Project Railway" (this is where my construction background comes in, doesn't every former Project Manager need a title for their craft projects?) is the amount of imagination it required. Pondering over which everyday items we could use to shape different aspects of the train makeup, e.g. toilet paper rolls became smoke stacks, painted yo-yo's became buffers, oatmeal canisters were sprayed to look like barrels, etc... It was great to watch the light go off in their head when we would find a material that fit the description. This was quickly becoming more of an experience than just pointing at an item in the crowded store among screaming kids, frustrated parents and paying for it at the register.

Not to mention a great way of keeping costs down seeing as how all we needed was a few Office Depot boxes (free), old shoe boxes from my "shoe farm", some paint, tape and glue! The priciest part was probably the Velcro needed to secure the straps. All in all the project was still under the $20 mark, #ThriftyMom score!

I wouldn't recommend waiting until the day before or day of to attempt this costume, but it's good to know it was possible (I've been insanely busy these days, don't judge me)! It's probably for the best, who knows how many add-ons would have occurred if I had more time to stew on it. I can just see it now, a homemade track built around the neighborhood so the kids can puff along the tracks merrily!

Any opportunity where they could help and assist in building the costumes was a plus, of course once all the adhesives dried and it was safe for them to touch the materials. But I will never forget the anticipation in their eyes while we were painting alongside each other, the pride that came when we were finally finished or the excitement when they first were able to wear them. Those memories created will stay with me forever, and I'm hoping the same for them.

Needless to say, this will be our family tradition for as long as the boys will participate. Hopefully one day I will be able to continue this tradition with our grandchildren. Perhaps they too will have fond memories of their grandmother sitting at a sewing machine in her craft room filled with magic and wonder where anything was possible.

Off they go!

Thomas The Train Pinterest Tutorial

Essentially yours,

Erika