Ready or Not! Here Christmas Comes!

Today is the last day in November. This means that tomorrow is December 1st and Christmas is right around the corner. Usually, we don't bring out any decorations or listen to any Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but this year, I confess, we started a little early. We've been dancing to Christmas music for a couple weeks now and our decorations have been down out of the attic for at least as long. I did a quick photoshoot with my phone in the garage so I could order my Christmas cards online, so we had to get down the decorations. Of course, my Grinch-y husband wouldn't let me put any up until this past weekend. But now, despite us all having nasty colds all weekend, most of the inside decorations are up and we are ready for Christmas! But the real Christmas fun starts tomorrow. Because tomorrow, we start some of my favorite Christmas traditions.

The first tradition that we love is our advent/ countdown penguin. He's a big wooden penguin with doors numbered 1-25. Of course, the idea is to open one little door each day to find a treat and countdown to Christmas. I bought him years ago, before we even had kids and Hubby and I used to open him up and enjoy a piece of candy each day. But now that we have kids, I stick something else behind the doors. I cut up pieces of red and green construction paper into little strips and write Christmasy things to do on each. Every morning, we open up the tiny door and pull out the paper. Most of the activities are simple things like "Do a Christmas craft" or "dance to Christmas music." Others, like picking out a tree or visiting Santa, have to be planned ahead. Either way, it's a lot of fun and not only does it help us countdown to Christmas but it also keeps up in the Christmas spirit with fun traditions!

Another tradition that we start tomorrow is our book countdown. Each night, right up until Christmas, the kids will get to unwrap a new Christmas themed book each night. Their daddy usually reads them a bedtime story every night anyways, but the Christmas books just add to the fun! Most of the books we reuse from year to year but we do try to add new ones to the selection each year. This year, we've added some fun books that I know everyone is going to love and I can't wait!

And, of course, another tradition is Elf on the Shelf. I know the Elf gets a lot of hate, but we love him. Yes, he can be a bit creepy at times, but he's lots of fun. Now, our Elf, Bell, isn't a naughty or messy elf. I have two kids that make enough messes with a stuffed elf causing more for me to clean up. Instead, Bell finds fun, creative places to hang out and, when the kids have been good, he brings little treats and gifts from the North Pole. We received a special package in the mail today from Bell. It contained a little note from him as well as his book so we could be prepared for his return tomorrow. I honestly have a ton of fun coming up with ideas for our Elf and most of the things I do with him are fairly simple. You can check out what Bell did last year by checking out my post from last year.

So, the Christmas season is upon us and I couldn't be happier! I love Christmas and all the traditions it brings! I will try to update with a new post every day (most simple and to the point) so everyone can share in our fun traditions and Elf adventures. I will at least post a couple pictures to Instagram each day. (You can follow me on Instagram under @adlewis09 or @mylifeasasahmom or search for one of the following hashtags to find our adventures: #mylifeasasahmom #sahmomChristmasFun #adventuresofbell2015.)

Happy Christmasing!

The Thing about Dress Codes

We are almost halfway through another school year. While this doesn't really apply to me as no one in my household is attending school right now, there are many people out there who are eagerly anticipating Christmas break. Of course, some of those students are whiny little brats who just want to be free from the horrors of their school dress codes. In fact, it seems that a week can't go by without a so-called "news story" coming across my feed declaring the unfairness of yet another school dress code and how it's ruining the life of some poor high school student. Every time I see one of these stories I roll my eyes. I went to a Christian private school and our dress code was a lot stricter than most of the dress codes these poor souls have to put up with. And, Baby, if I found a way to survive, so can they.

But let's get a few things straight about dress codes:

1) They are rules and if you break them you have to suffer the consequences. It does not matter if you and your friend and even your parents think the dress code is stupid. It does not matter for what reasons you think the dress code is stupid. It is a rule and if you break it, you get whatever punishment is set in place. There are some rules that I find stupid as an adult, but I still have to follow them. One example is the speed limit. If the speed limit on a road is 30 but I feel that 45 is a safe speed limit and I go 45, I can get a ticket. If caught speeding, I will have to pay a fine. It does not matter that the road is all down-hill and I would have to ride my brakes to go that speed. It does not matter that I'm in a hurry. It does not matter what I feel is a safe speed. What matters is that a rule, or in this case a law, was broken and I am responsible for whatever penalties come with breaking that rule. So, if there's a dress code and you violate it for whatever reason, you broke a rule and your deserve the penalties.

2) Dress codes are not personal vendettas to bring down certain students. Look, I've been to high school and college. I know that some teachers have favorites and least favorites and I know that sometimes they can react unfairly in certain situations. Some kids get away with murder while others get brought up on every tiny infraction. But here's the thing- if you don't break the dress code rules, you won't get caught for breaking the dress code. If you do break the dress code and you get caught, you are still getting in trouble for something you did wrong. It doesn't matter that Mr. Whatchmacallem hates you and that he let Suzie get away with the same dress code violation. Yes, it's unfair, but don't break the dress code and you won't have to worry about it. But even though that form of injustice happens on occasion, it's the reason behind every student who gets in trouble. Sometimes it's just a matter of the student breaking the dress code rule and getting busted. Sometimes the same student gets busted multiple times and yet they complain that they're being treated unfairly instead of actually fixing the problem. Einstein, I believe, was the one who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and that man was pretty smart.

3) Dress codes are not all misogynistic. Yes, in general, girls often have more dress code rules than boys, but boys do have dress codes, too. The only ones that seem to whine about the unfairness of dress codes are girls, though. They are the one that throw temper tantrums and hissy fits on social media. That's one of the reasons I preferred guy friends over girl friends most of my life. Girls are whiny and they love a good cat fight. But you know what? Girls have more dress code rules because they have  more to worry about. We have boobs. (Shocker, I know.) And boys like boobs. They like to look at them and think about them and think about what they want to do with them and to them. And if a girl shows up to class that boy is going to have a really hard time concentrating on how to find X if he's looking at boobs. And, yes, I know boys should learn to control themselves, but really, it's tough! You throw a bunch of boys going through puberty and dealing with fresh sexual urges into a room full of girls in short skirts with low-cut tops and even the best of teens would have trouble concentrating and controlling their urges. Some guys get easily turned on by a sexy pair of legs or a nice butt and clothes that emphasize those body parts can cause a girl to be distracting. And, I'll be honest with you, if a hot guy had come into my classroom when I was in high school I would have had a hard time contracting if the hot guy had taken off his shirt. You can find X on your own cuz I'm checking out the hot guy and wondering what it would be like to kiss him. Shoot, a guy wears a tight pair of pants, my imagination would probably start to run wild. Visions of a combination of High School Musical and Magic Mike would be playing in my head. I had a hard enough time not worrying about boys when they were fully dressed and boys I knew had the same problem not thinking about girls who were completely covered with parkas. So, yes, girls might get the short end of the stick when it comes to dress code but, let's face it, we are super sexy.

4) School is not a fashion club. How often do students whine that the clothes that are "in" or that they like don't fit the dress code? Yeah, it sucks that you can't wear whatever you want, but that's life. When you graduate from school chances are you will one day get a job with a dress code. I worked at a place for almost nine years where I had to wear a uniform. It was ugly and somewhat uncomfortable, but if I showed up without it on I would either get sent home without pay to change or would have been given a temporary uniform to borrow for the day. School dress codes are just preparing you for that day. And if you don't like the dress code, you don't have to follow it when you're not at school. You can wear whatever you want after before school, after school, on the weekends, on breaks and all summer long. Your school's dress code does not have to define you but it does get to tell you what you can't wear during those few school hours every day. Suck it up.

5) Any infraction, no matter how minute, is still breaking the rules. If the rule book says that a shoulder strap or sleeve on a shirt must be three inches and yours is two inches, you broke the rule. If a skirt or a pair of shorts can't be more that three inches above the knee and yours are five, you broke a rule. It does not matter that you barely broke a rule, you still broke it. It's just like with speeding. It does not matter if you are gong 50 over the speed limit or 5 over, you are still speeding and can still get a ticket. When I was in high school, one of our rules was that a top could not be more lowcut that three finger-widths or show cleavage. I have fairly large boobs and even some tops that fit the finger rule still showed cleavage. It made it hard to find tops. It really did. I also have long legs, making it difficult to find skirts that fit correctly lengthwise. I had friends who were almost the same height as me who could war the exact same skirt and not break the rule but when I put it on it was technically too short. But I suffered through and found appropriate clothes and managed to graduate without needing counseling from the oppressive rules.

In conclusion, yes dress codes can totally suck. They might not be fun at all. You might hate them, but you still have to follow them. If you feel a dress code is particularly unfair, the way to express that feeling is not by breaking it but by discussing it with someone in authority who might be willing to address the issue. And the parents are just as much to blame when something goes awry. Parents, don't rush to your little snowflake's side declaring how ridiculous the infraction is. Take said snowflake out and find some new clothes that fit the dress code. When you kid starts school, check the rule book and make sure the clothes you buy fit the dress code. It's really not that hard.

A rule is a rule, no matter how dumb. So follow it or face the consequences. And please, please, please keep your dress code issues off of social media and don't report them as a news story. Just don't. It just shows how petty and bratty you are.

Mission Jack-O-Lantern

When I was  a kid, carving a pumpkin into a Jack-o-lantern was simple and easy. We would swing by the grocery store and pick out the biggest pumpkin we could carry. Visions of Linus and Lucy rolling the pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch would play in our heads as we would haul the pumpkin inside. We would then grab a handful of newspapers (because those were commonplace in every house back then) and spread them across the span of the dining room table. One of my parents would grab a huge knife from the kitchen and hack a hole in the top so we could pull out the guts. I hated the feeling of the slimy pumpkin so I could rarely be convinced to help. Next, we would grab a sharpie and draw a face on our pumpkin. Usually, this face consisted of two triangle eyes, a triangle nose and a boxy mouth consisting of a few square teeth. Then, whichever parent was helping, would grab that massive knife and do their best to cut out the face. If the mouth was too detailed, they made up their own patten. When it was done, we would happily burn our little fingers sticking an actual candle down inside to make our Jack-o-lantern glow.

But that's not how it works anymore. No Siree! You have to have a Pinterest perfect pumpkin to post on Facebook for all your friends to Ooh! and Ahhh! over. And you better not use a real candle because your little snowflake might burn his wittle fingers! Instead, you buy a cute, fake, battery operated, flickering candle from the dollar section at Target. 

I remember Client One's first and second Halloweens. She got that traditional pumpkin face. It was simple and basic and she didn't care. I can remember seeing the emerging pumpkins of awesomeness scattered across my facebook feed and thinking, "Wow. These people clearly have way too much time on their hands!" But when Client One's third Halloween rolled around, we had jumped on the bandwagon. Her pumpkin was no longer just a boring face that any amatuer with a kitchen knife could do. It was a carefully crafted scene with a cat wearing a witch hat, sitting next to a jack-o-lantern with a bat flying above. It consisted of painstakingly tracing a pattern on the pumpkin and using special tools to create the picture. In the end, she loved it and we were worthy to post the picture on Facebook.

Last year, Client Two got the boring, traditional face. It seemed like a good, classic first pumpkin. Plus, he couldn't have cared less. Client One, however, was fully opinionated. Having tasted the glory of an amazing pumpkin the previous year, she needed an equally impressive jack-o-lantern. Luckily, we had found a Disney princess pumpkin decorating kit at Target. Of course, she picked out an intricate design of Cinderella in her sweeping ballgown with the castle in the background. She happily gutted her pumpkin and was eager to help out as her daddy did all the hard work. When it was done, we had two decent pumpkins and at least one was worthy of the Facebook post.

This year, we decided to go easy on ourselves. Instead of carefully tracing an intricate design onto each of their pumpkins, we picked out some simple stencils. Client Two picked out the eyes, nose and mouth he wanted for his pumpkin (and he was very enthusiastic about it, even though he really had no idea what was going on) and Client One picked out a simple stencil of a cat. Client One was more than happy to gut her pumpkin, but Client Two was very hesitant. He did NOT like the slimy guts. (That's my boy!) Once the pumpkins were properly gutted, hubby and I grabbed the official pumpkin carving tools from the previous years and went to work. I cut out Client Two's pumpkin face and Hubby turned Client One's pumpkin into a picture of a cat. When we were done, both clients were quite satisfied.

Having gained their approval, I felt confident enough to post the pictures online. So far, I have received an appropriate amounts of "likes" so I know we did okay. 

Mission Jack-O-Lantern: Complete.

Find me on Steller for more pictures and fun!