Make More Joy

The following comes from e-mail my sister and I had today about celebrations. In many ways, her life is harder than mine since she is raising three boys, one of whom is disabled. She seems to find more joy than I do--maybe "make more joy" is a better way of phrasing it.

LC:

I make huge deals out of the boys' bdays that they never mind who sends them cards. I put signs all around the house--stupid rhymes & stuff. It is a ridiculous tradition that I thought they were sick of by last yr. I didn't do it the morning of Matthew's bday last yr & he looked all over the house & asked about where the signs were! I told him they would be there in the afternoon--that I was doing afternoon signs vs. morning ones. Good grief, I then spent 2 hours making up my dumb signs and decorating the dining room table--making a king type chair, decorated with "reserved for the bday boy" seating & all the things I've done in the past. I guess I will need to keep that up forever.

Me (partial post):

What a cute tradition! We don't have traditions, other than the Advent calendar that often stays on the wall year-round, and celebrating Epiphany (another round of gifts). And going out to dinner.

LC:

We have a ton of traditions & family stuff. We have a bunch of phrases and words....

"Don't have a BBM!!!" (bean burrito moment). That means don't overreact about something. It came from a day when I was eating a bean burrito while driving and got mad about something & my burrito spilled out all over me.

"Go & BFR." That means go & brush, floss, rinse.

Matthew is "JAM," one of his many nicknames. That is "just a minute" because he never gets up & does something immediately.

We have a ton of those acronym sayings.

We have a lot of stuff like "surprise day"...a random day, usually about once per month when I give M&M a surprise or we do something that is a surprise to them. It can be as little as the car "forcing" us to go to Blockbuster to rent movies (we don't do that much, so it is a treat) or my giving them books or video games or a special dessert (key lime pie is a good one!).

Jerry & I used to celebrate our anniversary each month with "monthiversaries" but hey, those are long gone. That was a card or note or flowers or whatever.

When milk or anything spills, we stop what we are doing & everyone must laugh, even a phoney laugh, before it is cleaned up.

Santa calls the house throughout the year. I pick up the phone & have conversations with him. M&M know that only I can hear him & the phone could even have a busy signal, but Santa talks through it to me. I pick up the phone & say something like, "I know they are misbehaving, but they generally are very good." It makes them laugh no matter what. When they see me reach for the phone, it breaks up anything (fighting). That is quite hysterical, now that I really think about it.

I am hugely into celebrating ANYTHING. Maybe because we don't get out that much with JJ or because he affects what we are able to do so much--that I feel the need to do what we can do...my stupid other ways to celebrate & make things special.

Me (partial post):

I can't even remember the last time I put up a Christmas tree. I don't think it was this century, unless you count the little one I put on my desk. I didn't even get that up last year.

LC (partial post):

I am totally big on Xmas. I just love holidays, I guess. I love Halloween. I love Easter. We had a huge egg hunt for the disabled pals of JJ this past yr. It took over an hr for them to gather the eggs w/their siblings. Very fun. I think I'm all about making memories so the kids can look back and recall fun times.


My sister has the right attitude. She doesn't wait for the fun to happen; she makes it happen. I hope her kids appreciate what a wonderful mother she is. I can learn a lot from her example.