Thanksgiving

I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on what I am thankful for in my life. Number one, hands down, no question, I am most thankful for my son. Everyone says things like that and unless you are a parent you can't really understand, and even if you are a parent it still doesn't necessarily mean that you understand.

My son is my entire world. He is everything to me. I consider him in all things that I do. I can't bring myself to make a selfish decision. There is no way that I could put him aside for anything or anyone, ever. Period.

I would do anything to keep him safe, happy, and healthy. The love that we have for one another is pure and sweet and untainted by anything in this world. He might like to play with his cousins, or read with his Auntie, but when he wants safety, who does he come to? Mama; that's who. When he wants comfort - Mama. When he wants tender hugs and kisses - Mama. When he wants to feel loved - Mama. I'm so thankful that my son and I have a good strong bond, and I know we always will.

A Very Merry Retail

Well, Christmas time is here, and like a fool I went and got back into retail. And not just any retail, video game retail. Yup, that is something I would do. Working in retail during the holidays makes it so hard to enjoy the time of year.

I'm not trying to complain, but there are some hardships that come with working in retail over Christmas time. The first thing is that it is insanely busy. The business grows, but that space doesn't. Somehow I have to figure out how to put an entire year's worth of profit into one teeny tiny back room. And an entire Christmas season's worth of merchandise onto one over-crowded sales floor.

Secondly, people are cranky. They are tired. They are stressed. They are stretching their dollars, and dealing with ungrateful relatives, and freezing cold weather. They have to shop, and host parties, and entertain out of town guests, and cook holiday meals. I understand all of that, but it doesn't mean that they all have to act like total jerks. See what I'm saying?

It's such a busy time of year that sometimes weeks will go by where I only have one day off. Or sometimes I think about work even on my time off. I often have those dreaded work dreams. I dream about being at work, I work a whole shift in my sleep and I don't even get paid for it. Man, I really don't like that. It's hard to juggle family life with work during the holidays. Especially since I love doing Holiday time activities with my little son.

At Christmastime, Caleb and I like to do all kinds of things. We go look at Christmas lights in the neighborhoods, we go to the Zoo lights, we go to the mountains to play in the snow. This year I really had hoped to take him on a special holiday vacation, but I'm sure that won't happen. Not only are my funds all tapped out for Christmas, I just don't have the time with all the work that needs to be done. I just try to stay positive and think about all of the fun we are going to have one day when I am done with this retail gig!