This is dd's Easter basket this year. I think every year we will have a book in it. She gets one other basket from her great grandma, so it isn't too bad. And btw the peep isn't real, it is a stuffed peep, and in there as a joke to mh.
UO: I hate when people park wherever the hell the want in a parking lot. Just because there isn't any handy cap parking spots left, doesn't mean to can park on the curb next to the door.
I have not seen Frozen yet. I have at least 3 different little kids talk to me about each week, so I need to see it! I've also never seen Brave, Cars (1 or 2), or either Despicable Me movies. Oh gosh, or Rio, or Tangled, or Madagascar 2...the list goes on forever. Knowledge of these movies would actually help me in my job a little (pediatric speech therapist) :P
I'm pagan. I celebrate what Easter used to be before they tacked on a Christian meaning. I celebrate Ostara on my own. However, I do Easter with the kids since it's traditional. We only do the Easter bunny stuff though. None of the Christ reborn stuff.
I'm pagan. I celebrate what Easter used to be before they tacked on a Christian meaning. I celebrate Ostara on my own. However, I do Easter with the kids since it's traditional. We only do the Easter bunny stuff though. None of the Christ reborn stuff.
I want to share this with so many people who forget Christians borrowed from pagan rituals when creating holidays.
Parent of
Baby Boy M, born December 2013
Angels: Miscarriage @ 9 weeks, May 2015, Chemical Pregnancy November 2015
I'm pagan. I celebrate what Easter used to be before they tacked on a Christian meaning. I celebrate Ostara on my own. However, I do Easter with the kids since it's traditional. We only do the Easter bunny stuff though. None of the Christ reborn stuff.
I want to share this with so many people who forget Christians borrowed from pagan rituals when creating holidays.
It's become so ingrained that they are Chritian holidays for so long it's hard to think of them otherwise. We've still kept a lot of the traditions though. Ostara is a spring fertility festival. It's not as big of a fertility festival as Beltaine (May Day) is though. Anyways, they are still Chritian holidays with a real Christian meaning. Christ really wasn't born on Christmas and really wasn't reborn on Easter. Those events happened in Christendom, just not at those specific times. It was the popes way of converting the pagans that lived in northern europe. That way they could keep all their bon fire festivals.
I'm pagan. I celebrate what Easter used to be before they tacked on a Christian meaning. I celebrate Ostara on my own. However, I do Easter with the kids since it's traditional. We only do the Easter bunny stuff though. None of the Christ reborn stuff.
Out of curiosity (religious studies major), what do you do in the winter? Do you also celebrate what Christmas-time was about before Christians jumped on that bandwagon? I'm assuming you stick with the modern Santa etc (?), but do you also attach religious significance to it?
Btw, I have tattoos and so does J. I don't hate visible tattoos, I hate it when say someone has a shoulder tattoo and wears an off the shoulder shirt. Or a tattoo on their spine and wears a low back shirt to frame their tattoo. It's tacky and looks awful.
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste,
It all revolves around you.
I'm pagan. I celebrate what Easter used to be before they tacked on a Christian meaning. I celebrate Ostara on my own. However, I do Easter with the kids since it's traditional. We only do the Easter bunny stuff though. None of the Christ reborn stuff.
Out of curiosity (religious studies major), what do you do in the winter? Do you also celebrate what Christmas-time was about before Christians jumped on that bandwagon? I'm assuming you stick with the modern Santa etc (?), but do you also attach religious significance to it?
Yes. We do traditional Christmas with Santa for the kids. However, I celebrate Yule. I am raising the kids without religion so they may chose when they are older. So I either celebrate with my church or on my own. For Yule I normally go to my churches feast and ritual.
Btw, I have tattoos and so does J. I don't hate visible tattoos, I hate it when say someone has a shoulder tattoo and wears an off the shoulder shirt. Or a tattoo on their spine and wears a low back shirt to frame their tattoo. It's tacky and looks awful.
Killing my wardrobe ITK. Killing it! I have a few shirts that are lower in the back that show off my stars. I cannot avoid showing off my roses though as any lowish cut shirt shows off my chest piece.
Cool we're still working on how much/what we want to teach our kids about religion. While I believe fully in my religion, we definitely want them to know it's good to explore and ask questions (rather than blindly following something we tell them is true without ever letting them decide for themselves).
Cool we're still working on how much/what we want to teach our kids about religion. While I believe fully in my religion, we definitely want them to know it's good to explore and ask questions (rather than blindly following something we tell them is true without ever letting them decide for themselves).
I agree. I grew up without religion. My parents never went to church or did anything with much religious connotations. When I got older I did learn about God and what not. Heck, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade I was pretty full blown Christian. I went to Church, Awanas, and Christian horse camp. I did it by choice. As I got older some of the practices bothered me. Mostly due to people around me, not so much with the religion itself. So I explored some more and found one that suits me just fine. I like that I can practice whenever and wherever I want. I don't need a church. I pick what I want to believe in as long as I'm following the basic principles. Plus when I do go to religious stuff with my church it's mostly a reason for us to feast, drink, and by merry (barring Samhain).
I spent $10-15 on DD for Easter. That's enough. She has a metal Hello Kitty watering can and sidewalk chalk. Plus a few chocolates.
I really like the puzzle idea!
I'm upset thinking though knowing that both sets of grandparents will spend way more than that. Not in a competition way... we could technically get her more. We don't want to. I don't want her to be spoiled.
She got Thanksgiving gifts last year from grandparents. WTH!
My UO is I don't feel badly about telling my MIL no... as in No, do not buy my 1 year old candy for his Easter Basket. Seriously, people do this? For effing 1 year olds???
I love blue in general. We seriously considered painting the baby's room blue before we knew we were having a boy. And we have so many blue clothes that if I ever have a girl, I will need a big supply of those huge headband boys so people won't refer to her as a him.
Parent of
Baby Boy M, born December 2013
Angels: Miscarriage @ 9 weeks, May 2015, Chemical Pregnancy November 2015
@Potterowl I have no idea what your talking about with the UU thing. There's a chapter of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church where I live. It's an all pagan/wiccan church. So our holidays do have meaning to our religion and there are more holidays than the Christian based churches. It's weird.
No, I totally get you now @Potterowl. I've never heard of that term. I do know that many of our indoor events are held at our local Unitarian church. However, we are a separate church all together (just a chapter of a bigger church really). Most of what we do is outside on our own piece of land or held at one of the priestess' houses for esbats. I don't think any of our group goes to the Unitarian church regularly though. I only go there for our Samhain and Yule fests (our only indoor Sabbats).
I'm a day late and our Easter plans are really unpopular! I got N an Easter basket and so did my mom. But I did only get him things I would buy anyway (bowls/spoons for starting solids in a few weeks, a CD, a book, a new paci, and some pjs) and my mom just got him a book, and 2 TTs.
The HS stabbing in PA is very close to home for me -- one town over from where I grew up. I have friends who graduated from that HS.
My UO is that I can't get over how no one seems to have had a clue that this kid was a ticking time bomb. Everyone seems to have had their head in the sand. So many of the authorities interviewed refer to this tragedy as something "random" or "unavoidable" -- like it was a storm that was unpredictable. Wake up, people.
Something caused this kid to snap. I don't know if it was bullying, or mental illness, or some other thing. Whatever the case, I don't believe these things happen in a vacuum.
My takeaway -- as self-absorbed as I tend to be these days, I need to remember to just try to be a better human being. To reach out to others with a smile and some kind words and ask them how they are doing. You never know when just a few words or just showing a little concern could be someone's lifeline.
Thanks for your perspective, @bookitup. "Actionable" is the operative word here, isn't it? People really can keep things hidden.
Events like this just bring back the memories of how difficult those adolescent years could be. This time especially since the community is so familiar to me.
It can also be incredibly difficult to get help for a troubled child or teen. The school needs consent from the parent/guardian for the counselor to see the kid more than once. After a certain age, the kid also has to give consent. So the school can know the kid is troubled but, if there's not a reason for police/social service intervention, nothing can be done about it.
Parent of
Baby Boy M, born December 2013
Angels: Miscarriage @ 9 weeks, May 2015, Chemical Pregnancy November 2015
But don't you think those things are "boyish" just bc stupid stores tell us so?
I don't even care.
My daughters diapers are mostly blue. She wears monster and dinosaur pajamas and steals some of her nephews pajamas. Her sheets have dinosaurs on them (she picked them out).
On the other hand my son wears a yellow coat and everyone says he's a girl...
As long as I'm in charge of dressing him, G is totally in "boy clothes" (mostly jeans and a tshirt or polo). I love stripes, blue, Kelly green, and orange on him. I also put him in a lot of clothes with monsters (his nursery is monster themed). I also have a stash of girly clothes ready to go for this next little squish. I tried to avoid all pink, but most outfits have ruffles, lace, flowers, or some other distinctly "girl" trait. That being said, I've pulled out all of G's old pajamas for this little girl. She'll also wear his "boy" diapers. I also picked out a couple of his outfits for her (although I'll probably make little skirts to match them). I'm also totally happy that G's favorite toys are his broom and his vacuum (he would also LOVE a tiny kitchen, but I haven't gotten him one yet) as well as his cars. Once he starts wanting to pick out his own clothes, I'll probably let m wear whatever he wants.
It can also be incredibly difficult to get help for a troubled child or teen. The school needs consent from the parent/guardian for the counselor to see the kid more than once. After a certain age, the kid also has to give consent. So the school can know the kid is troubled but, if there's not a reason for police/social service intervention, nothing can be done about it.
I'm not sure the counselor visit limit is true for every state, but it is certainly hard to get help for kids who need it.
I once had to help restrain a kindergartener with no identified special needs b/c he went after a peer with a pair of scissors. He went into a complete rage and was screaming at my assistant and me that he'd kill us, cut us up into tiny pieces, and throw us off a bridge so no one could ever find us. He was 5.
Wow, @unaveragejane. So what happened after things settled down with the kindergartener?
I don't know how much has changed in the last couple of decades, but I just look back to my teenage years -- just knowing the experiences of my peers and myself -- and think that there really needed to be more awareness of mental health issues as well as the availability of mental health services for that age group. I don't know how you get around issues with parental consent or insurance or who is paying for it, but kids need a safe place to go. Sometimes parents or other people in positions of authority or guardianship are part of the problem and can obstruct (intentionally or unintentionally) a minor's access to needed care. And I know there's a difference between whether someone voluntarily seeks help vs. some sort of counseling that is mandated as the result of an incident or an established pattern of behavior -- I guess I'm saying there's a broad set of needs that I would love to see addressed when I'm queen of the world.
@freezorburn - I am not entirely sure what (if anything) his regular teacher did to get him help. I'm pretty sure she talked to the parents, but other than that, I don't know. On the bright side, after the episode the little boy wound up hugging me almost every time he saw me. I was brokenhearted over the whole situation for a long time b/c I'm pretty sure he saw or heard something incredibly inappropriate in his home life that made him say stuff like that. When he suddenly wanted to hug my all the time, it made me wonder if that was the first time he had lashed out without someone beating the crap out of him. Poor kid. That was a hard school to work in, and there were just so many that needed to be rescued.
@unaveragejane Sounds like you were able to make a positive connection with this child and that makes you a hero in my book.
I know I'm not cut out to work in environments like you described. Actually I know enough about myself that I not cut out to teach, even in a so-called "normal" environment. I will stick to planting trees.
Re: UO
UO: I hate when people park wherever the hell the want in a parking lot. Just because there isn't any handy cap parking spots left, doesn't mean to can park on the curb next to the door.
Easter traditions are so strange. I remember being confused about how a bunny laid eggs.
Out of curiosity (religious studies major), what do you do in the winter? Do you also celebrate what Christmas-time was about before Christians jumped on that bandwagon? I'm assuming you stick with the modern Santa etc (?), but do you also attach religious significance to it?
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste,
It all revolves around you.
I really like the puzzle idea!
I'm upset thinking though knowing that both sets of grandparents will spend way more than that. Not in a competition way... we could technically get her more. We don't want to. I don't want her to be spoiled.
She got Thanksgiving gifts last year from grandparents. WTH!
On the other hand my son wears a yellow coat and everyone says he's a girl...
I once had to help restrain a kindergartener with no identified special needs b/c he went after a peer with a pair of scissors. He went into a complete rage and was screaming at my assistant and me that he'd kill us, cut us up into tiny pieces, and throw us off a bridge so no one could ever find us. He was 5.