Christmas

Well, it's that time of year again. The time of year when I think I have everything ready for The Big Day but there is so much sneaky work left to do I end up feeling like I will never be ready. Special occasions are a lot of work, especially when you have four children depending on you to provide the lights and magic.

It is through the stress of the season that I discover the most grace however. Feeling overwhelmed reminds me that I have a family, a lot going on, volunteering responsibilities, food to get on the table, gifts to wrap...all the things that I have that are stressing me out are the things I would miss the most if they weren't there. So I'm taking this moment in between cleaning like a dervish, trying to keep up with the ordinary clutter and getting the kids finished with their semester to reflect briefly on all the wonderful mess in my life at this time of year. Maybe I'll get a load in the wash while I'm at it.

Cloth Napkins

We recently had a rummage sale at our church. I helped; so did two of our girls, one of whom was on one crutch doing a passable impression of Tiny Tim if Tiny Tim had ever voraciously bought and sold the entire contents of a used jewelry table. (Aside: I sure got a lot of jewelry this past Mother's Day). While my girls were busy with the accessories, I was over in Housewares, enjoying myself.

Now, I never thought I would have so much fun (or take home so much stuff) from the Rummage Sale, but I did. My enjoyment was centered around two things: aprons and cloth napkins. I surprised my husband into a raised eyebrow a couple of weeks ago by hanging the clothes out on the clothesline while wearing one of the aprons; the capacious pockets were too tempting as clothespins holders to pass up. And one of our goals this year was to become more sustainable as a family in terms of our paper product consumption, so the cloth napkins were irresistible as well.

I am a firm proponent of buying used products. Not only is it good to reuse things (remember your three "R"s) but it takes the guesswork out of whether something will survive the first washing. I have no idea whose home these napkins came from, but I like to imagine that it was a place where setting a gracious table and serving a good meal were a priority. So far, having the cloth napkins on the table at dinner time has been nothing but good. The kids like to pick which color we will be using on any given day and I like the virtuous glow I get from not throwing them away after the meal. Win, win.