We're still here. : )

Have you got your Christmas shopping done yet? I'm sure not done. Some of my kids are so easy to buy for it's hard not to get them too much and others..well..

Anyway, I've certainly been to the mall more than I care to lately. Saturday S. and I went poking around downtown but since R. was our ride we left early and went to the mall. We both noticed our responses were a lot different at the mall than at the local long running craft fair Saturday Market. At Saturday Market we were saying "Oh, I like this, I like that, I wish I had more money!" But at the mall it was more an indifferent "hmm, yeah, that's kinda cute." There's just something about mass marketing that doesn't hold a lot of interest I guess.

I'm feeling a little perturbed about Christmas culture in general this year. I guess it was sparked by a CD my MIL gave us (probably because she didn't like it. She just can't seem to bear to use a garbage can.) All the songs are so chintzy cheap on it. Why must we hear about grandma getting run over by a rain deer every single year? How did we go from "Masters In This Hall" and "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming" to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"? And there's all these potty humor Santas up in a store near us. Ugh. It depressing me because it's just another sign of the descent our culture is taking. All the beauty and grandeur being traded in for a cheap laugh.

Ugh, well, it's up to us! We are the ones who are going to teach the next generation what it's really all about! Better get back to it!