Patchwork Society

The first half of the year always seems to crawl by. Still recovering from Christmas and realising that another year has slipped by, we tend to forget the hope that the New Year brings. A New Year gives us second chance to correct the wrongs, live a better life and more importantly, allows us the opportunity to do the things we love, to spend more time with those we love.

This second half of the year, is the time to reflect. July onward has past in the blink of an eye. In this time, I can say that I have become a more socially, ecologically, economically aware person. Mainly, I have been influenced by the blogs that I have stumbled upon. You know how it is, you follow link after link and realise that people like you do exist! I never fitted in with the modern and 'too cool for cool' crowd, having my children at a young age and the responsibility that comes with having a family and keeping a house is something that people my age don't tend to understand. We have differing priorities and it seems that they think I am always missing out on something, but I wouldn't have my life any other way. You realise the significance of life, the meaning of life when you have children, and that makes you a better person.

Our tree. My dad bought us this plastic one when we moved out last year. A department store was having an opening sale and these were only $20. It's not bad, not as lush as other trees but I like it because it reminds me of when we lived in that tiny unit, our first taste of Independence. Last year, I decorated the tree with large artificial roses. When my mother-in-law saw it she said that it needed 'real' decorations and bought us 2 packs of hideous plastic decorations (baubles, garland and tinsel) in green and gold. It should be a crime to manufacture them I tell you! All that I kept was the gold bead garland. This year I decided to make stars, I used vintage fabric and stuffed them. I picked up the ornaments at the end of year clearance sales, and I intend to buy 4 each year for each member of our family. I scored the snowflakes for $2.49 for a pack of 12.

Our tree last year. Our unit was really dark and gloomy. The roses kept on falling off because I didn't have time to fix them up properly. I put up some of the gold decorations in case MIL came over. See the tinsel along the bottom? That's what happens when you enlist the decorating help of a 3 year old! And yes that's our little chubby 3 month old.

Our christmas lights. We only turn them on for an hour at night.

When Cami was born last year, I promised myself to cherish every moment I had with the kids, but cherish as I might it still isn't enough. Is it like that for everyone? I'm just scared that when I wake up tomorrow the kids will be grown up, with families of their own. It's just so scary - you want to spend all your time with the ones you love. There's so much violence around us now and there's only so much you can do to protect them. As the world zooms by outside my window, I can rest assured that all is right in my little square of this patchwork society that is slowly falling apart at the seams.