things

This Week’s Three

This Week’s Three

Samantha Gratton

It’s Friday, and I’m just now getting to the weekly recap. Whoops. Here’s a few questions that I think are worth asking…

1. Do you have to? Sometimes you have a lot to do but then realize you don’t have to do it and really need to take a nap or call a good friend instead. A lot of this week I’ve been stressed out by my to-do list, only to step back and see that only a small fraction of it had to be done by the deadline I had given myself. There’s usually something that can wait a day and take a backseat to the things that are really important.

2. Did you take the chance you had? All summer long I’ve said we’ll get to a baseball game. A simple and small thing, but it didn’t happen last summer and here we are at the end of the season. With a packed weekend ahead, Monday night was our last chance, and I’m so glad we took it.

Baseball Game | Moving Peaces

3. Who do you want to be like? I think we are each individuals with unique talents and dreams, but I also think we are greatly influenced by those around us. This weekend, my three-year-old niece wanted her hair to match mine, regardless of what it looked like. As we get older, that admiration may take a different form, but I think there’s still value in it. If there’s someone who you appreciate or respect, it’s worth realizing what it is about them that you would like to learn from and work towards. Maybe it’s their values, commitment, skills, work ethic or wisdom. Who are those people in your life? Are they the right people to learn from? What is it that you admire most?

Braids | Moving Peaces

So this is Christmas…

Samantha Gratton

This Christmas will be undoubtedly different. It will be the first that either of us will not see our parents within the two-week timeframe of the holiday. It will be the first time in our married life the hubby will not be working tirelessly in the days and weeks leading up to (and day of) Christmas. It will be the first year in our new state with far less Christmas parties to attend and perhaps less need for winter clothing.

All of this I knew about and have been mentally preparing myself for during the past few months. You want to know the kicker? We’re likely going to forgo the Christmas tree. This one caught me off-guard, and I can’t say I was totally on board with it. Logistically, there are a few reasons such as…we sold our fake tree before moving and the cost and maintenance of buying a real or artificial tree isn’t worth it this year. But still. Those issues could be overcome if we really wanted to, right? The more I wrestle with it, the more I realize it must be this way.

We have so many things. Things still in boxes; things we’ve finally purged. While it can be nice to take comfort in these things, we certainly don’t need them all. We have a tub of decorations and a recent round of dollar store Christmas decor for our Christmas cards. Have no fear, there will still be evidence of “Christmas” in our home. We aren’t planning on becoming little Scrooges and dumping cynicism on everyone’s Christmas spirit. We’ll have a tree again in our lives. We aren’t anti-Christmas or even anti-Christmas trees.

When I dig deep—it seems that for me, the tree has been one of the primary factors of Christmas. And why? There’s nothing wrong with having a tree. It probably has all sorts of symbolism and tradition and good things surrounding it, not to mention, it’s pretty. Somehow along the way it became an expectation and a crutch for me. The tree does not equal Christmas. Neither do stockings or seeing Santa at the mall or eating too many cookies or exchanging gifts. It’s not the music or the lights or the Nutcracker. And I seriously love (almost) all of those things! But like any good thing, if I can’t go without it, then I’m valuing it more than the one thing. The one thing that Christmas is truly about.

Less is More

Samantha Gratton

There are things I want. And sometimes I want them now. Or at least, I think I want them now.

I could blame it on our culture and say the world has convinced us that instant gratification is the way to go, the way to be. But really, my own selfish desires get in the way as I think I can get my way now, just because I want to.

We don’t know what the future holds, and we can’t and we won’t. We can dream. We can hope. We can try to prepare. But it might still mean an entirely different life than we first imagined. All of that’s okay, but we’re going to have to wait it out.

With that waiting, must come discipline. I’m talking particularly about our finances. A little less than a year ago, we kissed debt goodbye and were able to save, allowing us the possibility to make this move across the country. While in the past few months our budget has been all over the place, we are going to buckle down now and save whatever we can. I can’t say that I totally love it, but I think it will be worth it…not now, but later. To me, it feels like we’ve already been living the life of a frugal young couple. In some ways, we have, but it’s time to make some serious sacrifices.

This means living with less. Less trips to the grocery store just to grab some ice cream or a chocolate bar. Less impulse buys at H&M. Less eating out. Less scouring craigslist “just because.” Less Groupon purchases. Less “needs” at Target. Less waste. Less chasing after empty promises of a better image or “success.”

It also means more. Living with more intention. More meal planning. More trips to Goodwill, Aldi and the dollar store. More research on our purchases. More thought about what’s at stake down the road in lieu of another $20 item at Target. More working together to meet our goals. More creativity. More opportunities to give. More opportunities to live.