I made a big pot of soup and the house is about back in order after the party.  I am feeling about the same or worse.  Hubby jsut left to take his brother home and rent e a movie.   I am veggin tonight.   Tommy is still napping but I have to get him up soon.    I will go in an neb that should wake him up. 

Erik went with hubby.   He is having a bit of a hard weekend, I think it is jsut with the holidays.   He wants to be here for Christmas and is bummed that we will open our presents and stuff and have Christmas without him.   It is hard to know what to do, because we have Christmas with our other children and he is going to have it at his mothers.  He can’t be at two places at once.  It is hard for him though.   He gets jealous of both Josh and Tommy.   We try not to talk about things we will be doing when he is not here.   It is kind of like if he doesn’t know then he won’t be sad.  

Josh just called and he will be working until 10:00 tonight.  What a long day of work for him.  He went to work at 1:00.  But he will be really happy when he gets his paycheck.  I have moved on to the next stage of financial training for Josh.   He has been paying his car insurance to me very well, without an reminders each payday.   So he now is learning to budget car insurance and gas out of each check.   He has hos own cell phone now and is doing extremely well with that and staying under the minutes or paying for the extras himself.   Saturday we opened a checking account and got a debt card for him.  So I will start training him on the ins and outs of those as well.       I think it is extremely important to provide your children with a solid understanding of how things work before they leave home.   I can’t beleive how many parents don’t do this!!!   I was jsut talking to some co-workers about this and they were asking how I “make” my son pay his car insurance.  I don’t make him…if he wants to drive, he will poay insurance that is how the real world works.  My sons, even Erik are learning to wash clothes, scrub floors, clean bathrooms and do dishes. 

I also took Erik shopping for Christmas presents this year.  I wish I would have done this with him years ago.   Last time he was here I was talking to him about how Christmas isn’t jsut about receiving (he was forever making list of his wants and things that were $300 each) and that he should think of things he could give to others to show them he loved them.   I think that is part of parenting to instill a giving spirit.   So I had been talking to him about this.  I suggest he make coupons for his family to do a nice thing for them, like take their turn of dishes or something like that.   He came back to our house from his mom’s with gifts he had picked up around the house and wrapped.  That was sort of ok at least he was giving and spending some time thinking of others.   He then had a few people left so I took him to the Dollar Store and he finished his shopping with his own money.   I didn’t do this with Tommy, but next year I will take Tommy to the Dollar Store and let him pick out something for each of us. 

Josh bought gifts for each of us with his money.  I am really curious to see what Josh got for me.   I only know what he bought for Erik and maybe hubby since I gave him a good idea. 

I still have our family gift from Santa to buy and a stocking stuffer for Josh and Christmas bonus and gift for daycare.