All that we had....

Christmas can be a struggle as a single parent.  There is always the feeling of inadequacy that you can't get your kids the same type of presents that their friends are getting.  Those feelings continue to get amplified when you forget what's really important and focus on what you don't have.  What was really funny about this, was I don't think the boys felt that they were missing anything.  We were adopted by Grossmont College one year and received a large black trashbag of wrapped gifts for each of us.  We were also adopted by the Nursing Program one year.  They had done a food drive and split the food between me and another single mom.  I had canned food in every room since I couldn't fit it all into the kitchen!  We invited the campus group to come over and go shopping. 

Grossmont College also had a Christmas party every year for the single parents.  The party was complete with Santa Claus, dinner and party gifts.  This picture would have been from the year I was graduating. 

One of the things that makes me ponder frequently, is how I was much more grateful then.  We didn't have a lot of things, but we had a lot of people around us.  We were surrounded by friends at church, at school, and in our apartment building.   I remember being grateful for simple things like not having to pay for the kids to take the bus, and having friends that I could call at a moments notice.  I remember being sick one night...alien coming out of your stomach sick.  They boys were running around.  Matt took a whole loaf of bread and began using it like play dough.  I watched....and was just happy that he was occupied.  I called Loree...and she picked them all up and took them overnight.  I knew they were safe which allowed me to just sleep.  The alien was gone in the morning and she dropped the kids back off.  Maybe that explains what type of people we were around....and why my gratitude was so strong.  I still have my friends but sometimes life gets cluttered with things that don't really matter.  Having no money can be a blessing....it keeps life simple.   I have asked the boys many times if they felt cheated somehow with their childhood.  They respond with a resounding "no".  We may have been "poor" by someones standards, but we were very rich in ours.