Is it almost November??

There’s really not a lot going on in the Wester world. All of my bosses are currently out of the office so it’s pretty quiet around here today. It doesn’t help that this time of the month at my job is really slow for me as well. Usually, the first and middle of the month are out of control. One of my duties with this job is closing out my father-in-laws Sonics at the end of each month. This means paying the final bills, taxes, payroll etc for the month so it can be processed into a Profit & Loss statement (or P&L). P&Ls are what make the Sonic world go-round. That’s how everyone (well, owners/managers/directors/supervisors anyway) get paid. So basically, if it’s wrong, I’m the one who is responsible. This gets a little sticky when it involves the in-laws. Not that I’ve ever screwed up so bad that I’ve been banned from the family…it’s just I don’t want to mess anything up. Anyway, enough of boring you with P&Ls…

Speaking of jobs, Chaz is leaving for his first “official” Sonic business trip on Thursday. It’s just to Dallas this time but apparently in November, he’s going all over the country to analyze some new equipment and decide if it should be put in SRI Sonics or not. I’m not so sure how I feel about this yet. I mean, yeah, it’s awesome he’s getting to travel around the country, but I just hate the thought of being alone all by myself for several days at a time. I’m being selfish, huh? He’ll be gone during the week and not the weekends so it’s not like I can go down to Dallas and stay with my family. I have to work. I guess it will be a good time for me to paint/catch up on small house projects, etc.

It’s so crazy! I looked up at my calendar and CANNOT believe Thanksgiving is in one month! Where does time go? It’s seems to go so much faster as I get older. It’s already time for me to start Christmas shopping…yeah! The Wester family started a new tradition last year that I would HIGHLY encourage everyone to at least think about.

We decided after Christmas morning of 2005 that we would try something new the following year. After blowing through a million gifts in about 5 minutes, Chaz’s dad sat us all down and talked about how pointless Christmas has become in terms of gift giving. And he was right! Chaz and I would spend big bucks on giving gifts to people who really didn’t need them and in turn, receive gifts that we didn’t need. So, the idea was this: take all the money you budgeted for Christmas gifts and spend it on someone who is in need. It could be a charity, family member, widow, etc etc…whatever you choose. This is where it gets fun! You get to think and pray all year about who you want to make Christmas a little merrier for. Then, when Christmas day rolls around, instead of tearing through pointless gifts, we got to sit around as a family and discuss one by one who we gave to and how it felt to give instead of receive. Last year, we were all in tears by the time this little pow wow was over. (I’m getting teary-eyed thinking about it!) I can’t really remember any gifts that I’ve been given in the past on Christmas day but I know I will NEVER forget this experience and how it felt to make someone’s world a little brighter. I hope to somehow make this a tradition with my kids. What a great lesson to pass on to your children about the true meaning of Christmas!

Anyway, after typing this, I’m getting fired up about Christmas instead of dreading buying pointless gifts. We found out this weekend what our “Christmas project” will be this year. It’s funny how these things just come to you after months of thinking about what the “project” will be. Do you think God had anything to do with this??? :)