Random Chatter: 12/6/13

Know what it means when the snow melts quickly – or stays for a long time – on your roof?  It’s a good indicator of how well your attic is insulated!  I didn’t think about it much until the snow we had a couple of weeks ago, but we saw that firsthand.  With the way our house has been built onto, we have two totally separate attics.  We had insulation blown into one of them, and plan to do the other one when we’re farther along with the renovations on that site of the house.

Anyway, the snow melted quickly on the side of the house that we did not have insulated – almost as soon as it stopped snowing, the snow was melting.  The other side of the house, that’s been insulated, had a few inches of snow on it for days and only melted when the temperature warmed up.  So, basically all the heat we are paying for on the uninsulated side of the house went straight through the roof. :/  Yay.  (We keep it pretty cool for that reason.)  But it was good to see that the insulation really does quite a bit!

Can I tell you something that I hope is a bit of encouragement to some of you?  There are a lot of posts and pictures circulating about the blogosphere and Facebook and Pinterest about Christmas crafts you can do with your kids or meaningful ways to celebrate Christ’s birth every day in December or “simple” ways to make the season special.  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things you could do to celebrate the season and make it special – and sometimes it’s easy to get down on yourself for not doing much of anything.

The truth is, a lot of us moms are already full to the brim – mentally, physically, and emotionally – and December doesn’t bring an extra six hours in the day to do special stuff.  December doesn’t magically make your baby sleep through the night or keep your kids from getting sick or bring in a mother’s helper to do your laundry.

It’s easy to read about all the wonderful things other moms are doing for their families to make Christmas special and feel like you are the worst mother in the world because it’s all you can do to get supper on the table and cringe at the thought of getting out the supplies to make a craft because it’s only going to add to the mess that’s already on your floor.  I’m here to tell you that I am there right now and I’m guessing some of you are, too.  Please don’t feel like you are a failure.  Your kids aren’t on Pinterest comparing you to the moms that are on there and your husband is quickly scrolling past the pictures of amazing activities that they see on Facebook.  Just love your family this month, however they need it, whether or not it makes a like-worth or shareable photo or not.