so sad

i have just been in a mood.

going through the Crate and Barrel/ Pottery Barn Christmas catalogues, thinking about the new matching Christmas stockings I want to get Drew and I. Looking at new outrageously priced Christmas ornaments I want to hang on our tree. blah blah blah. 

the Christmas ads/ catalogues have slowly started coming and I was even starting to make out my Christmas list, trying to figure out how I could trick Drew into getting me ankle boots AND some new knee-high boots. Both are the trend, ya know.

I want a new phone case, I want a new car. blah blah blah.

my adorable little sister is a first grade teacher.  i called her after work today while I was in a traffic jam waiting to go to the grocery store to get some last minute candy. I was thinking about how the Snickers and Reese Cups were probably all sold out and I would be stuck getting the tootsie roll/dots combination. Yuck. Kids would be mad at us for handing that out and probably egg our house. Duh. 

So she was telling me about all the difference costumes the kids were. A cute little pirate, lots of Batman and Iron Mans. Ya know, the predictable. 

Then she told me about the little boy whose family she knew didn't have a whole lot of money. He didn't bring a costume to school and at recess she sent him down to the counselor's office to pick something out to wear for the party. 

When he got back and she asked him what he had picked out, she said she almost burst into tears. 

He had the BIGGEST smile on his face and was SO excited with his new costume. 

it seriously broke my heart. like seriously. my heart aches when I think about it! 

WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING? I WRITE THIS SILLY LITTLE BLOG ABOUT MY LIFE WHEN SERIOUSLY THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT NEED TO KNOW THEY ARE CARED ABOUT! i spend so much time in my own little world, concerned with my own petty problems. and i am sick of it. 

i have it so, so good. SO GOOD. That simplest little gesture made that little boy's day. His whole Halloween. 

As tomorrow comes and we enter the Holiday season, I want this year to be different. I don't want to go through November and December focusing on myself. What I want, how I want things to be. It's not about me. 

It's about that dollar bill thrown in the bell ringers red buckets, it's about that Adopt-a-Family program at work. It's about that extra "Merry Christmas" to that person who can do absolutely nothing for you.

It's about that sweet little first grader who came to school without a costume. and more importantly, the gesture of that sweet school counselor who made that little boy's day.



and some halloween love that made me happy today:

who is that babe on the left? oh, just MY MOM! hahahaha

cute little jenna mae was our first trick-or-treater!

kailee sent me this. her costume for first grade tomorrow :)

 baby lew came to our little shindig last week :) 

dracula blood cocktail :) cranberry sierra mist, vodka and a maraschino cherry (blood clot. duh) :)

i busted out the powerdrill for this years pumpkin :) 

i hope you have a great halloween!