Posted in FLYING and HGP

Well dh finally brought the decorations down from the attic and put up the outside lights.  The kids were so excited and just loved helping dad.  I was a little stressed because I have been waiting for this since before Thanksgiving but in his defense he has had a little bout of stomach flu that has been going around and thankfully we haven't gotten it, so I will be thankful that the Christmas boxes are down and the lights are going up. 

The lights outside looked pretty.  We "acquired" some "new-to-us" cascade/icicle lights this year because our neighbor left a box of them outside with a sign that said FREE!  I was excited because I've always thought those lights were so pretty but they are NEVER around at the after-Christmas clearance sales and I haven't been able to justify spending money buying them when we have so many "gingerbread house" outdoor lights.  Well dh hung the cascades and we realized that there were whole sections of the lights that wouldn't light.   A little discouraged at first but dh replaced bulbs and they are good to go. 

However, I find this so sad!  Our generous neighbor has "new" cascade lights up.  I'm not judging and I can only guess that they went and bought some new lights but I don't know.  I just know that the ones up are new. 

When did our society get soooo wasteful and lazy that they can't even change a little bulb?  Okay, it was about 10 little bulbs but STILL!?  At times, I'm ashamed to say I live in America, that just throws away a (perfectly good) thing, to get new things.  Yes, I know this isn't really a Flylady philosophy (If you don't love it or don't use it then get rid of it) and I don't know the whole story on the FREE lights but really you see this attitude of "just toss it" everywhere.  I want to make perfectly clear that I AM REALLY GRATEFUL that at least the neighbor left his perfectly good stuff outside with a FREE sign that ended up blessing my family which is better than just tossing it into the trashcan but honestly, the stuff that people toss -- it is just sad.  

Maybe I'm just more disturbed because this year is going to be another tight Christmas.  I don't mind; I think that I am sorta getting used to doing things on a dime and I know that there are soooo many others that are worse off than my family.  We have even had years that were worse than this year so I really hope I don't sound like I am complaining about what G-d gives.  Sometimes I think that G-d shows me these sorts of injustices so that I will remember Who my Provider is and what He thinks is important.  Somehow too, I think He was reminding me of the true Reason for the Season which is all about the FREE Blessing He left for others AND to be a light (maybe a cascade light ).