Just things to think about.

Waiting and waiting and waiting.  It seems to go on forever.  At first we were waiting to hear about a job in Nebraska.  Then we were waiting for it to be later in the year so we could move to said job.  Then we were waiting to hear about a rental.  Then we were waiting for a house to sell.  And another house.  - One sold one is still on the market.- Then we made an offer on a place and we had to wait to hear on that.  Then once we had finally agreed on a bunch of stuff then things fell apart at the last minute.  So it was back to waiting and looking.  Then we made another offer on another house.  And we were back to waiting on news from someone else.  And then they came back with information that just wouldn't work for us.  And now we are waiting again.  It seems it will never end.  I'm so impatient that I'm going a little crazy.  Maybe this is just my patience test for the year?  Month? Week?  Day?  I hope year.

So besides waiting I've been re-reading the Little House on the Prairie books.  I'm enjoying them a lot but I keep thinking that there is no way Ma is as happy as Laura writes her to be.  Don't get me wrong, I think she was an incredible woman that did things to raise her family that most modern women would never one, want to do, or two wouldn't have the knowledge to do.  At the same time though as a parent I see things differently than a child does and I'm realizing there are things that the kids never see.  At least as a parent you hope they never see. 

I can only imagine the stress Ma was under to provide a safe, comfortable home for the girls when they were living in a tent, a wagon, a dugout, or a shanty.  Not to mention wondering where their next meal would come from.  And to top it all off there were seldom any other people around to talk to or work with.  It explains why it was such a treat to have visitors.

In reading these books at this time of year I'm paying more attention to their Christmas stories too.  It is amazing to me how Christmas has changed over the years.  It has become so commercial and such a competition.  And how do you compete when kids have so much all through the year?  It seems to have lost some of the special feeling that used to come from not having things during the year.  Things like a bit of candy or that special orange in your stocking used to truly be a special thing.  Now, it seems like a why bother?  It sure makes you stop and think that a piece of candy and maybe one present really was super exciting because it was the only time of the year that you got it.  At times I wish it were still that way.

I don't envy the hardships of that life though.  Our modern lives are so much more comfortable.  I complain about waiting to see about a house and yet I live in a house that between my kitchen and dining room is bigger than a lot of the Ingall's living conditions were.  And to think that there is so much more to this house than the kitchen and dining room.  I picture trying to squeeze 4 kids and 2 adults into one tiny room.  Ugh!  I know how cramped we were in MT in our little house with only 4 people total and one dog.