Mother's Day 2009........

Mothers Day has come and gone for another year here. It has always been a vey personal day for me, as devoid of materialism as I can possibly make it lol. I will cut a long story short by saying that when Mr J and I were first married we were paying a mortgage, trying to save for a holiday and working so that we could eventually start a family. Surfice to say that when Mothers Day came along I always found it a financial struggle to buy presents for my Grandmothers, my mother and my mother-in-law. We always managed but I do remember thinking one day that some how the true meaning of Mothers Day had become lost in the materialism of shopping in amongst crowds of people responding to mass advertising, trying to think of something that the Grandmothers and mothers needed and then how to fit in visiting all four on one day. It had become similar to Christmas in that it was a mad rush getting from one house to another but we always made that happen as well.

I think it is more the advertising regarding Mothers Day that concerns me more than anything. To demonstrate your love for one's mother you must spend xxx amount of money on them, or buy them the latest, or give as equally as all of your siblings, etc. If not you are not giving your mother what she truely deserves....you are not showing her how much you love her. Goodness, does that mean we can not show a mother how much she is loved by telling her or simply writing it in a card or making her something. Somehow, somewhere the message got switched with a shopping list.

My first Mothers Day was in May 1986, Ms K was a mere three and a half months old. On the Thursday before Mothers Day we headed off to the usual mayhem of shopping and made our purchases when I decided that I didn't want John having to stretch the budget for yet another present so we talked about it and decided that we would do something else to celebrate Mothers Day and Fathers ay for the two of us.

And so it came to be in our house that when the children were old enough to make Mothers Day cards they did so very excitedly. I still have many of their preschool cards and gifts that they made at crafty classes too. When they eventually started school the fundraising group would sell small inexpensive gifts such as tissue covers and hanky bags to which the children brought home and had to hide until the Sunday morning. I can still see the excitement and agony of having to keep their big Mothers Day secret hidden so as I would not find it lol. Alex was always very poker faced about gifts so he had no trouble pretending that he had nothing planned for Mothers Day however, Kimberly and Ben would nearly burst a bubble having to keep their secret lol. As they got older again I received breakfast in bed which was always fun.

As the children got older we talked about buying Mothers Day presents and I asked them not to, instead we decided to go on a family picnic or have lunch together. Several times when the children have been unable to meet for Mothers Day due to my working out of town, they have purchsed gifts but aside from that we have some wonderful family photos together when we have been out.

In saying all of that I had a lovely Mothers Day. Mr J and I went to the movies and had a very relaing day, Ms K arrived here tonight and gave me a book by one of my favourite authors and Mr A and I will have dinner together on Friday night. Ahhhh the joys of being a mother. Happy Mothers Day to all of you Mums!

My photos here show.....On Mothers Day a storm slowly came in over the bay. It blocked out the sun and eventually rained. That evening we had a full moon with a few dark clouds passing over.