The Whole Kristen ca-Doodle

The best way to spread  Christmas Cheer , is singing loud for all to hear. -Buddy the Elf I love Christmas time.  I love the decorations, the lights, the songs, the wrapping paper, the corny movies, the gift exchanges, the cookies, the Santa visits, the angel trees, the ornaments, the stories of the "first" Christmas, the little sheepies in the nativity sets that join their masters in admiring a baby, and really, all the traditions. I have, and still do, at times, let myself get lost in the busyness and stress that this holiday season can bring.  But this year, when trying to come up with a song lyric to draw and frame for my living room, and getting a hilariously unhelpful suggestion from my husband, I began to reflect on what I was going to let Christmas mean to me this year.  It can mean so many different things, as many different things as there are different relationships with the Divine and/or with Jesus.  Is it about giving or charity or hope or joy or toys or

I love my town,  which is my hometown.  I live in a town of about 30,000, which is an inner ring suburb of Kansas City, MO (which P.S. is where the Kansas City that you hear about is located).  It is an incredibly convenient place to live, containing all the basic necessities of suburban living: neighborhoods, parks, schools, churchs, some restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, drugstores, and a smattering of small businesses.  And what we don't have is surely located nearby in the Kansas City Metro area, which is easily accessible from our town, usually no more than a twenty minute drive.  Also the stadiums (Chiefs and Royals) are so close, they are practically in our town.  I feel a tremendous gratitude to my fellow citizens and neighbors, and also a immense sense of pride in our town.  Disappointingly, my town has some people who regard it negatively, or speak about it with negative connotations.  And we have definitely experienced the spread of the phenomenon of 

Click here to download Me, too doodle. And most of you, too. You may have noticed by now the viral trend on social media, in particular, Facebook, in which folks, mainly women are posting as their statuses, "Me, too."  Some elaborate on this with the following statement: If all the people who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote "Me too." as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem. And astoundingly to some is the degree to which sexual assault/harassment has affected so many of the people we know.  For me, a significant majority of my female friends and acquaintances have shared this status, some expounding with more specific details of what those experiences were and some not.  But, what surprised me was how many of us either shared in our statuses or later in comments, or maybe, like me, simply had that thought, that perhaps we shouldn't share, because what happened to us wasn't bad enough.  

I don't have really much to say about this, other than that, occasionally folks ask me to make them something and/or I think of something I could doodle for somebody else.  Recently, I have been doodling a lot of names with decorations, first for my children, then students when subbing, and then teachers, who noticed.  What follows are not those names, but stuff I have created for specific folks, that you can have too.  This one was for a dear friend's daughter who is the cutest and is about to start potty training!  She gets to put a sticker on either when she tries or is successful or doesn't have an accident.  You make the rules here!   Click here to download Potty Chart doodle.  This one was a coloring sheet for an owner of my local yoga studio who had agreed to host a coloring booth for kids at a community event.  Lots of lines and boxes make it fun for adults too.   Click here to download Namast and Play All Day doodle. Finally, this a bookmark

I haven't written or doodled anything in a while.  Well, actually, I have written approximately 7,642 blog posts in my head, but none have made their way to the computer.  And, I doodle everyday, I just haven't had any posts to attach them to.   I have been busier lately, with my substitute teaching job, which is great, but also a big change for my family.  So, I haven't made time. And. And I was all ready to post about a topic, either optimism or vanity, and even had my doodles ready, but then violence interrupted our worlds, as it too often does.  First, in a neighboring community with the suicide of a teenage girl, and then in Las Vegas.  And I was broken, like you, and raging, like you, and sad, like you, and a little hopeless, like you.  And I tried to have something to say.  I started a post. As my husband and I are frequently reminding our children (and ourselves), is it more important to be right or is it more important to be love? Prayer is important,

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.  Albus Dumbledore Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling Patriotism I want to start by telling you that I am a patriot.  I love America, and many of the ideas on which it was founded, the many great things it has done/is doing in the world, many facets regarding our way of life, American "ingenuity", and you know, apple pie.  I respect our flag, its beauty, its symbolism, the hands that sewed it.  My soul sister, fellow PTA mom, hippie-chick, fellow progressive feminist friend and I took extra time one day when leaving our school building with children in tow to refold the flag that had been taken down at the end of the school day and folded incorrectly.  Practically no one would've known or noticed, and our kids weren't really paying attention.  It wasn't really about it being a teachable moment for us, and it wasn't done out o

Someone once told me, that the last good night's sleep I would ever have would be the night before I found out I was pregnant.  Truth.  Anybody's who has been pregnant knows that it comes with discomfort, and lots and lots of bathroom trips.  And leg cramps.  And husbands who wake you up, because you are sleeping flat on your back.  (Side note:  Don't do this.  Yes, technically laying on my back wasn't ideal, but at. least. I. was. asleep.)  And then we had babies, who were/are lovely and beautiful, but totally sucked at sleeping.  I was in Zombieville for like 5 years. I know I am in the minority in that I have never watched The Walking Dead .  I assume it is just about my life when my kids were babies? And now, my kiddos are almost 7 and 9 and pretty much sleeping through the night consistently.  One of ours has a little GI/urinary issue, AND is afraid of the dark, so I do get woken frequently to escort her down the hallway to the potty.  Also, our 11-year-ol

Wanna know one of the approximately 75,000 things that amazes me about children? Sure you do.  It astonishes and impresses me how quickly and easily children, especially young children, can befriend each other.  You might've noticed it too, on a playground, a birthday party, meeting up with your adult friends and their kiddos, or even the first day of school.  Even when another child is a perfect stranger, after a bit of a warming up period, longer for some temperaments than others, those two (or more!) strangers are soon best buddies.  It is like all they can see in each other is a potential playmate.  I imagine their unspoken dialogue like this: Click here to download the Let's Be Kids doodle. It is a beautiful, magical skill that seems to unfortunately fade as we age.  With wisdom, with age, with growth, with knowledge, with experience, somehow also comes a degree of mistrust, a tendency to withdraw, a dangerous habit of comparison, and perhaps too much of a relia

People Won't Know Their Welcome Unless You Say They Are I once told my dear friend, our church secretary at the time, this, when we were discussing open and affirming congregations.  The thing is, if you are part of a group that has been historically held to the periphery of society, or in some way made to feel less than, or been explicitly told that you are an abomination, it would be really hard, it would take extreme bravery and courage to enter any place, but expecially a faith community that didn't go out of her way to offer you a specific welcome.  So, IT DOESN"T MATTER IF YOU WOULD WELCOME THEM ONCE THEY'RE THERE or not!  Leaving a church after three decades and becoming a visitor in others has opened my eyes to how much bravery and courage is involved in visiting new faith communities at all.   So I picked one that displayed obvious welcome.  One that flies a rainbow flag, one that hangs a banner welcoming refugees and immigrants.  I am none of those thi

Once upon a time I got a degree in Human Development and Family Studies and was employed as both an Infant/Toddler Classroom teacher and as a Preschool Teacher.  I have always loved people, especially tiny people, and learning about their development and how to support their development was a natural turn for me.  I developed many close bonds with many different kiddos, after all, I spent 8 hours a day with them 5 days a week.  I knew which baby needed to be rocked a little extra, which one needed her binky, which toddler loved to have his face tickled, and who really needed to be sung to during a diaper change.  I knew which little guy was having a hard time adjusting to a new place and needed to be tucked under my wing and be my little shadow for a few weeks.  I knew which little girly would be my copy cat, naming her imaginary boyfriend Jicheal when I mentioned my husband was named Micheal.  I knew which little squirt would challenge the "Where is tall man?" verse of th

I love personality quizzes.   I recently became intrigued by the  Enneagram types , have been known to investigate my  Meyer-Briggs type , and even found out my  Hogwarts house .  You might think they are bologna or worthless, and you might be right.  But, I think they are insightful, reflective, thought-provoking, convicting, and frankly, fun.   I also love spiritual gift inventories, which I participated in during an adult study at church once upon a time, and in another study, some time later, I participated in a study about defining my faith.  Those things are life-changing, eye-opening, and somehow super comforting.  To be sitting in a place where you are really understanding what and why you believe what you do is incredibly peaceful, even when some of your answers are I don't know .  Furthermore, it allows you to more easily identify when or why those beliefs change.  I recommend taking that journey if you are offered it.   Faith Essentials Recently