Memoir Mondays Week 11

It seems like the weeks are flying by!  It's just a few weeks until Christmas, and I haven't even started my Christmas shopping.  (No, I'm not kidding.  I really haven't bought one single Christmas present.)  I probably mentioned in an earlier post that we always put up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, so the living room is decorated (the only room in the house that we decorate) and the tree is up.  There are no presents under it, though.  Right now, the only things under the tree are our two cats.  They enjoy napping under the warm glowing lights (when they aren't busy knocking ornaments off the tree and batting them around on the floor!). 

The week 11 Memoir Mondays questions, along with my answers, are below.  If you'd like to read the hosting blog and see her answers or those of other participants, just click here. 

1. What was winter like where you grew up? What kinds of activities did you and your family do during the winter?

Having lived in the South all of my life, we've never had really cold winters.  I do remember a few winters when it snowed and when we had a few really cold "snaps" for a few days or even weeks, but overall our winters are very mild.  Because of the mild winters here, our winter activites really didn't differ all that much from the activities we did the rest of the year.  We were still able to go outside most days and ride our bicycles, play at the park that was across the street from where we grew up, and most of the year there was still yard work to be done since the grass didn't really die.  (Unfortunately that means the ants don't die either.  We get to deal with those year-round here in the South.)  I wish I had some really fun winter activities to tell you about, but I really don't!


2. What is the best piece of advice you ever received and why?

One of the best pieces of marriage advice I got was to let the little things remain little things.  So many married couples get their feelings hurt over every little comment or action.  I try, though I often fail, to let the little things remain little and not get upset about them.  It sounds easy, but it's really not.  It is great advice, though, and it is worth trying to follow it!  Even if I fail half the time, that's still half the number of problems it would have otherwise been.  :) 

One of the best pieces of parenting advice I got was to be consistent.  Even having been a mom for 15 years now, that's a hard one for me!  My kids behave so much better when I am consistent with their discipline and consequences, but I have to admit that being consistent is hard work! 

Another good piece of parenting advice is to teach first-time obedience.  That's another really hard one!  My motto is, "Delayed obedience is disobedience."  In fact, for homeschooling families, it is especially important that the kids learn first-time obedience if you don't want all day every day to be spent begging and threatening and trying to find ways to get the kids to do their school work.  I'm certainly not the best at teaching (or requiring) first-time obedience, but I give it a good effort!  (I guess that really goes back to being consistent.) 

I would love to hear the best piece of advice you've ever received!  Please leave me a comment telling me about it.  You may also want to visit Heartfelt Homeschooling to link your own Memoir Mondays post to her blog. 

Have a wonderful week!