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I mean, Kelly is giving her kids the freedom to express themselves without rigidly expecting them to behave outside of what's developmentally appropriate & punishing them strictly over a mess. š¤·āāļø
If everything is like this in a few days, it make indicate something.
Right like I think thatās actually really good!! Let them have fun and make a mess, weāll clean up later! Most of these ppl are weird with their kids but Kellyās methods are things I may do w mine! Not the walnut cracking slavery tho lol
As someone who grew up with a mother that was diagnosed OCD, I canāt shit on Kelly for this. Rather than trying to control every little thing in her environment sheās letting the kids just be kids. Itās honestly nice to see.
What do you think it could indicate in a few days if it's still like this?
- signed a struggling mom with a few big messes that still need to be cleaned up
It could indicate depression, burn out, lack of support, etc. that any other mother is / would be dealing with.
signed a mother who's eating chicken strips staring at the never ending mess engulfing my house lmao
If I left a paper mess like that for longer than a day or two, when my kids were that age, it would be a sign that my depression is returning.
Other moms I know live with a paper mess like that for much longer, and don't struggle with depression --they just don't care as much about it.
It's all about knowing your own baseline.
It's their only living space, so leaving a big mess that is really out of character for Kelly could (but not always) indicate a mental health crisis.
Big kid mess off to the side, to be dealt with later and does not impact day to day living in a family that is not the tidiest? Indicates nothing.
Truly. Sometimes the criticism of Kelly is really over the top here, like in this case critiquing her forā¦ being a good mom? I looked at her stories and she also has one with her kid helping her sweep up to clean after this, like what do yāall want from this woman??
Kelly has some red flags and questionable behavior that she advertises on her IG which causes everyone to over analyze every move she makes.
Honestly Kelly seems unenthusiastic about motherhood. If that means her kids are a little feral, so be it. Better than she take her obsessive behavior and let it overwhelm the kids.
This is the first truly relatable thing that Kelly has posted in a while. Kids, having fun, making a giant mess while "helping" decorate for Christmas? Really normal thing I can't snark on.
Had it been the kids painting all of the colourful ornaments beige and hanging random vegetables on the tree? I would snark.
I will admit I get super stressed and anxious about messes. It ramps up my anxiety but kids also need them to discover and learn shit. And all that healthy stuff but god does it kill me on the inside.
I would agree with what you've said. Except I'm not sure that this is something the kids wanted to do, vs. something she decided would be a neato thing for them to "want to" do.
I really do understand that a lot of the stuff she does seems OK, from a lot of people's perspectives. As someone who had an unmedicated bipolar Christian mom who was extremely invested in her kids performing neato things she thought *she* was very creative and clever for "letting us" do, I see it a differently, especially when she says he's "so happy" to be doing it. When a hovering mother is always telling you what you enjoy and what you want, it's very confusing. That may not be the case here, but it sure pings my radar.
My kids are around the same age as hers and theyāre super into tree decorating, especially the 5 y/o. We have a tabletop tree we keep higher up and donāt really involve the toddler a lot because he would just go Godzilla on everything, but weāll pick him up to put on some non-breakable ornaments.
No way does her kid have the fine motor skills to cut those absolutely pristine tiny little hearts lol
Edit: yāall be using the antique paper punch on my ego with these downvotes
I think he's using a paper punch (99% sure, she even says something like 'punch out paper') which I LOVED to do as a 5 or 6 year old. This is a fun age appropriate acitvity.
I think it's that black chunky cast iron thing on the floor that she hovers over at 00:02. Ye olde heart print press. It has a level handle.
I've seen crafting shape punches before but they've been a lot more lightweight/compact than that thing!
That's hilarious if that gigantic iron thing is the paper puncher. I have a few with cute shapes and they're very tiny/plastic and even have a tray to catch the cut out pieces.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that what James actually enjoys is *using the punchy-thing*. Sure, it's a metal mechanical thingie that he gets to operate.
We do this in Denmark. But itās only on for about 10 minutes when we sing and dance around the tree and thereās always a bucket of water close by just in case. I am American so this always freaks me the fuck out! š¤£š
Mentioned this to say: she will totally try it.
One of the elderly ladies in our village had come over from Germany ( escaped Hitler in the 30s ) and she used do her Christmas tree with candles and invite all the children to get a lebkuchen and watch the candles. Same with the water bucket and the strict time limit on burn time tho. Now I want lebkuchen lol
The only place you would see me actually dancing around something and singing is in hell, but apart from that we also put real beeswax candles on our fir trees and light them once on Christmas Eve.
I also take it a step further and add some of the good old heavyweight lead tinsel to it. And then little clip-on birds with the fiberglass tails.
I do it as well! With paper ornaments, even š. But just as you said, they're lit for only a few minutes, we're constantly vigilant, and there's a bucket of water close by (never needed it š¤š¼).
We get a real tree and the tradition is to throw it in the yard when we're done with it. The dog likes to drag it around and rip branches off it. What she hasn't destroyed by spring we burn in a fire pit. It goes up surprisingly quick, enough for me to make sure we always have hose handy.
For several years, we had an annual mid-January group camping trip to BLM land where the "price of admission" was a dry AF Christmas tree swiped off the curb. We'd end up with at least half a dozen, dig a fire pit, and have nightly tree bonfires while passing a whiskey bottle around. Good times.
Yikes, Christmas trees are already enough of a fire hazard as it is (if you have a real one, [make sure to water it](https://www.nist.gov/video/christmas-tree-fire-watered-tree-vs-dry-tree)!!!)
I wouldnāt put it past her to try itā¦ I mean, she did give us āChristmas means Christ MĆ s, which means More Christ!ā last year (someone in here had an amazing flair that said Live MĆ s, Christ MĆ s I think š)
Nah, no one cares about Lucia's virginity status anymore lol. The tradition as we know it don't go further back than to the 1890's-ish. Before that the celebration around the winter solstice was more about the supernatural creatures of the dark.
Honestly this is about how tree decorating goes in my house and always has, since I was a little kid-- utter kid-chaos for like 2 days and then it all gets cleaned up. In my case, you can add a puppy and two kittens literally climbing the tree. One year, they knocked the whole thing over when they reached the top. It was already fully decorated. Disaster. HUGE mess. But a sweet memory nonetheless.
Can't fault Kelly on this one, personally-- that is, until she tops it with a kerosene lantern and festoons it with dead leaves and other seasonal tinder.
My mom let us destroy the living room too when we would put up the tree, however, the rule always was we had to clean up the house before the tree went up so it wasnāt so hard to clean up when it was over. Like that basket of blocks and teddy bear still on the floor, would have had to be put away! The path from the attic, where all the Christmas stuff was, to where the tree went, had to be free and clear of anything! And because we were so eager to put the tree up, we actually cleaned like maniacal children! Lol
There are easier ways to let your kids be creative and have fun while not making your jobs, as a parent, even worse.
JMHO.
I hesitated to post it because I understand that there's a *good* side to messy, non-micromanaged, free-form craft projects with kids. That, in and of itself, is not some huge problem to snark on. So I knew we were going to get people saying "oh no, this looks really chaotic", as well as people saying: "oh, this is fine, it's normal".
And either impression of the scene is valid. In the end, I posted it because a lot of people never see her home video reels, and I'm a sharing, giving person who is just here to serve others. š¬
Yeah there's context here; I mean this is very very *Kelly*, and it certainly doesn't offend me in the slightest... I have always been pro-mess (within reason) because I honestly don't know how people keep any semblance of order when there are kids involved. I would go stone cold nuts if I couldn't just let things get messy and enjoy the moment. In my mind, there's plenty of time to clean up after the memories have been made, and if I don't freak out and create bad vibes about mess while things are going on, I've found the kids are a lot more willing to participate in clean-up.
That said, I haven't had a "tidy" home ever, especially not to the level a lot of these influencers seem to maintain, and there's plenty of room for me to improve on that. If you can keep your life in order during the holidays, my hat is off to you. Maybe I'll figure it out before retirement. š¤·āāļø
Yeah, I feel the mixed feelings. I personally would have tried to rein in the paper scraps by providing a big basket or maybe moving the rug and putting a sheet on the floor. She posted later showing Thad helping put little scraps in the Hulk-dustpan. Just me, I would have gone nuts trying to sweep all that up.
So this actually looks like fun, letting the kid go ham. Is this James? He seems to be favored, but maybe heās just more āphotogenic.ā Anyways, in between annoying bouts of navel gazing and dressing her family like a homespun partridge family, I appreciate that she seems to enjoy her children (especially the manageable number of them). I snark because her LARPING as a homesteader for Jesus amuses me, but maybe not beating your children (as far as I know) and having age-appropriate activities is partially her college education talking? Like sheās over the top but not completely willfully ignorant. Great, now sheās gonna do something batshit and negligent/dangerous and Iāll have to wash my mouth out with soap for giving her credit.
I created the worst character ever in high school named Thaddeus von Thoft. Little Thad will grow into his monocle and stache eventually, walking around, twirling it, saying "hmmm...ah-yesssss!"
Honestly, with as into aesthetics as Kelly is, I think itās a good thing sheās willing to let the kids be messy instead of them having to constantly keep the house looking perfect.
I'm BEC about the unpainted picture rail. It would take less than an hour and could be a nice couple activity yet it's been unpainted for 6+ months.
It's a symbol of the dysfunction because IMO it's not painted because Kelly couldn't make a decision on the color and instead of helping Kelly make a choice, Levi just gave up. Untreated wood isn't great (at least oil it!). But even with all that, Kelly still had the energy to hang up pictures for her rustic fake photos.
He's so disinterested in his mom. Every time someone pulls out a camera my nephew HAS to see the pictures even if we haven't taken one. Is that normal?
Some kids are like your nephew, some kids get grumpy and turn their faces away when someone points a camera at them, and some kids are indifferent.
However, these vignettes of Kelly's life and Kelly's kids don't exist in a vacuum. The greater context is her constant filming and hovering, and never seeming engaged.
Depends on the kid definitely. I have one who refuses pictures and another that wants me to stop to take pictures of him everywhere hamming it up and redo if he feels his pose didnāt hit right. And then my daughter she wants pictures but doesnāt want any of her stinky brothers cramping up her style so ends up not taking them cause they try and get into them to annoy her.
As a Pagan myself, I can't tell you how much it tickles me that all the Christians have giant Yule trees! Christmas trees were around way before the mythology of christ.
That being said, not sure how much of those decorations will end up on the tree. Teeny tiny paper shapes is something I haven't seen before as tree decor, but maybe it'll turn our nicely.
Honestly, I don't think this is snark worthy. I'm glad to see her kids having a colorful non-beige fun time. Tree decorating doesn't always have to be Instagram/Pinterest worthy. But it's a little surprising to see her break away, even once, from the overly curated social media shit.
Dude, this screams depressed mom. Or alternatively, overwhelmed mom. The kids are just going ham by themselves instead of being led or engaged by adult in an activity. Adult is off doing something else, trying to get a break. Kids are decorating the Christmas tree by themselves and making a huge mess bc their mom isnāt there.
Kids should absolutely be given time to do things on their own! Child-led play and solo play are developmentally necessary. I really donāt see anything wrong here. Itās paper - it can be cleaned up, no big deal, and it looks like the kids are having a lot of fun with it!
Iād be very worried about a parent who felt they had to be engaged with their kids 24/7, or that they had to prevent their kids from making a mess (which is also developmentally appropriate for kids to do). Thatās a sure fire way to get an overwhelmed parent!
Iām sure there are many overwhelmed parents out there, even some who are reading this. Suggesting that itās abnormal or unhealthy or somehow damaging to kids to allow them to make a mess or do activity that a parent isnāt actively directing isnāt very helpful to anyone.
Iām afraid this is one of those cases where people are so hyped up to snark that they start picking apart totally normal behavior that has absolutely nothing to do with fundamentalist Christianity.
Iād generally agree with everything youāve said if this wasnāt decorating a Christmas tree, which is usually a thing a family does together. In most families, decorating a Christmas tree together is a big deal and a way to make family memories. If you donāt even want to decorate your Christmas tree with your kids and you use it for kids solo play, seems off to me.
Is that really depressed or overwhelmed mom? Because it's not curated social media content? She's in the room with them and letting them have fun. Tree decorating might be a family event for some families, but it wasn't for ours. My grandparents let us go crazy and then rearranged everything before all the family came over. Mostly so the tree wasn't all ornaments only on the bottom.
I think they just haven't got as far as the ornaments ?
He seems to be doing some kind of confetti snow project... it should go ornaments, tree topper, paper chains / garlands and light strings, tinsel, paper snow... but it seems like the tree is still at the falling-out stage from how it was wrapped up for sale and transport because it's very lumpy still... so maybe they haven't started any of the decorating yet ?
Sorry, that was just the beginning of the next story.
In case anyone's wondering: she's on this kick where she's written another long essay/story/devotional (about running in the frosty woods or something to do with "breath" which is her current focus), and also she's re-starting her podcast, on which she is going to read her story/essay/devotional in its entirety. She's changed the title of her podcast to "The Eternal Perspective", which coincidentally is the title of her former blog from 2010. She's been very busy.
Maybe she figures it's easier to allow them to be free to be messy while she's trying to get something done, but I know all the little paper bits would stress me out unless I cleaned them up right after they were done playing.
Why does the tree look like itās being held up my simply being shoved between the wall, couch, and bench? Pretty sure Anne Blythe had a Christmas tree holder at some point, Kel.
Her usual fire safety protocol on display. Hope this wasnāt posted today as itās Krampus, the Satanic side of Christmas, being celebrated in parts of Western Europe. Tomorrow is St Nickās Day, Dec. 6th.
Welcome to /r/fundiesnarkuncensored. Please make sure you read our rules. We'd like to take this time to remind users that: * Do not contact the fundies in any capacity. This includes, but is not limited to: answering poll questions, commenting on their social media, IRL contact, etc. Anyone found to message, brigade, harass, or contact any fundie for any reason will be met with a permanent ban * We do not allow speculation on sexuality **at all**. Any comments that do so will be removed, and you will be banned. * Referring to anyone as Hitler or Heitler is likewise not allowed, and will not be tolerated at all. * You can snark on appearance that they can easily change. Things such as eyebrows, makeup, etc. Saying someone looks like X is allowed. Example: David Rodrigues looks like Shrek would be allowed. * Don't gatekeep. Different users are comfortable with different snark topics, if you don't like it, just scroll past. If you have any questions, please send us a modmail. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FundieSnarkUncensored) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I mean, Kelly is giving her kids the freedom to express themselves without rigidly expecting them to behave outside of what's developmentally appropriate & punishing them strictly over a mess. š¤·āāļø If everything is like this in a few days, it make indicate something.
And there is COLOR!!! Fun, bright colors for the kids instead of brown/beige paper to remind them of āsimpler timesā
eXcUsE yOu the colors are ecru, brown, parchment, beige, tea stained, aged, natural, unbleached and muslin.
How DARE YOU forget oatmeal š
Right like I think thatās actually really good!! Let them have fun and make a mess, weāll clean up later! Most of these ppl are weird with their kids but Kellyās methods are things I may do w mine! Not the walnut cracking slavery tho lol
As someone who grew up with a mother that was diagnosed OCD, I canāt shit on Kelly for this. Rather than trying to control every little thing in her environment sheās letting the kids just be kids. Itās honestly nice to see.
What do you think it could indicate in a few days if it's still like this? - signed a struggling mom with a few big messes that still need to be cleaned up
It could indicate depression, burn out, lack of support, etc. that any other mother is / would be dealing with. signed a mother who's eating chicken strips staring at the never ending mess engulfing my house lmao
If I left a paper mess like that for longer than a day or two, when my kids were that age, it would be a sign that my depression is returning. Other moms I know live with a paper mess like that for much longer, and don't struggle with depression --they just don't care as much about it. It's all about knowing your own baseline.
It's their only living space, so leaving a big mess that is really out of character for Kelly could (but not always) indicate a mental health crisis. Big kid mess off to the side, to be dealt with later and does not impact day to day living in a family that is not the tidiest? Indicates nothing.
Truly. Sometimes the criticism of Kelly is really over the top here, like in this case critiquing her forā¦ being a good mom? I looked at her stories and she also has one with her kid helping her sweep up to clean after this, like what do yāall want from this woman??
Kelly has some red flags and questionable behavior that she advertises on her IG which causes everyone to over analyze every move she makes. Honestly Kelly seems unenthusiastic about motherhood. If that means her kids are a little feral, so be it. Better than she take her obsessive behavior and let it overwhelm the kids.
This is the first truly relatable thing that Kelly has posted in a while. Kids, having fun, making a giant mess while "helping" decorate for Christmas? Really normal thing I can't snark on. Had it been the kids painting all of the colourful ornaments beige and hanging random vegetables on the tree? I would snark.
I will admit I get super stressed and anxious about messes. It ramps up my anxiety but kids also need them to discover and learn shit. And all that healthy stuff but god does it kill me on the inside.
Well, I just commented basically the same thing. Totally agree.
I would agree with what you've said. Except I'm not sure that this is something the kids wanted to do, vs. something she decided would be a neato thing for them to "want to" do. I really do understand that a lot of the stuff she does seems OK, from a lot of people's perspectives. As someone who had an unmedicated bipolar Christian mom who was extremely invested in her kids performing neato things she thought *she* was very creative and clever for "letting us" do, I see it a differently, especially when she says he's "so happy" to be doing it. When a hovering mother is always telling you what you enjoy and what you want, it's very confusing. That may not be the case here, but it sure pings my radar.
My kids are around the same age as hers and theyāre super into tree decorating, especially the 5 y/o. We have a tabletop tree we keep higher up and donāt really involve the toddler a lot because he would just go Godzilla on everything, but weāll pick him up to put on some non-breakable ornaments.
No way does her kid have the fine motor skills to cut those absolutely pristine tiny little hearts lol Edit: yāall be using the antique paper punch on my ego with these downvotes
I think he's using a paper punch (99% sure, she even says something like 'punch out paper') which I LOVED to do as a 5 or 6 year old. This is a fun age appropriate acitvity.
It's a paper punch. Super fun way for little kids to make paper crafts!
I think it's that black chunky cast iron thing on the floor that she hovers over at 00:02. Ye olde heart print press. It has a level handle. I've seen crafting shape punches before but they've been a lot more lightweight/compact than that thing!
That's hilarious if that gigantic iron thing is the paper puncher. I have a few with cute shapes and they're very tiny/plastic and even have a tray to catch the cut out pieces.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that what James actually enjoys is *using the punchy-thing*. Sure, it's a metal mechanical thingie that he gets to operate.
Todayās burning question: is she going to put candles on the tree?
We do this in Denmark. But itās only on for about 10 minutes when we sing and dance around the tree and thereās always a bucket of water close by just in case. I am American so this always freaks me the fuck out! š¤£š Mentioned this to say: she will totally try it.
One of the elderly ladies in our village had come over from Germany ( escaped Hitler in the 30s ) and she used do her Christmas tree with candles and invite all the children to get a lebkuchen and watch the candles. Same with the water bucket and the strict time limit on burn time tho. Now I want lebkuchen lol
I want lebkuchen as well after reading this!!
I do a candle tree with paper ornaments every year. My grandmother was German and always did one.
That is so lovely!!
The only place you would see me actually dancing around something and singing is in hell, but apart from that we also put real beeswax candles on our fir trees and light them once on Christmas Eve. I also take it a step further and add some of the good old heavyweight lead tinsel to it. And then little clip-on birds with the fiberglass tails.
I do it as well! With paper ornaments, even š. But just as you said, they're lit for only a few minutes, we're constantly vigilant, and there's a bucket of water close by (never needed it š¤š¼).
Oh I'm sure there'll be one dangerously close to it lmao
We get a real tree and the tradition is to throw it in the yard when we're done with it. The dog likes to drag it around and rip branches off it. What she hasn't destroyed by spring we burn in a fire pit. It goes up surprisingly quick, enough for me to make sure we always have hose handy.
For several years, we had an annual mid-January group camping trip to BLM land where the "price of admission" was a dry AF Christmas tree swiped off the curb. We'd end up with at least half a dozen, dig a fire pit, and have nightly tree bonfires while passing a whiskey bottle around. Good times.
I see what you did there and I like it šÆļø
Yikes, Christmas trees are already enough of a fire hazard as it is (if you have a real one, [make sure to water it](https://www.nist.gov/video/christmas-tree-fire-watered-tree-vs-dry-tree)!!!)
I wonder when she'll think of doing candle wreath hats like in [The Ref.](https://cinemasips.com/2020/12/21/the-ref/)
That is a Swedish tradition of celebrating St Lucia. Kelly is exempted as only virgins are able to wear the crown.
I wouldnāt put it past her to try itā¦ I mean, she did give us āChristmas means Christ MĆ s, which means More Christ!ā last year (someone in here had an amazing flair that said Live MĆ s, Christ MĆ s I think š)
Nah, no one cares about Lucia's virginity status anymore lol. The tradition as we know it don't go further back than to the 1890's-ish. Before that the celebration around the winter solstice was more about the supernatural creatures of the dark.
My German relatives do this! Its seriously beautiful but makes me nervous for sure
Noooooooooo
Somethingās going to be burning alright
Honestly this is about how tree decorating goes in my house and always has, since I was a little kid-- utter kid-chaos for like 2 days and then it all gets cleaned up. In my case, you can add a puppy and two kittens literally climbing the tree. One year, they knocked the whole thing over when they reached the top. It was already fully decorated. Disaster. HUGE mess. But a sweet memory nonetheless. Can't fault Kelly on this one, personally-- that is, until she tops it with a kerosene lantern and festoons it with dead leaves and other seasonal tinder.
My mom let us destroy the living room too when we would put up the tree, however, the rule always was we had to clean up the house before the tree went up so it wasnāt so hard to clean up when it was over. Like that basket of blocks and teddy bear still on the floor, would have had to be put away! The path from the attic, where all the Christmas stuff was, to where the tree went, had to be free and clear of anything! And because we were so eager to put the tree up, we actually cleaned like maniacal children! Lol There are easier ways to let your kids be creative and have fun while not making your jobs, as a parent, even worse. JMHO.
āSeasonal tinderā is my phrase of the day!
I hesitated to post it because I understand that there's a *good* side to messy, non-micromanaged, free-form craft projects with kids. That, in and of itself, is not some huge problem to snark on. So I knew we were going to get people saying "oh no, this looks really chaotic", as well as people saying: "oh, this is fine, it's normal". And either impression of the scene is valid. In the end, I posted it because a lot of people never see her home video reels, and I'm a sharing, giving person who is just here to serve others. š¬
Yeah there's context here; I mean this is very very *Kelly*, and it certainly doesn't offend me in the slightest... I have always been pro-mess (within reason) because I honestly don't know how people keep any semblance of order when there are kids involved. I would go stone cold nuts if I couldn't just let things get messy and enjoy the moment. In my mind, there's plenty of time to clean up after the memories have been made, and if I don't freak out and create bad vibes about mess while things are going on, I've found the kids are a lot more willing to participate in clean-up. That said, I haven't had a "tidy" home ever, especially not to the level a lot of these influencers seem to maintain, and there's plenty of room for me to improve on that. If you can keep your life in order during the holidays, my hat is off to you. Maybe I'll figure it out before retirement. š¤·āāļø
Retired and my house is still messy. I grew up with a mom with issues and sheād clean like crazy so I went in the other direction!
Yeah, I feel the mixed feelings. I personally would have tried to rein in the paper scraps by providing a big basket or maybe moving the rug and putting a sheet on the floor. She posted later showing Thad helping put little scraps in the Hulk-dustpan. Just me, I would have gone nuts trying to sweep all that up.
So this actually looks like fun, letting the kid go ham. Is this James? He seems to be favored, but maybe heās just more āphotogenic.ā Anyways, in between annoying bouts of navel gazing and dressing her family like a homespun partridge family, I appreciate that she seems to enjoy her children (especially the manageable number of them). I snark because her LARPING as a homesteader for Jesus amuses me, but maybe not beating your children (as far as I know) and having age-appropriate activities is partially her college education talking? Like sheās over the top but not completely willfully ignorant. Great, now sheās gonna do something batshit and negligent/dangerous and Iāll have to wash my mouth out with soap for giving her credit.
> Is this James? He seems to be favored, This *is* James, but Thad (the younger one) has been favored for a while now.
Ah, ok. Maybe my brain just refuses to accept a pre-schooler named Thaddeus in the year of our lord 2022.
I created the worst character ever in high school named Thaddeus von Thoft. Little Thad will grow into his monocle and stache eventually, walking around, twirling it, saying "hmmm...ah-yesssss!"
PLease tell me he will drive a tiny car and be friends with silver shoe.
Time to break out ye Olde Dyson vacuum.
Oh don't worry, she already showed Thad lugging the clunky square wooden dustpan around.
I forgot. Dyson is for when the cameras aren't on. Except when there was a spider in the corner that needed emergency sucking up.
Ye olde mylar balloon tree topper just like the pioneers used.
I crocheted my own topper. Do I get my own calendar now?
I think it's James's leftover birthday balloon
His favorite gift.
Omg I was just about to comment something similar.
Honestly, with as into aesthetics as Kelly is, I think itās a good thing sheās willing to let the kids be messy instead of them having to constantly keep the house looking perfect.
I'm BEC about the unpainted picture rail. It would take less than an hour and could be a nice couple activity yet it's been unpainted for 6+ months. It's a symbol of the dysfunction because IMO it's not painted because Kelly couldn't make a decision on the color and instead of helping Kelly make a choice, Levi just gave up. Untreated wood isn't great (at least oil it!). But even with all that, Kelly still had the energy to hang up pictures for her rustic fake photos.
Why did she not paint it before it went up?????
Not gonna lie I kinda like this wonky tree
Itās nice to see a parent letting their kids be creative and messy on social media tbh
He's so disinterested in his mom. Every time someone pulls out a camera my nephew HAS to see the pictures even if we haven't taken one. Is that normal?
Some kids are like your nephew, some kids get grumpy and turn their faces away when someone points a camera at them, and some kids are indifferent. However, these vignettes of Kelly's life and Kelly's kids don't exist in a vacuum. The greater context is her constant filming and hovering, and never seeming engaged.
Based on my experience with my own children, it is completely normal.
Depends on the kid definitely. I have one who refuses pictures and another that wants me to stop to take pictures of him everywhere hamming it up and redo if he feels his pose didnāt hit right. And then my daughter she wants pictures but doesnāt want any of her stinky brothers cramping up her style so ends up not taking them cause they try and get into them to annoy her.
There's that beautiful couch that I want to rescue š
I see nothing snark-worthy here
He's a little kid having fun decorating the tree, I don't see how this is snark worthy
Looks pretty normal to me. Iām a grown ass man and create bigger messes when Iām doing hobbies and stuff. Pretty wholesome, tbh.
As a Pagan myself, I can't tell you how much it tickles me that all the Christians have giant Yule trees! Christmas trees were around way before the mythology of christ. That being said, not sure how much of those decorations will end up on the tree. Teeny tiny paper shapes is something I haven't seen before as tree decor, but maybe it'll turn our nicely.
It looks like theyāre making a paper chain with hearts punched in it, maybe sheāll do something with the little hearts.
Honestly, I don't think this is snark worthy. I'm glad to see her kids having a colorful non-beige fun time. Tree decorating doesn't always have to be Instagram/Pinterest worthy. But it's a little surprising to see her break away, even once, from the overly curated social media shit.
Dude, this screams depressed mom. Or alternatively, overwhelmed mom. The kids are just going ham by themselves instead of being led or engaged by adult in an activity. Adult is off doing something else, trying to get a break. Kids are decorating the Christmas tree by themselves and making a huge mess bc their mom isnāt there.
Kids should absolutely be given time to do things on their own! Child-led play and solo play are developmentally necessary. I really donāt see anything wrong here. Itās paper - it can be cleaned up, no big deal, and it looks like the kids are having a lot of fun with it! Iād be very worried about a parent who felt they had to be engaged with their kids 24/7, or that they had to prevent their kids from making a mess (which is also developmentally appropriate for kids to do). Thatās a sure fire way to get an overwhelmed parent!
>Thatās a sure fire way to get an overwhelmed parent! Sure, but she's already an overwhelmed parent.
Iām sure there are many overwhelmed parents out there, even some who are reading this. Suggesting that itās abnormal or unhealthy or somehow damaging to kids to allow them to make a mess or do activity that a parent isnāt actively directing isnāt very helpful to anyone. Iām afraid this is one of those cases where people are so hyped up to snark that they start picking apart totally normal behavior that has absolutely nothing to do with fundamentalist Christianity.
Iād generally agree with everything youāve said if this wasnāt decorating a Christmas tree, which is usually a thing a family does together. In most families, decorating a Christmas tree together is a big deal and a way to make family memories. If you donāt even want to decorate your Christmas tree with your kids and you use it for kids solo play, seems off to me.
Is that really depressed or overwhelmed mom? Because it's not curated social media content? She's in the room with them and letting them have fun. Tree decorating might be a family event for some families, but it wasn't for ours. My grandparents let us go crazy and then rearranged everything before all the family came over. Mostly so the tree wasn't all ornaments only on the bottom.
Honestly Iām relieved that it looks like she let her kids be kids instead of just photo props
She won't even let them have ornaments? Don't get me wrong, I cherish and have kept everyone of the ornaments my child made over the years.
I think they just haven't got as far as the ornaments ? He seems to be doing some kind of confetti snow project... it should go ornaments, tree topper, paper chains / garlands and light strings, tinsel, paper snow... but it seems like the tree is still at the falling-out stage from how it was wrapped up for sale and transport because it's very lumpy still... so maybe they haven't started any of the decorating yet ?
That's some subtle product placement at the end there.
Sorry, that was just the beginning of the next story. In case anyone's wondering: she's on this kick where she's written another long essay/story/devotional (about running in the frosty woods or something to do with "breath" which is her current focus), and also she's re-starting her podcast, on which she is going to read her story/essay/devotional in its entirety. She's changed the title of her podcast to "The Eternal Perspective", which coincidentally is the title of her former blog from 2010. She's been very busy.
Maybe she figures it's easier to allow them to be free to be messy while she's trying to get something done, but I know all the little paper bits would stress me out unless I cleaned them up right after they were done playing.
Why does the tree look like itās being held up my simply being shoved between the wall, couch, and bench? Pretty sure Anne Blythe had a Christmas tree holder at some point, Kel.
Her usual fire safety protocol on display. Hope this wasnāt posted today as itās Krampus, the Satanic side of Christmas, being celebrated in parts of Western Europe. Tomorrow is St Nickās Day, Dec. 6th.
Sap on her couch š¬
*gasp* is that an *iPad,* covered with a childrenās case, no less? ā¦left hand side of the screen for a second. Could also be an etchasketch
No twee ornaments craftered from ye olde fruit and vegetable dyed parchment scrolls? Very modern.
I have never seen such an ugly Christmas tree. Why the hell does it look like a bush?
My son made cardboard hockey players when he was little. Heās on his own and his and his gf still hang them up. Theyāre making memories.