A Mini-Meditation on How to Have…
It is Saturday evening as I type this.
My children are hopped up on plenty of sugar, having gone to an All Saints’ party hosted by People of Praise. “Sticked up,” was the phrase my 3-year-old used, meaning…I think…sticky from ingesting an excess of candy.
‘Tis the season to be sticked up.
‘Tis very nearly Halloween.
Are you ready?
We are, shall we say, getting there. My 13-year-old is painstakingly putting together an “emo” ensemble, my 12-year-old crafted a cute black kitty, (complete with painted white toothpicks claws sticking out of fuzzy black gloves), and my two young sons are—thank you, Walmart—ready to save the day and/or rake some leaves.
(Francis was of one mind when it came to the All Saints’ Party we attended. He was St. Spiderman and that was that.)
So yeah, this is a Netflix review but I can’t resist sharing my heart with you. There are two camps, I know, when it comes to celebrating (or not celebrating) All Hallows’ Eve, but no matter the side that your family takes, my advice and encouragement remains the same:
Make room on your broom, Moms, for lots of fun.
Make room on your broom and in your heart.
Trust me when I tell you this! I am a mom who never used to slow down, a mom who let this timeof wonder slip by justlikethat. I get that we’re busy with lots of other stuff…buying candy, certainly, and cobbling together various costumes…
We’re decorating our homes and carving jack-o-lanterns…
Oh, and let’s not forget posting pix on Facebook…
And all these activities are good! Very good! Meanwhile, I need to ask you to do something for me:
Watch some movies with your kids!
I can recommend two for you.
First, for a whole lot of cute and just a touch of spooky, watch Spooky Buddies as a family. My younger kids hadn’t seen the “Air Bud” puppy series before, but they are all available to stream and my children are DEVOURING them.
I liked, especially, the clear contrast between good & evil in this movie, and that the bad guy fled when the words of the Lord Prayer were spoken. “You don’t usually see that in kids’ movies,” my 7-year-old remarked.
Plus as an owner of a Golden Retriever? Well yeah, I’m biased, but those puppies are just incredibly cute.
However, if you don’t have time to do a full-length movie, then you must—YOU MUST—watch Room on the Broom.
It’s an award-winning animated short based on the children’s book of the same name, and if it doesn’t touch your heart, you’re dead. Super charming! Super sweet. Super thought-provoking about the ways we do or don’t make room.
Even the wannabe emo teen liked it. 😉
I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam, which means that I receive lots of goodies in exchange for this post. The opinions within are MY OWN, however—as you can see in this very honest #StreamTeam post.
Thanks for the reviews and the reminder Margaret. I think that I will also have a batman and superman out tonight. 🙂
Will have to see if they have those shows on my Fire stick. (no net flix yet.) It gets harder and harder to find shows that the whole family wants to watch. We usually fall back on Shawn the Sheep. Does net flix have that? Funny story – our fire stick has voice recognition so I found my little guy (who cannot pronounce sh’s) yelling into the remote, HAWN THE HEAP! He was so MAD that it did not know what he was saying. Everyone here is a big fan of that show.