Eid Craft

     The summer has blown by, and though the blog is all about kaizen, I often feel very overwhelmed in life.

     For example, it’s Rammadan right now. I have a baby in the house that likes to fall asleep around midnight, and I’m fasting all day. A part of me is just trying to survive this month, while another part of me feels guilty for not engaging my kids in educational activities and crafts during the day, and spending some time every evening to pray and study religion.

     Instead, after the morning meal, suhoor, I sleep until about 10:30 or 11am, when the baby wakes up. In the meantime, my 5 year old has already woken up, brushed her teeth, changed and made her own breakfast of toast and Nutella. My nine year old gets out of bed around 11 or 11:30. I do manage before it’s time to break the fast in the evening to get them to read Quran and memorize a little. The baby’s schedule is way off, and he doesn’t fall asleep for the night until midnight or past. And as I write, all I see is a big stack of mail that needs to be organized. It’s 1:30 in the morning.

    On the bright side, I did find some time to get the kids to do a little pre-Eid craft. On a trip to Michaels, I found some letters that were 80% off. I already had the paint and glitter at home. The kids did all the painting and glittering themselves. I tied the ribbons around the letters (the ribbons were found on an old gift bag I found at home.)  I hung the letters up on hooks the previous home owners had installed on the mantle for Christmas stockings. My splurge was the Rammadan lights I found on Ranoon.com.

    It’s a simple craft, but it makes me smile when I look at it. The kids love plugging in the lights in the evening. I want to make Eid an exciting time for the kids. I think simple decorations help. Kaizen.