Christmas – Page 2 – Writes for all Mommies

children, humor, kids, motherhood, parenting

Merry Parenting!

25/12/2011 WFAM

It’s difficult to know how effectively you are doing your job as a stay-at-home Mom. There isn’t much to go in way of job performance reviews or bonuses for excellence in laundering. I gauge how I’m doing based solely on the behavior and successes of my children. This is not a system without its flaws.

We were outside yesterday as I tried desperately to burn some Christmas Eve energy out of the boys. I ended up keeping them out too long and two meltdowns later, T.Puzzle had to be sent inside.

Full Speed didn’t mind. In fact he wholeheartedly agreed he was ready to go inside, too. He put all the toys away without being asked and happily volunteered to help me put away my folding chair.

“Wow, Full Speed! I’m so impressed with how helpful you are being. Way to go!” I felt so proud of him and myself. Obviously my caring and thoughtful examples through the years for Full Speed were showing signs of paying off. I gave myself a gold star for parenting until…

“Mom, I’m being a good helper to make sure I stay on Santa’s good list since Christmas is tomorrow.”

Santa – 1 Mom – 0

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

children, kids, motherhood, parenting

Snowfall

28/11/2011 WFAM

157433060306 — Full Speed back when snow was not his friend

The turkey is gone, thanks has been given and now it’s time for more holiday cheer. The positive to living in a warmer climate is that there is no snow for Christmas. The negative is that there is no snow for Christmas. It is awfully hard to drum up Christmas spirit when you’ve sent your boys to school in shorts all year.

I saw an ad on television where there were mounds and mounds of snow. It brought back many midwestern memories and I was reminded of how much Full Speed hated snow as a little one. When I would pick him up from preschool during winter the reports from teachers, besides the obvious won’t-sit-still-for-a-moment ones, were how he would cry in misery when it was time for outside recess. If Mad Dog and I would attempt to pull him on a small sled around our yard, he would yelp in frustration as tears would freeze on his tiny, unhappy face. Looking back I can actually say that the memory of it is kind of sweet. Living through it was awful and yet time has dulled the sharp edges of Full Speed’s snow-covered tantrums.

What I realized is that if I can finally find the humor in Full Speed’s snow experience, maybe whatever challenges I face with him today will have the same result.

I guess into each life a little snow must fall and it’s up to us to find a way to shape it into something lighthearted…eventually.

children, gratitude, happiness, humor, kids, life in pictures, marriage, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Merry Christmas!

25/12/2010 WFAM

It’s Christmas morning and the presents are already unwrapped.

The cookies for Santa are gone, the new toys are already in play and the waffles made by Mad Dog already eaten.

Things start early on Christmas day when your kids are young.

We had some new traditions and kept some old.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — on our way to Christmas Eve dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse.

ï»¿ï»¿ï»¿T.Puzzle announced that ‘Jinker Bells’ was his favorite holiday song.

Full Speed summed up his Christmas Eve experience at church as ‘good AND boring’. It was good because he made a lot of new friends and it was boring because he had to keep ‘standing up the WHOLE time!’

For the introspective lot such as myself, it is a time of reflection.

Some of it sad, like missing loved ones you’d like to have near and most of it glad because of the loved ones you do have with you on this special day.

Life is like a Christmas tree.

Compared to others it may not be the tallest or the brightest. It may not have the most presents or look exactly the way you want it.

If you embrace it for exactly what it is and appreciate how special it is because it is the only one you have, then maybe, just maybe you will realize that you have the tree and the life you were meant to have.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

children, gratitude, happiness, health, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Clear Heart, Clear Lungs?

23/12/2010 WFAM

Poor little T.Puzzle.

You know he would pick his first week of Christmas break to come down with a bronchial virus.

He is finally showing real signs of recovery. Hopefully he will lose his old man’s smoker’s cough soon, too.

He has been a trooper. Even the night that we ended up on the family room couch at 2am as I held him upright to stave off the cough, he kept a bright outlook. He kept worrying that my feet weren’t covered and periodically rearranged our throw blankets that I had tossed haphazardly on top of us.

I was grateful for a reason to smile in my tired early morning haze.

So, maybe our plans for Christmas break have been slightly thwarted.

At least we are together, we have a roof over our heads and we have love in hearts.

Next up?

Clear lungs I hope!

gratitude, happiness, humor, kids, life in pictures, marriage, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

This is Only a Test

21/12/2010 WFAM

We are in our fourth day of the 17 days Full Speed and T.Puzzle will be home for Christmas break.

I know, you all just said a silent prayer for me.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

My goal, other than the obvious one to remain as sober as possible during this time, is to test the waters to see if I would enjoy having both boys home full-time for the upcoming summer in 2011.

So far, all signs point to yes.

That wasn’t a typo, people. I really wrote that.

Oh sure, T.Puzzle’s bit his brother three times (not to mention his own dear mother), and Full Speed’s imagination is in constant, kinetic motion requiring that he ask a minimum, and I mean minimum, of at least 1,000 questions a day.

In spite of all that, at the end of the day, I am glad to be spending it with them.

Time is fleeting.

My boys are growing.

I must learn to seize the day.

Of course surviving this break would not be possible without two (I know, I thank the heavens every day that I have two) awesome babysitters that feel more like family with each passing day, and a willing parenting partner like Mad Dog, who will hopefully be present a little more on the home front in the coming weeks.

What can I say?

Either I’ve gone off the deep end,

I’ve learned a thing or two along the way.

Or more likely, I’ve learned to accept a kid or two for exactly who they are and learned to go with the flow a little more.

Mad Dog has just signed me up for a lifetime membership to the ‘Wine of the Month’ club.

Cheers!

The Simple Gifts of Christmas: Prayer (everydaygyaan.com)

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