I have learned over the years not to have too high of expectations for any one day or experience. I almost always end up disappointed. The movie "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" comes to my mind. In this movie everything goes wrong for the big family Christmas, Chevy Chase had planned. The turkey burns, the tree catches fire, the lights don't work, the crazy cousins come and he doesn't get his Christmas bonus.
Most of us spend the entire month of December preparing for Christmas. I know for us this involves, cookie baking, gift shopping, tree getting, Christmas decorating, party attending, card mailing, gift wrapping, concert attending, Christmas caroling and many more various activities. And then Christmas eve and Christmas day arrive and it is a flurry of gift opening and family gatherings.
Our Christmas didn't quite turn out like the National Lampoon's but it did involve 1 child with a nasty cough and cold, 1 with a fever, cold and teething and myself with a cold and stomach bug. All this equaled little sleep, little energy and grumpy boys. I was so looking forward to this Christmas because I thought it would be so fun and enjoyable with the boys. Plus I felt like I had missed last Christmas because I had just given birth to our son a few days before.
But I was proud of myself, it did not ruin our Christmas. We rolled with the punches did what we could and were still able to go to our family gatherings. Two days later when I finally felt better I looked at all the "stuff" that was everywhere in our house. We appreciated all the gifts and all the new toys for our kids but I wondered are we really celebrating Christmas the way it is meant to be celebrated? How do we teach our children the real meaning and keep their focus on that and not what lies under the tree? How do we keep the commercialism and consumerism to a minimum?
I was actually just pondering these things with several friends a few hours ago. We all said we had to pack up boxes of toys to make room for the new ones. It made us all feel bad to think about it. I am not trying to be a scrooge for I certainly enjoy all of the activities Christmas involves and I also do enjoy giving and receiving gifts. But I do wonder what could we do differently? How could we make it more meaningful? These are some things I will certainly be thinking about over the coming months.
Going back to tonight and those friends.....we were laughing at the fact that now that we all have kids our new year's eve celebration starts at 5 and ends at 8. As I was leaving their house at 8:15 with my two kids snug in their car seats wearing their footy pajamas. I saw some other people headed to their car and that made me feel better thinking other people were headed home early too. Then I realized they were dressed up and only heading out! Oh, how kids sure do change your life. No worries, I am happy to bring in the new year in my quiet house with my love ones close by.
Little Laugh-My sons have become partners in crime. With two little boys when things get quiet something is going on, especially when you hear water splashing. Sure enough they were both splashing in the toilet, gross! How did that happen, they were just in the living room 30 seconds ago!
Positive Proverb-"The discerning heart seeks knowledge" Proverbs 15:14a
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