This Christmas Season My Mental Capacity Has Been Reduced to Nothing More Than Composing Facebook Posts to Combat Stress

Sadly, my mental capacity has been reduced to nothing more than composing Facebook status updates to combat Christmas stress. I usually self-impose a one-per-day limit. But lately with all the Christmas hype, angst & bliss – I have gone through an emotional roller coaster in the past few weeks trying to get everything done to create the Christmas magic, only to be derailed by the Boy’s 5 days of fever (missed school, doctor visits, phone calls, snuggling and vegging out).—I’ve been wanting to reach out and update my Facebook status every couple of hours. Before you roll your eyes, know that I have resisted. I know I’m not *that* interesting. Interesting, yes. But not every-couple-of-hours interesting. I realize everyone, at least my peer group, is going through the exact same thing (So quit your whining, Woman!). I have nothing profound or original to say, at least in regards to Christmas, that hasn’t been said or thought of a million times before. Perhaps I have a few relatable exasperations about the holiday, cutesy kid stories, or heart-warming Christmas spirit stories to share, but really most of my “would-be” posts are more along the lines of whining. Or, oh yes, posts about my adorable children. While I know they are, in fact, hands down, the most adorable kids in the world, I suppose, if I really had to acknowledge the truth out loud, I know my friends and acquaintances don’t really care all that much. On the other hand, my Mother does. And yes, we are Facebook friends. However, even now, all she really cares about are pictures of her grandkids. She doesn’t always understand my posts, but she reads them all the same because she hearts me. (Love you, Mom!)

Yes, I do completely succumb to the Christmas hype to include pictures with Santa especially for Baby Girl’s 1st Christmas:

The Boy was along too for a Santa visit because he was home from school. He technically was fever-free but it had not been the required 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. I definitely needed to get out of the house after 5 days in the House of Ill and 3 days of missed school. And can I get a gold star on my reward chart for doing my part and keeping the Boy home on the last day, considering he was pinging off the walls and clearly feeling better? I digress. We had a great outing to the Mall to see Santa, lunch, and a relatively inexpensive and whine-free excursion into the Legos store.

Like every mother, my Christmas to do list has been long and never-ending. I have felt varying levels of stress dependent on how much I have or have not accomplished. I was getting a little snappy yesterday. However, one kid-free hour of shopping tonight at the bookstore has restored order, karma, bliss into my life as I am now done with shopping. Yesterday, I was fretting because Hubby was definitely getting short-changed with the holiday gift exchange. I am a big fan of Christmas gifts, not so much for the sake of outdoing the Joneses or complete excess , but because I like to receive presents and I enjoy knowing Hubby was thinking of me. (We will discuss our spousal gift-giving some other time, but it involves lists and not as much imagination as I’d prefer.) I think it is satisfying, when not under a time crunch, searching for and finding the perfect gift, rewarded with a delighted smile. Ok, hmm….I’m not sure Hubby has ever given me a delighted smile, but I know when I have scored big with him. However, in my time management assessment, shopping for him kept falling lower and lower in terms of importance. Yet, I know he has been working hard at getting it right to delight me (Spoiled Wifey Moment: Um, yes, I have that expectation! But on the other hand, he only has to shop for me. I shop for everybody else to include his mother.) Needless to say, I didn’t want to send him the message that he is not important nor disappoint him. I pulled through, found a few things he wants from his Amazon wish list. I also bought a present for him, meant for us, but he’ll think it’s really for me (It’s not!).

I feel better now and have let go of all the other holiday stresses and the guilt for not getting it done. The only thing left on my to do list is to bake cookies. For those friends who aren’t receiving their Christmas cards until AFTER Christmas, I do apologize. You will forgive me, won’t you? That is, if you have even noticed.
Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow: the Christmas Pageant & the Boy

An Unexpected Free Hour, What to Do? What to Do? (And Our Christmas Tree)

I really should make yet another list. A list of what to do should I ever have unexpected free time. Little Man has a playdate. Little Girl is napping. I’m literally running around with my head cut off trying to accomplish too much in too little time, waiting to hear either crying or footsteps that my children are up and/or home. This means, of course, I’m not getting anything done.

I have been neglecting writing and recording my life as I know it. Because one day, if and when I ever re-enter the paid workforce, I am going to wonder what I did with “all that time” when I was a stay-at-home mom.

So in no particular order (because order is

[Drats! The Boy is home. But he is completely uninterested in me. I got a kiss and a request to have a playdate with some school friends and he has since disappeared to the playroom.]

continuation….(because order is something I must practice every day to be successful as it does not come naturally nor has it been a habit.)

• IM’ed with Danielle, a daily occurrence.
• Loved on Baby Girl
• Light Housekeeping – never-ending laundry & dishes
• Worked on my resume
• Paid bills and fretted over the Christmas budget, or lack thereof.
• Emptied the car of the bags of goodies after running errands all afternoon.
• Hung up Little Girl’s Christmas stocking – pretty pink, of course!
• Gas.
• Starbucks.
• Pet Store.
• Target – for Secret Santa gifts & a few groceries.
• Contemplated going to the Commissary but since I didn’t motivate until after lunch, there wasn’t enough time.
• Picked up the Boy at school & dropped him off at his playdate.
• Dinner.

My free hour was gone in an instant. So I’m back to my original idea of having a to do list for the unexpected time.

In the meantime, I still have Christmas cards to address. I have decided that I’m not going to write a newsletter his year. Frankly I’m not in the Christmas spirit this year. If I didn’t have children and the responsibility of creating the magic for them, I very much would be a non-celebrant. I’m trying to let go of my idea of a perfect Christmas since my ideal and my reality are not merging. Case in point, the Christmas tree excursion. We are now “proudly” displaying a table top 2.5 foot tree that the Boy picked out. I tried to persuade him at the tree lot to go bigger. Hubby, annoyed at the time, didn’t encourage him as he just wanted to get out of there. Some things are just not worth the argument, but I was very disappointed. In fact, I still get miffed every time I look at that tree. However, the Boy and his Gamie decorated the tree with ornaments that he has made over the years. They both enjoyed decorating. So in the end does it really matter if the tree was 2 feet or 6? Nope. I know this, I’m trying to let it go.

[Spoiled Wifey Note: So I wrote this 2 days ago, and just now getting around to posting because I wanted to include photos. I have since found my Christmas cheer, thanks to a shopping spree today (payday!) and opening a batch of Christmas cards from family & friends.]

The Boy helping with the tree stand.

The Boy helping with the lights.

Yes, it is perched on a Thomas table to keep Little Girl at arm's length. She is now pulling herself up!!

I Have Substandard Holiday Craft Skills, EVEN WITH a Pre-made Kit!

It seemed like a simple gingerbread tree kit, a great opportunity for the kiddo and me to have some holiday craft fun. Play with icing. Stick candies all over the tree. How hard could it be?

The evidence--Our project:





The kit cover:



My 1st oops -- disassembling the tree branches. Too much force, apparently. Result: Broken tree branches.

My 2nd oops – too large of a cut with the icing bags. Result: Icing EVERYWHERE!

The kiddo is trying to be patient while I assemble the tree. He is opening all the candy bags and sampling the decorations. Finally, the tree is together, haphazardly but ready for little boy fingers. But the icing proves too difficult to work with. It’s not super cement glue like he is accustomed to. It doesn’t hold the candy on contact.




And yet he smiles, obviously pleased.



He loses interest after 15 minutes (although I argue that 15 minutes not in front of the TV this holiday vacation, so perhaps worth it.)

Start to Finish for Mama: 50 minutes. Although clean-up lasted the longest of all. And I still have to wash my tablecloth!

No one said it had to be Martha Stewart-perfect. Just fun!

Ah, Spoiled Wifey is working hard creating the Christmas magic & memories….

Spoiled Wifey Note: Day 1 of 14 for holiday vacation.

Rudolph Bit Off Santa’s Beard and Other Things We Tell Our Children….

This past weekend we took the kiddo to a breakfast with Santa, hosted by his church preschool that he attends. I had high hopes that we would score the perfect photo for our Christmas card and maybe snag a family photo, too.

This is what I got:

A BEARDLESS SANTA in jeans & cowboy boots!!

I don’t require perfection. I am all about flexibility. But come on, Santa needs to have a beard!

Mrs. Claus did have a quick recovery. She read a story to the children while Santa was tending the reindeer, and then she prepped the children about the beard situation. So her story is that Rudolph bit off part of Santa’s beard, although I’m not sure why – if he was hungry or ornery (I guess I should ask my child to clarify. He no doubt will know.). Santa didn’t want an uneven beard so he shaved it off. But he PROMISED that his beard would be full and bushy by Christmas. *Promise*

Does my kiddo look unconvinced? Skeptical? Hooked? I think a strong desire for toys outweighs any serious questions that he might have had. He dutifully stood in line and patiently waited his turn to talk with Santa. We “kind, flexible, roll-with-the-punches” parents discussed whether Santa might have been a tad more approachable for the wee ones without his beard. (Ha!) In the end, we got our little boy a picture with Santa, just not the picture perfect one I had hoped for. The kiddo though had a great time. And really what more should I ask for?!

Hmm…..although I do have to go to Plan B for the Christmas card photo.

Double hmm…..and I am still debating whether we should pursue another Santa photo. But what then will I tell my child when he sees a slightly different Santa? He did tell me he now knows what Santa looks and sounds like. Oh my, what’s my story now?!

Cheers!!