Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Holiday Mommy: Grinch or Spirit Master?

The holiday season brings so many wonderful things, but also a great deal of craziness!  I like to start the holiday season by decorating on December 1st.  This is also the day we cut down our tree and put it up.  I am a stickler for staying with tradition, so it did not matter to me that we had a three hour birthday party on the 1st.  I was determined to fit everything in.  Nonetheless, someone should have reminded me that not only do I have an exuberant almost four year old, but also a very mobile, curious, almost ten month old.  Let me sum up December 1st this year:  INSANE.  We rushed to get ready for the birthday party, went to the party, went home to get Hubby's truck, drove to the Christmas tree farm, searched for a tree in the cold, finally found a suitable one, cut it down, dragged it out, went home, moved toys, furniture, etc., to make room, ran the vacuum, had T Bear watch Mad Man so Hubby and I could carry it up the stairs and into the house, secured it, began decorating, and then we had to take a break.  Exhausting.  Hubby went hunting.  I got Mad Man to sleep, put a movie in for the Bear and breathed a little.  Three days later the tree was finally finished. Although, several ornaments were broken in the process and are still waiting to be repaired.

Decorating the house has been a slow process.  Clearly, I did not help put the decorations away last year, since I was the size of a house and became out of breath with the slightest exertion.  I wish I had.  We still haven't located all of the decorations, but on the bright side I found some of my missing Halloween decorations in our search.  Our Elf on the shelf, Eli, was missing completely.  After many discussions and a grid search of the house Hubby, who was convinced that Eli was in a drawer somewhere, finally researched the basement and located one final Christmas box and lo and behold Eli was in there!  Note to self: never let Hubby be in charge of putting decorations away again.  After several days of slow going decorating - while chasing around the Mad Man, the house is decorated.  So now that the house is decorated, although my favorite singing lamppost, singing snowman, and singing Bing Crosby are yet to make it to the living room, we can have fun.  Wrong.  Think again.

This season it seems that Mommy has become synonymous with kill joy.  T Bear is beyond excited.  Okay maybe starting the celebration December first is a bit much for a three year old, but hey she was fine with it last year.  So I find myself saying, "Honey you need to calm down."  "Calm down please."  "I know you are excited, but I need you to calm down."  "Okay.  Time out for three minutes, you are not listening."  "You need to calm down."  The poor kid just wants to dance around, chase the dog, and throw her Christmas ball around the house.  What is the problem with that?

Another problem: I like to keep the house somewhat picked up, especially considering the amount of real estates our oh so fat tree takes up.  So I have to be the pick up police constantly.  Then there is Santa.  So the day of the holiday kick off parade (Thanksgiving weekend) it was freezing and we watched anyway, but there was no way I was going to have these munchkins wait in the long line to see Santa.  So, I promised we would come back.  Meltdown number one.  Then we went to see a free movie.  I think it is a cool event for kids to do, and it was supposed to be Santa Claus is Coming to Town, much to my dismay Jack Frost came on the screen instead.  Not appropriate.  So Mean Mommy distracts and promises more fun if we leave, minor meltdown but T cooperates and leaves.  Then there is the lighting of the tree ceremony.  Well, I should have checked the weather, because under any normal circumstances I would not have taken my kids out in twenty eight degree frigid temperatures; I did not check the weather so off we went.  So we get to Main Street and see the reindeer, peek at the alpacas and head to Ruffino's to have dinner.  At this point it is clear that we will miss the actual tree lighting.  Oh well.  After we eat, we head back out, me thinking we will just look at some stuff while we head back to the van, my excited T Bear thinking this is when the fun begins. So meltdown again when Mean Mommy says, "No we are not going to see Santa tonight", once again super long line and freezing temps.  Then she spotted the horse and wagon ride and desperately wanted to go on it. Me thinking about poor Mad Man freezing, not to mention T and the rest of us, and said no.  Well the waterworks began and I was reminded by my mother that she is three and wants to do something fun and that all she hears is me saying no.  Point taken.  So I offer to go on the ride.  I mean how long can it be?  Well, we find the spot and of course the line is ridiculous.  We are all freezing, so I distract her and promise fun another time.  She complies and we go home.  Now I am feeling a ton of guilt over squashing her fun.

When exactly will we have holiday fun?  This really gets my mind racing.  What is the point of doing all of these things?  Aren't I doing them to bring enjoyment to my babies?  Well, we have several more holiday events planned and my goal is to not be grinchy mommy but be the fun mommy I envision.  Wish me luck.

High:  Experiencing the wonder and excitement of the holiday season with my babies.
Low:  Forgetting to stop and ENJOY all of the wonder and excitement of the holiday season.

No comments:

Post a Comment