We're all so busy and preoccupied with trying to do right by our kids and it feels like it intensifies around this time of year. Not so much in material ways but more like making holidays feel special, giving them the kind of memories that I know I enjoy from my own childhood.
But I was starkly reminded that maybe instead of working so hard to "make" it happen, I should just coast a bit and enjoy it happening. Let me explain...
Last year, I did such a slap-dash, last-minute job of putting Christmas lights outside. Christmas Eve dinner was on the stove, my kids were watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas", my husband was still at work and my in-laws just called to say they were within 30 minutes of arriving from out of town. Where was I? Standing on a chair, frantically wrapping Christmas lights around my porch.
So this year, I dragged out the boxes of lights early, went out with the kids and we decorated together. Of course, once it got dark and we flipped the switch for the big reveal, half of two strings didn't work, half of another string was blinking for some reason, and there were big gaps in the bushes. My mood immediately deflated. What a bust, I thought. Later I overheard my daughter talking to my mom on the phone: "You should see them! We have the best Christmas lights ever!"
Okay, I said to myself; get a little perspective. It doesn't matter so much what I think, it matters what they think, and *this* is what their memories will be made of.
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Photo credit: hotblack|MorgueFile
But I was starkly reminded that maybe instead of working so hard to "make" it happen, I should just coast a bit and enjoy it happening. Let me explain...
So this year, I dragged out the boxes of lights early, went out with the kids and we decorated together. Of course, once it got dark and we flipped the switch for the big reveal, half of two strings didn't work, half of another string was blinking for some reason, and there were big gaps in the bushes. My mood immediately deflated. What a bust, I thought. Later I overheard my daughter talking to my mom on the phone: "You should see them! We have the best Christmas lights ever!"
Okay, I said to myself; get a little perspective. It doesn't matter so much what I think, it matters what they think, and *this* is what their memories will be made of.
Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011! Our end-of-year giving campaign is going on NOW! - visit our Members page to learn more.
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Photo credit: hotblack|MorgueFile
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