Craig and I are off to the beach this morning as the kids enjoy their last dropoff day at TOTS. When I look at this picture I think of all that we are giving up and I am sad. Somewhere deep back in my head where all my feelings are right now, I feel sad. So far, it's been a pretty emotionally calm week. We've all been so busy we've had to check our emotions at the gate and agree to deal with them later when everyone is calm and taken care of. Like in a week when we are safely at Mama and Papa's house. Or maybe when the kids are in middle school.
We've scaled Christmas WAY, WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY down. As if I needed permission, I read a blog about enjoying the holidays with young kids and it said to do just that anyway. To not feel pressure to decorate, bake, or accomplish things that are more meaningful to you than your kids at the expense of your sanity and relationships. My favorite quote: "Do not do the advent activity that makes you scream."
What would make me scream this year? Pretty much anything. Putting up the manger scene and letting the kids deposit a different figurine in every room of the house. Buckling the girls into the high chairs so they'll sit long enough to "listen" to the paragraph-long Jesse Tree devotional and then watching Craig wrangle Devon into putting the corresponding ornament on the Christmas tree. Baking Christmas cookies, especially since my oven has been cleaned and out of commission for four days already.
We decided to use our three-foot-tall Norfolk pine for our home tree this year, and then sent the tree to Nashville already with Craig's parents because they had room in their car and we wanted the space in ours for kid gear. So we don't even have a Christmas tree. Boo!
Thankfully, the proverbial village that is raising our children with us has come through in a big way. Every childcare pickup involves unveiling a new craft, many of which are baby book archival quality.
This one from TOTS seems a bit ironic to me, seeing that Angel Face got a spanking for kicking Mommy's chair all the way home after being told to stop, but I get the sentiment...
Now that's what I'm talking about! Whoever thought this one up deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, and the teachers that lovingly helped Devon assemble it are angels in thin disguises. We played with it in the car on the way home, since Mommy and Daddy had to stop by the Notary Public to take turns popping in to sign the POA that will allow our house to close in Maryland on Friday while we are still in Florida.
Mommy: (with shepherd on finger) Hi! I'm the shepherd! I was out abiding in the field keeping watch over my flocks by night.
Devon: And then all of a sudden! All of a sudden!
Mommy: Lo! The Angel of the Lord came upon us, and the glory of the Lord shone around us, and we were terrified!
Devon: And the angel said...
Mommy: FEAR NOT!
Carrie: FEAR NOT!
Melina: FEAR NOT!
Mommy: Go to Bethlehem and find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
Devon: And then all of a sudden...
Mommy: All of the sudden the angel was surrounded by the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest!
Devon: You mean like in UPPER SPACE?
Mommy: Ummm, sort of.
Devon: Mary did NOT make Jesus's blanket. I made it green with my paintbrush.
Mommy: Yes, I can see that...
These crafts are lovingly displayed around the house and are going with us. Many are personalized with handprints and/or footprints from the kids, a feat I'd never attempt at home.
All day long, the kids sing Christmas carols. Even if their favorites are "Frosty the Snowman" and "Jingle Bells", it still makes me feel that Christmas is not totally passing them by this year. Thankfully, they are still too young to worry that Santa will miss them this year because he doesn't know where they live.
We make a nightly pilgrimage to see the Baby Jesus, who sits in lit plastic Glory in the Highest about ten houses down from us. The girls point and shriek with delight. We go a little farther to see a pair of giant pink lawn flamingos wearing Santa hats, and all through the neighborhood are palm trees accented in white lights.
This is all the food we have in our house. Everything from baking sugar to Raisin Bran is chilling in the fridge to confuse the ants. Thankfully, we're being entertained by friends almost every meal this week, so we'll not have to cook much at all.
It's a good thing. I'm pretty OCD about not letting food go to waste, so for the past few weeks we've thrown caution and sometimes even the food guide pyramid to the wind, eating whatever's available and needs to be used up.
Peanut butter and jelly with a side of sweet potato fries for breakfast? Why not?
Devon asks for dessert after lunch? Applesauce with cool whip and a maraschino cherry!
Sundae syrup lasts after the ice cream is gone? Caramel latte time!!
Here's
huevos rancheros that used up the egg beaters and the salsa. Craig used up the essence of lemongrass making an unconventional but delicious batch of home fries, but I'm drawing the line at the half bottle of Thai fish sauce left over from a Sunday Soup Night.
Yet another reason we've waited this long to move was to not miss the pre-Christmas party cycle. This informal and somewhat spontaneous get together at my friend Elizabeth's house was a huge hit. Score Devon's first gingerbread house effort.
I can't take credit for the Swiss chalet-style house. That was Elizabeth's creation as Devon sat on my lap shoving candy by the fistful into his mouth. I was finally able to interest him in putting some on the house. She really had thought of everything: coconut for snow, Peeps Snowmen for the "lawn"...
Carrie was circling but wouldn't sit still long enough to make one.
There's always next year.
The kids were pretty sticky when we got home, so bathies were in order. Tummy paint time! What is tummy paint, you say? Mommy's extra can of shaving cream that she can't take to Maryland because aerosols aren't allowed on the truck! It pays to be obsessive about waste, or at least this time it did. The kids love drawing on themselves! The idea was so successful that they're still begging for more tummy paint after I used it all up.
Saturday's afternoon party was a creative David and Goliath party with shirt painting and slingshots!
Devon came home happy, dirty, and covered in blue paint. Tummy paint to the rescue again!!
Saturday night's party was our home group's Christmas party. Driving away, Craig and I agreed that it was the nicest large get together with kids we've ever been to. It had a lot to do with all three kids playing nicely in the house and fenced back yard.
Sunday meant seeing Miss Savannah one last time. How will we ever do without Devon's best girl? Craig and I went with Devon to spend the evening with Craig's work friends. Devon enjoyed playing jingle bells.
And that pretty much sums it up; the card signed by my Buggy Bunch friends at the last meeting of the week. I'm on goodbye overload right now. It's more than just the many, many times I've taken my leave of beloved people and places this past week. It's also processing my children's leaving while they're still clueless. We had dinner with friends this evening. Devon signed off with "Bye, see you next time!" and I almost lost it. I didn't correct him. Why would I?
Oh, man, this is hard!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment