We live in what some would consider a quaint little town, which compared to many other places it is little and it is definitely quaint. Every Christmas season our quaint little town decorates Main Ave. and it is called Main Ave. for a good reason (remember "little). Upon entering town on Main they have strung up a huge red tinselly sign that says "Seasons Greetings" and every time I drive under this sign my 4-yr-old asks what it says. After about a week and rereading it to him a zillion times, always with a cheerful patient tone of course, ahem, he finally remembered for himself...sort of. As we drove under as a family on route to church T2 proudly shouted from the back "Seasons Ingredients!!!" Hubby and I chuckled in the front and I let him do the correcting.
Later as we drove under the sign again I got to thinking about T2's mistaken pronunciation and wondered to myself, "what are the ingredients to this season?" If someone were to look at my life right now they might list them as:
1) 1 Overtired shopped-out mommy
2) 3 busy boys who can't get the decorations up fast enough, or throw them far enough in T3's case (I can see the confusion, those round ornaments do look a lot like balls!)
3) 1 stretched-in-many-directions Daddy (who is doing a WONDERFUL job BTW)
4) 1 somewhat enjoyable cooking baking experience with middle son
5) 1 not so enjoyable with several starts and stops for broken lights, dropped and shattered ornaments, loud mommy sighing and some yelling "No"...okay repeated raised voices... tree trimming event
6) 7 chocolates consumed per child thus far from advent calendar
7) 1 somewhat successful reading of "What God wants for Christmas" complete with broken angel from years past (WHY WHY WHY DO THEY MAKE A CHILD'S NATIVITY OUT OF CERAMANIC...REALLY, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING PEOPLE?)
8) 1 really enjoyable Bible study I'm doing with some great friends found here that is somewhat keeping me centered on the real reason for the season. It's only four short chapters and well worth it!
9) too many to count Christmas play practices, both the ones we made it too and the ones we were too tired and busy to attend.
10) 1 frozen Daddy who lovingly obliged his Holiday minded sons by missing the first 60 mins of the Packer game on Sunday to string up outdoor lights
Add all together, mix and stir and you have the Ingredients for Christmas in our house. They probably aren't all the ones I would choose to put in there, but they are there none the less. Some of them may make the taste a little bitter, some make the taste sweet. I'm doing my best to add more of the latter.
What about you? What are you ingredients this year?
Merry Christmas from us...oh and "Seasons Ingredients!" :)
You are Boy-Trapped if: You have little plastic army guys guarding your fireplace. Your decorative pillows are more often part of a fort than ambiance. There is always a little boy voice on the other side of the bathroom door. Every time you settle down to read your Bible there is a boy in your lap. Every surface in your house is covered in lego fortresses...and you wouldn't have it any other way!
