Well, the holidays once again flew by, as they often do, but man, this year seemed particularly quick because Thanksgiving was so early. As a parent with two little ones, the holidays are definitely different than they used to be. Your time is no longer your own, so forget relaxing, eating and drinking until your heart’s content…or not content. 😉
With the start of the holiday season this year, our circus transitioned from crazy to pure chaos. Hopefully my holiday season takeaways provide a bit of levity, make you feel like a bigger rockstar parent than me or at least make you realize you weren’t alone. Enjoy!
1) Baking sugar cookies is not a one-man operation.
I oftentimes think I am SUPERMOM, so I decided this year I’d double the sugar cookie recipe. (P.S. I use Pillsbury gluten-free flour and don’t attempt the glaze.) I quickly realized how few super powers I really possess. There was flour everywhere. Pookie wanted to use every cookie cutter we own, and Punkin’ wanted to do everything her big sister was doing. I was left trying to keep Punkin’ from falling off the stool, while trying to help cut, remove and place gluten-free cookie dough onto the cookie sheets without decapitating frosty or severing the angels’ wings. I mention gluten-free dough because gluten-free anything just doesn’t stick together like regular, gluten-filled food. I don’t know why I bother making gluten-free cookies anyway. It’s not like I need to be eating them, and I am the only gluten-free person in our house. What was I thinking?
Well, we did the cutting, and I got a couple cookie sheets ready and set them on the girls’ little table. Then…wait for it…I equipped them with sprinkles. Ugh. (Insert emoji with the girl hitting herself in the forehead here.) Punkin’ decorated our rug and floor, and Pookie decided everyone who ate one of her cookies should go into a diabetic coma. I figured two sheets of cookies was enough for them, and I removed the sprinkles from the chaos. BIG mistake. The meltdown started; there was no recovering. Tears and snot spewing everywhere, as Punkin’ threw herself down on the floor in the most dramatic of fashions. I could only imagine she was saying, “How could you be so cruel to deprive me of my red and green sprinkles during this cookie decorating extravaganza? You just don’t looooooovvvvvve me.”
My recommendation for baking sugar cookies with kids without any other adult supervision is…just don’t do it. Don’t be dumb like me. Wait for a grandma or your significant other to come over, and sell it to them. “This will be so fun! I can’t wait for us to make cookies together as a family! This will be the best Christmas yet! The kids have been waiting all day for you to make cookies with them.”
You’re welcome.
2) No matter how much you try and threaten your three-year-old with coal, she will still act like a threenager.
Let’s face it, there’s just no stopping these random acts of awfulness. Christmas Eve in our house was not fun. We had a great day; the girls went down easily for their naps, and then we woke them up around 3 p.m. That was likely where we went wrong. We were at church just before 4 p.m. for a 4:30 Mass, and right about the time the priest processed past us to start Mass, our threenager decided she was over it. I had just sung her praises to my mom the day before because she did an awesome job at church on Sunday, but…not Christmas Eve mom and dad, no thank you. Geesh! You know what? It’s embarrassing, and I can’t focus on one damn thing that’s going on. So, she didn’t get any treats after dinner that night, and she went straight to bed after deciding it would be fun to scratch pictures into our kitchen table with her fork! Are you freakin’ kidding me? All I wanted to do was wrap up a bag of coal and have it sitting under the tree for her in the morning, but I married a kind and gentle man who wouldn’t let me. Sometimes he’s just no fun. 😉 Sooooo, I drank wine instead. Cheers!
3) Have a stash of gifts in your basement for that moment you realize what you bought your one-year-old actually sucks.
Now, I do realize she won’t remember this Christmas, but when I sat down to set up this toddler connectable gear set and to see how the cranks worked, I immediately disconnected a bunch of pieces and couldn’t get the darn thing back together again without disconnecting an adjoining piece. I quickly gave up and made my hubby fix it. Our Punkin’ is just like him too. She loves putting things together and seeing how they work. I didn’t want to ruin the Christmas she would never remember, so we threw in an obnoxiously loud music set we had been saving for someone really “special.” BTW, that stash of extra gifts also comes in handy for the bazillion birthday parties you will feel obligated to attend and likely forget until the day of the big event.
You’re welcome.
Thank goodness Christmas morning was a fresh start. As L.M. Montgomery quoted in Anne of Green Gables, “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” If you haven’t seen that series, you should. It’s one of my feel good flicks that I should really watch more often. That and Father of the Bride and Grumpy Old Men.
Anywho, Christmas morning was full of excitement and magic in our household, and we had an enjoyable day with both sides of the family. The girls also took good naps and were fairly well behaved with the exception of those typical threenager outbursts and snarls, of course.
We are so blessed and thank God daily for all we have because along with the joy that fills the holiday season is also the hurt and heartbreak that touches the lives of so many others. So I leave you with this message that I heard at the funeral I attended one week before Christmas, “hope does not disappoint.” Hold onto hope because sometimes it’s the only thing you can do.
