Santa Came!

I think I eluded to the fact that I wasn't feeling so "Christmas-y" this year in my previous post.  I had no good ideas, and if you're trying to define what makes a Mama stressed at Christmas, it is a list of people for whom you need to buy gifts that is entirely empty in the "what you got" category.  There were several horrible situations (horrible may be a bit dramatic, but it is how it felt) where I thought I had a perfect gift and actually purchased it, only to find that it wasn't going to work for one reason or another.  And if you want to take a Santa Mama under pressure and really turn up the heat a bit, make her buy stuff and then have to RETURN said stuff and STILL have an empty "what you got" category on your list.  It was ugly.  There were tears.  And I'm pretty sure this kind of pressure is not what the songwriter was referring to when they called Christmas "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year".  Somehow, by the grace of God, we ended up with gifts for everyone on our list.  They weren't great ones, mind you, but they were gifts.  Many gift cards exchanged because I couldn't justify spending money on things that I wasn't sure were needs or even wants for the year.  As of Christmas Eve, we were still awaiting the arrival of a few things, which arrived thanks in no small part to the hard working UPS and FedEx drivers who deserve a big raise for all of the boxes they delivered to me.  Amazon Prime has paid for itself ten times over, no question about it. 

 

Christmas Eve, I started to surrender to the whole idea that Christmas was going to be what it was going to be.  Although we were still on pins and needles about the fact that Joshua was on to our Santa tricks.  I am pretty sure he knows the truth about Santa, and has voiced his doubts on a few occasions, but I'm feeling super stuck in the parenting dilemma about when to confirm his suspicions.  I had kept all of the kids gifts, wrapped, at my office and brought them home to our house on the Thursday before Christmas Eve.  I had put them in the basement once the kids went to sleep, hoping that I could keep them out of the basement just for those two short days.  Well, imagine my stress when I got a text from Josh while at the office on Friday morning.  It said, "Lauren and I are working to clean our rooms and get rid of toys that we don't play with so that we have room for our new Christmas toys.  Can I go down to the basement to get a bin to put them in?"  I must have seemed like such a grouch when I told him "No, I don't want you guys in the basement right now."  And then he asked, "Why?"  And somehow answering him with, "Because your Christmas gifts are down there and I really don't think I can take the emotional turmoil of it being totally ruined at this late hour" didn't seem like it was a good idea.  So I just sounded like a total grump, completely unappreciative of their efforts to clean up.  The next day, Josh and Jason were playing a video game and Jason described it as a lightbulb moment for Josh when he stopped dead in his tracks and said, "I think I've got it!  Mommy wouldn't let me go into the basement because our Christmas presents are down there!"  To which we did the only thing that you can possibly do on the day before Christmas Eve that is likely the last year of a Santa Christmas believer with your 10 year old.  You lie.  I just couldn't have that talk with him so close to Christmas. 

 

And so, the magic of Christmas continued as the kids awoke with wide eyes and huge shrieks to see that Santa had, in fact, arrived while they slept.  They were thrilled. 

 

Their lists weren't very big this year, and many items had been scooped up by others who were also buying for them, so Santa was forced to find things they would love that they hadn't asked for.  Tricky, but I was pleased that it was successful.  Josh's big gift was tickets to see the Newsboys in Wilkes Barre (his first real concert) in February.  He was shocked and thrilled.  He also got a PSU fathead for his room that he loved and couldn't believe he had gotten.  Lauren and Mara had both asked for American Girls, so they were really excited about them.  Lauren also got some Lego Friends sets and was a champ at putting them together.  Another favorite for Mara was a very real looking makeup set that, thankfully, is not real.  But she doesn't seem to know that.  She has been giving everyone makeovers for the past week. 

 

 

We enjoyed Christmas with the Dugan side of our family on Christmas afternoon and evening.  We enjoyed lots of laughs and some good dinner together, and a few whiskey slushes, which for this non-drinker, were a highlight.  It was so nice to have everyone together in our home and we were really thankful for them all taking the time to spend it together with us.  Everyone has been so kind to understand that we don't want to tear our kids away from their toys to go somewhere else for Christmas.

Christmas continued on Monday when the Richard side of our family gathered again at our house to celebrate together.  We had a very traditional meal of ---- smoked meatloaf and homemade mac and cheese and baked beans, with ice cream sandwich dessert to finish it off.  Needless to say, all of us declared a food detox that was to begin immediately  We're all thinking that after the month or so of continuous holiday celebrations and parties, we won't need to eat again until sometime around mid-March.

Tree Lot Christmas 12.20.16

It's no secret that my heart has been a little less light and jolly this Christmas than in past years.  I have allowed the season to stress me instead of enjoying it.  I have focused on a lack of ideas for gifts, and the shuffle to make sure the piles for the kids are even, that we have appropriate gifts for our parents that accurately reflect how much we appreciate them.  And in doing all of that, I have gotten way off track.  Well...somehow God always knows when we need a reset, and He gave it to me last week at the kids' Christmas program at school.  Typically, these programs are just a compilation of some Christmas music that the kids have worked on in school.  It's always enjoyable, but this year was really special.  The kids performed what I can only describe as a mini-cantata, with a drama piece and some fantastic music as well.  Joshua had been selected, based on his audition for the spring musical, to play one of the parts in the show, and we had been practicing his lines for a few weeks.  I didn't really get the whole idea, though, until the night of the show.

The story was about a local Christmas tree lot, and the people who worked there.  There was a business owner who had rented out one of his lots for the sale of these trees who only seemed to be focused on the material side of Christmas.  But the kids delivered the Gospel through their parts, and brought anyone in that auditorium back to a realization of what Christmas is and what it isn't.  Josh performed his heart out, with a whole bunch of speaking parts, motions and a solo even.  He got to perform with one of his best friends from his class, and the two of them were really fun to watch.  Some have even commented after the fact that they stole the show.  It was extra special to be able to see Lauren and Josh up there together for the first time.  And that sweet girl of ours was just singing her little heart out for Jesus.  She knew every motion and every word.

Needless to say, the whole thing was a start into getting my heart right to be able to celebrate Christmas the right way this year.  Not only were we proud parents of our own kids, we were proud to be a part of the Meadowbrook family that night as well.  And proud of the work and commitment from our music teacher who makes it a priority to teach the kids not only about music, but also how to use it to touch people's hearts.

During the show, Mara sat with us and was extremely well behaved considering the time of the evening and how quickly she had to shovel her supper into her little face before leaving for the show.  She loved watching Josh and Lauren up there, and mentioned a few times that she can't wait to be up there with them.  I told her not to be in such a big hurry to get too big too fast.  To which she quickly replied, "Well I AM basically 5."  Little does she know how I am savoring every bit of her still being 4 for as long as I can.  Five seems so big.  And 4 seems not quite so much.

Here are a few pictures of our crew doing their thing.  I was so thankful for my super zooming lens on the camera for this particular show.  We had good seats, but even with being there an hour before the show, it was a mad dash to get in for a decent seat.  I was talking to another Mom in the line before the doors opened about our shared anxiety over the securing of seats for performances there.  I'm not alone, but it seems ridiculous to have to be at the school more than an hour ahead of a show to get a seat where you can see your children well.  I guess it is a blessing that so many people care about our kids enough to come out to all of their special programs.  But it stresses a stressed Mama out.  Thanks to the zoom lens, though, we were able to get some decent photos to remember this night.