Well, the first stresses of the holiday reared their ugly head two weekends ago. With so much going on it seems I don't take a moment and every second of the day is filled with something. There is the normal work (CHA preparation underway!), kids (3 sports), and now the holiday rush is upon on. I get to the weekends and find myself planned out to the minute. I am not complaining beause quite frankly I am thankful for all that activity but there are just times it gets to you. I had my time two weekends ago when everything I touched seemed to head south. After unsuccessfully trying to start the lawn mowerI go back into the hosue that has been destroyed by the kids (who are still complaining about the yard work planned for the day) and I wanted to get the tree decorated. Sometimes you have visions of sugar plums dancing through you head and you envision the Chrsitmas music softly playingin the background while you and your three glorious children adorn the tree with garland and ornaments. The smell of fresh baked apple pies is wafting through the house and your darling puppy has antler ears on.
Nope, this is how ours went. The twins begging me to get the boxes down to decorate, me asking the teenage alian who has taken over my son's body to get the ladder to help me and the sound of complaining and nagging. It was as if I woke a sleeping bear from hiberation. There was no soft music I will tell you. Just one irate mom who was yelling at her three kids from an attic. They all stopped in their track as I told them to go away, leave me alone and "Mommy needed a time out". Yep, that time out included a cry in the attic and a post on Facebook that went something like this:
There goes those visions of sugar plums dancing through my head. A half an hour later Micky says "Mom, are you ever coming down? we don't have to decorate the tree now?". I gathered myself together and realized………….I am not alone. Somewhere there are others who have these same moments. We all do. They are ok and though I am not the best at asking for help I am not able to do this all on my own. I need help from time to time…we all do.
That got me thinking about a friend I spoke with last week who is going through a rough time and cannot get out of a funk. She has work, family ,etc. she dedicates herself to but she feels lost and alone. I assured her that she was not alone but needs to make some "me time" to find her again. She needs a good attic time out. We all do and that is ok.
As for me…….we did get those boxes down and we did decorate that tree. My two elves did a great job and we let the third teenage elf sleep it off.
As for me……there may not be sugar plums dancing but there are those much needed time out moments where I stop and forgive myself. I am only one person and I am not alone. What I do have is a beautiful Christmas tree up.
and the words from my son when he said "How are you going to get the boxes down" and I said "I will figure it out…I always do"………..his response "Mom, you are the figure-it-out Hero". Yep, for that moment the timeout was forgotten and there were sugar plums. My ornaments are now there for me to remember and take in this holiday season.
Things have a way of always working out and sometimes you need to take a much needed Mommy time out whereever that is. It can do you some good and you are NEVER alone. And I am happy to report that one week later……things have turned themselves around and holiday preparations are underway!
"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." ~Norman Vincent Peale