I Wish You A Merry Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of year. Its a time for family and friends to get together. It is a time where you can see the twinkle of anticipation in a child's eyes for Christmas morning to FINALLY arrive. Above all, it is also a time of celebration in the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about this time of the year is magical. You hear people say that it is magical, but why? Why are we more charitable, more forgiving and kinder to our fellow person? I have no concrete answer to give you, but that is magic in itself isn't it?

Every Christmas season I look forward to getting together with friends and family members. I love attending Christmas parties just for the sake that it is Christmas. It brings people together. It makes us all talk and spread good holiday cheer. It is a time where you can give a present to a family member or friend that says "thank you and I appreciate you." Sure not all gifts are always in appreciation or honoring that someone. We usually do have someone on our list that if we were Santa Claus himself, that person would be on the naughty list and getting coal. However, when you do receive a gift or an invitation to a party, someone took the time in thinking about you. How special is that?

As a parent to a toddler, Christmas is becoming more and more exciting and another learning lesson (as age appropriate as I can make it). Yes Santa is coming in the wee hours of Christmas morning to give presents since he was a good little boy this year. My son loves the fact we have a lit Christmas tree in our house, but would never understand the significance of why we are carrying out a 16th century old German tradition. I have to balance that and also teach him that this day also marks the birth of Jesus Christ. How do I do it? I keep it simple. My son will often point to his cross in his room. I often think if I should pray or not when he does this. Its pretty high up and not flashy, so I am not sure why he keeps noticing it. I am glad he does though. For me it helps bring up conversation. I tell him that he is Jesus and we are going to celebrate his birthday in a few days. Usually I will sing a song along with whatever we are playing like "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel" or "Silent Night". At this age repetition is everything and one day I will rejoice when he is able to say it back to me.

How do you celebrate the Christmas season? How do you teach your children the true meaning of Christmas?

God bless you all and have a Merry Christmas!

S'nami Boh!

Gadgets and Gizmos a-plenty

Okay so maybe this suburban Mom HAD to sneak part of the lyrics to the song Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid to the post title, but I do have a point other then making you sing to yourself the rest of the song. My son likes gadgets, gizmo's and whatever else is electronic. Not sure if this is a toddler loved thing across the world or if I am one of the lucky few that has to hide electronics to keep from having melt downs.

Pumpkin loves playing with anything that has buttons, knobs, etc., Never mind the Toys R Us explosion of flashing, noisy and ridiculous over priced toys in our house that is just for his pleasure. He ignores them for the most part. He wants to inspect everything that is gadget like and because of that, my (or my husbands) gadgets have suffered a great deal. Yes we can hide them (which we do) or tell him "no touch" (which we do), but its hard taking something away that won't harm or hurt the child when he is so into inspecting and exploring his new found gadget. I am all for exploration as a Mom, but I do have my limits. Our remote now rattles with broken plastic pieces inside and we have to baby proof even more so with things like plug in fire alarm/carbon monoxide detectors because we would like them to actually work. Is this just a toddler fascination? A male gadget fascination? Or what?

I am sure I am not the first or last Mom whose baby runs away with the remote and promptly hides it while something inappropriate (too much info on Discovery Health) is on while watching Mommy scrambling to find the remote and then finally turning the television off manually to shield toddler eyes. I would just like some peace in not wondering who Pumpkin has accidentally called this time and wondering how long the phone has been off the hook and wondering what conversations people overheard (there is a downfall on having cordless phones around the house). I just wonder how many Moms, how many parents go through this same thing? Do you turn over your over sized calculators because your child is interested or perhaps old remotes hoping that your usual remote can be finally left alone?

I am not trying to complain. This post isn't about that, although I am sure it sure sounds like it. I know I can hide things, or tell Pumpkin "no". I have and will continue to do so, but I also want him to explore things that interest him. I guess I have to walk a fine line with what is okay to have and what is not okay to have for my sanity and so I can have private conversations without checking to see if the phone has dialed someone first.

Slacking Holiday Mom

I have a confession to make. I haven't put up any decorations or really gotten prepared for this Christmas season. Yes, I have been a bad Mommy. I do have some excuses such that I have been sick and keeping up with the regular household duties while working full time is hard enough with a toddler. But since my son is realizing more and more about whats going on around him, I should probably do something with the house, but where do I find the time and the energy?

I am sure all Moms struggle with the fact that time is precious and there is way too little of it. When you are working and finally get home with your little ones in tow, time is even more pressed to do all the things that you want to do. I fully believe in the saying:

"There will be years for cleaning and cooking.
But children grow up when your not looking.
So settle down cobwebs.
Dust go to sleep.
I'm cuddling my baby.
And babies don't keep."

I have seen how this saying relates to my life first hand. My son who has just grown up so much doesn't want to be held really or cuddled that much. No, he is way too busy wanting to play tag or bang blocks together. Sure there are those few seconds where he will just be with me, but I could never anticipate how quickly he would grow. So I have been slacking on household chores while I spend time playing tag, peek a boo, parachute (he loves doing this with blankets) and doing the other necessary things like dinner, bath time and the night time routine. Finally after he is asleep, I have a few minutes to tidy up, spend some "me time" (that is very much needed) and chat with my husband for a bit before its time to go to sleep and repeat the same routine again tomorrow.

I guess I am wishing that little elves would come and do my Christmas decorating. One could hope right? But I have to get this done. It just doesn't seem like Christmas without having things put around the house to remind you of that holiday cheer. There is just something about having that Christmas tree put up, my German nativity scene placed in the dining room and odds and ends that just make the whole season that much more magical and fun.

As parents do you struggle with getting those extras done in your house during different holiday seasons?