I hate to say it, but this Mom does not always have her act together. I’m blaming Thanksgiving. It was just too close to the end of the month, and now December is here too fast and I’m not ready.
Yesterday I spent hours de-cluttering the downstairs to make room for all of our Christmas decorations. Then as I sat, exhausted in my tidy living room (which the babies had instantly filled with clutter again), I realized that all the stuff I usually start doing on December 1st is nowhere near ready! We don’t have the thoughtfully chosen treats to put behind the advent calendar doors. I always read a different Christmas or wintery-themed story each night from December 1st through the 25th, and all of the great stories we love are still in storage! Plus, I had this neat idea for a new twist on our book-reading tradition. Instead of choosing a story each night, wouldn’t it be cool if each story was wrapped like a present? Then we can read a story and open a present every night! But of course, the books aren’t wrapped because they are in a red tupperware bin behind door B-92 at the storage yard. Dang it. Well, Momma’s not perfect
I think I can still make the Christmas Pickle tradition happen without anyone noticing that I hadn’t planned ahead this year. It’s one of the family Christmas traditions I mention in this post. We won’t be putting nuts in stockings, though. Those did not go over well.
So here we are. December 1st already. We have no decorations up (also in storage). I have no idea when we can find time to get decorations from storage and buy/trim a tree during our nonstop daily schedule of work, lacrosse (which of course starts only a few weeks after pop warner football season ends), and my husband’s night classes. As you may already know, some days are just not SuperMom days. I may be having a not-SuperMom-month.
I’m going to have to turn into Magic Mom. You know, the Mom who makes magic happen when the kids least expect it. I’m pretty sure that “doing Christmas” as early as December is mostly important to adults. Kids probably don’t have a clue, and they always get excited about Holiday stuff wether it happens on December 1st or December 9th. We WILL get a tree and decorate for Christmas. It just may not be right away. We WILL read Christmas stories before bed at night. Maybe not starting on the first, but it will happen. And since I am Magic Mom, I know how to hype the kids up in a fantastic way over something as easy as reading a Christmas story.
I hope your December is full of holiday cheer and joy. If you’re like me and haven’t started the “holiday” part yet, cheers to you, Mom. Let’s make some magic happen.