I loved Christmas as a kid until I stopped getting toys as gifts.
After that, Christmas was mostly a form of torture---being stuck in my house with my family, all of whom were perfectly able and willing to go off and entertain themselves (a skill I only learned in the past few years). I think Christmas is part of the reason I liked the idea of having a larger than 2 children family.
As a young adult, I was more or less a grinch. But the truth is I was kinda grinchy about everything. Christmas just made it worse than usual.
And then I became a mom. Once N came along, and certainly once she got old enough to understand Santa and the fun of opening gifts, Christmas became enjoyable.
Now with 3 children, Christmas is full of activity. Children make Christmas magical for their parents.
But with this holiday season having been in full swing for a month now, my inner grinch is starting to poke his head out.
For example:
1. I am itching to take all these infernal Christmas decorations down. About 3 weeks is all I can stand of holiday decor.
2. I am sick of other people being on the roads. One of the greatest benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is being able to be out and about when kids are at school and the majority of other adults are at work.
3. These same people on the roads are also in the stores, and while I long ago completed my shopping, I did have to pick up our Christmas morning doughnuts at the bakery this morning.....along with 10,000 other people. One particular dumb-ass was picking up pies for someone else and didn't know what exactly he was picking up so had to make a mobile phone call while in line (with MANY of his fellow shoppers behind him). And then he also had to order a latte and a cinnamon twist, which he could have done earlier when he was standing in front of the case instead of waiting until he was in the check-out line. He got a little huffy at the bakery staff for not hearing his latte/twist order, but apparently his head is stuffed very far up his own tail because he didn't seem to notice that everyone behind the counter was a little harried due to the 10,000 other customers behind him.
4. The kids holiday break should begin on Christmas Eve so that they have only 1 day of being home and not having new toys. Not being in routine and not having much to do (because of the aforementioned traffic and people that makes their mother refuse to go out in all the mess) are a recipe for occasional bouts of inspired cooperative play but mostly bickering, which drives their mother bonkers.
So I will enjoy this evening and tomorrow and then be ready to move on with normal life.
Although I will have to wait until Jan 3 to actually do so.
After that, Christmas was mostly a form of torture---being stuck in my house with my family, all of whom were perfectly able and willing to go off and entertain themselves (a skill I only learned in the past few years). I think Christmas is part of the reason I liked the idea of having a larger than 2 children family.
As a young adult, I was more or less a grinch. But the truth is I was kinda grinchy about everything. Christmas just made it worse than usual.
And then I became a mom. Once N came along, and certainly once she got old enough to understand Santa and the fun of opening gifts, Christmas became enjoyable.
Now with 3 children, Christmas is full of activity. Children make Christmas magical for their parents.
But with this holiday season having been in full swing for a month now, my inner grinch is starting to poke his head out.
For example:
1. I am itching to take all these infernal Christmas decorations down. About 3 weeks is all I can stand of holiday decor.
2. I am sick of other people being on the roads. One of the greatest benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is being able to be out and about when kids are at school and the majority of other adults are at work.
3. These same people on the roads are also in the stores, and while I long ago completed my shopping, I did have to pick up our Christmas morning doughnuts at the bakery this morning.....along with 10,000 other people. One particular dumb-ass was picking up pies for someone else and didn't know what exactly he was picking up so had to make a mobile phone call while in line (with MANY of his fellow shoppers behind him). And then he also had to order a latte and a cinnamon twist, which he could have done earlier when he was standing in front of the case instead of waiting until he was in the check-out line. He got a little huffy at the bakery staff for not hearing his latte/twist order, but apparently his head is stuffed very far up his own tail because he didn't seem to notice that everyone behind the counter was a little harried due to the 10,000 other customers behind him.
4. The kids holiday break should begin on Christmas Eve so that they have only 1 day of being home and not having new toys. Not being in routine and not having much to do (because of the aforementioned traffic and people that makes their mother refuse to go out in all the mess) are a recipe for occasional bouts of inspired cooperative play but mostly bickering, which drives their mother bonkers.
So I will enjoy this evening and tomorrow and then be ready to move on with normal life.
Although I will have to wait until Jan 3 to actually do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment