We all learn to handle a certain amount of stress, and when the stress becomes too much we talk about being overwhelmed. Then there's that level past overwhelmed called "the breaking point." That's where I was last week. Ryan had traveled for most of the month, including a trip last week to Albuquerque that ended up being 2 days longer than planned (meaning that in one week, he had missed a piano recital, a dance performance, a big meeting at the Middle School to discuss Brevan's needs, and 3 choir performances). My kidney pain was worsening, and my anxiety about the upcoming surgery was spiking. The kids had about a million activities every day, so I was living my life on the road. And to top it all off, the kids decided to argue about everything the past couple weeks - sometimes they actually argued about arguing. Whew.
So it was Tuesday evening, and I was trying to keep my cool. Doing that whole "smiling on the outside and screaming on the inside" thing. The girls had their big choir performance that evening, and there was much drama in the house. Brynlie completely fell apart because the shirt she had to wear in the performance was itchy. Since she didn't have anything else clean that would look festive, we had to be creative to find a solution. MUCH tears were shed during this time (and not only by Bryn). As soon as that crisis was resolved, the foot stomping and whining hit new levels because I would no longer have time to curl her hair. Then Lindsey joined the crying screaming when she couldn't find any matching black shoes. She could only find 2 black shoes - that didn't match and both fit on the left foot. By this point, I just started walking to the van. I told the girls that the time to help them solve their problems had passed and we were already late, so they better find a solution because I was leaving. I briefly considered hitting the open highway for a few hours, finding a cheap hotel room, and sleeping until Christmas.
So here is the solution Lindsey came up with, which I was completely fine with under the circumstances. Notice the shoe on her left foot that is being held together with black electric tape. It also had a heel on it, unlike the other left shoe on her right foot, so she walked crooked.
But my girls were able to pull themselves together and dry their tears long enough to sing beautifully and pull off a near-perfect performance.
Lindsey decided having no shoes was a better option than broken, uncomfortable shoes.
Fast forward a few days until Ryan made it back home. After I spent a day decompressing and venting all my stress to Ryan, life fell back into place. By the weekend, it was life as normal and we had some great times together as a family. On Friday, we started a tradition that Ryan remembers doing with his family when he was a kid. We bought a couple nice wreaths, got $100 in one dollar bills from the bank, and made Money Wreaths to give to needy families. The kids tied each dollar bill on the wreaths with curling ribbon. Then we had a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to direct us to a couple families that we could help this Christmas. At each house, I would hide with all the kids (the Napier girls came with us, too) behind a tree or car while Ryan would ring the doorbell and run. We would watch the family's reaction to the gift, then run to the van before they could see who left them the wreath. The kids were all excited and we had some spiritual moments as we tried to listen to the Spirit together and decide who Heavenly Father wanted us to help.
A few days after we put out all the Christmas decorations last month, I walked by this nativity set and saw the star hung on the wall with tape. It has made me smile literally every time I've seen it for the past month. I found my sweet Lindsey had been the one to add the missing star.
This picture doesn't show how beautiful this nativity set is, but my mother-in-law gave this to me last Christmas, so this is the first year I put it on display. It is gorgeous! I started collection nativity sets a few years ago.
Yesterday we had the Simmons and Napiers come over for a Christmas dinner and cookie decorating. The creative kids planned a Nativity Play, which they presented after dinner. Parker wasn't thrilled about being Joseph, so he was definitely the most comical part of the play. While the other actors sang beautiful Christmas carols and acted out the scene in the stable, Parker kept yelling "Push!" to Mary, so the baby Jesus could arrive. Haha! He even drew a beard on his face with marker. I wonder if that got scrubbed off before he left for school this morning??
The kids all made these cute snowman cookies, but we forgot to add the green scarf around the snowman's neck.
The boys, of course, had to be a little more creative and make theirs with 12 arms and 6 eyeballs!
Now all the presents are wrapped, bills are paid, laundry is done, groceries are stocked up, and the house is being thoroughly cleaned. Tomorrow is surgery day and I want to be able to relax for the next many days, instead of worrying about anything. After being in pain for the past couple weeks, I'm actually kind of welcoming surgery, so I can begin to feel better. Plus it's a great excuse to watch lots of movies and read lots of books over this Christmas break!
1 comment:
Good luck with your surgery! I hope you feel better afterwards. Happy holidays!
Post a Comment