Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve Angst

Today started out really nicely. My girls actually played Wii together and didn't fight. Then we headed to the mall for the Santa photo. Alex (my teenager) DID NOT want to get her picture taken. Samantha (my ultra-sensitive 7-year-old) DID NOT want to get her picture taken without Alex. Can you see where this is headed? Yes, well, we got a picture which may or may not include a scowling teenager barely peeking out from under her bangs.

Then came the real fun. The girls were supposed to go to the movie with their cousins, Carter and Max. Alex, I think, honestly didn't feel great (I think too much greasy pizza for lunch and too much teen attitude could do that to a person). I decided to give her a pass on the movie and let her go home and rest it out. See, Samantha's two cousins (albeit BOYS) were going to the movie also, and I still had two or three errands to run. Well, one thing led to another, and I ended up AT THE MOVIE with all four kids. I decided maybe two hours in a dark room might be just what I needed.

The movie improved my mood somewhat, but I was quickly reminded in the car on the way home of the lovely Christmas sentiments NOT floating around me all day, which threw me right back into a funk. I stewed about it for awhile as I wrapped presents, thinking to myself that, face it, I just am not a Christmas fan. Never really have been, and today certainly hadn't helped. Plus, I didn't get my errands done, so there were three potential presents out there that didn't make it home with me.

We went to church, which was okay. Both girls had seemed to be able to let it go and move on, so I decided to do the same. We came home, nothing special, two different kinds of leftovers for dinner. We had intended to hold a Wii bowling tournament, but never got around to it. We all just sort of ended up vegging out in the living room. The girls both opened a present, and they actually worked on Sam's present together.

I've never been the kind of person to have a grand scheme for how Christmas should go. Some years I decorate, some years not so much. I am reminded of a T.V. show called Roswell from a few years back, one of their Christmas episodes, where Isabel was nicknamed "The Christmas Nazi" and had a whole planner just for Christmas. She even had measurements and specifications on what the perfect tree should be. So this Christmas may not end up being the perfect, beautiful, be-all, end-all Christmas some people plan for. All I know is that even though I didn't get those other presents and even though parts of today definitely SUCKED, when it came right down to it and I just let it all melt away, we had a really nice evening. Knock on wood for tomorrow...

1 comment:

Jana said...

I thought the impromtu Christmas story play at church was great. It was about the most fun I have had at church on Christmas eve. Also, we aren't getting much time, that sucks.