Our living room always feels so empty the first few days after Christmas is returned to storage, and everything new finds a nook.
For a moment, however small, it feels like we have just the right amount of stuff, that our lives aren’t cluttered. I like that.
This Christmas to say our family was blessed, feels trite. It was a good Christmas; a full Christmas.
And though it had it’s hilarious moments, like the time Miss S blocked Miss Q from entering an area, so Miss Q drove Miss S’s brand new, hot pink, remote control Barbie corvette directly into Miss S’s crotch; we mostly came out unscathed.
Full disclosure forces me to admit: I sliced my finger while cutting wrapping paper with a Swiss Army saw. (I couldn’t find the scissors.) No stitches, just a butterfly bandage and lecture from my husband.
Two days later I got to return the lecture. He was holding mini-carrots with one hand and drilling into them with the other. Yes, we were both lifeguards. And yes, we have strong ties to the 9-1-1 community. It would be embarrassing to call.
Over the last two weeks, Miss C, whom I (rather deliciously) never thought would leave my side when strangers were afoot, suddenly has no problem wandering, climbing and flashing her pearly whites at anyone who smiles first. Now it’s my husband and I that can’t leave her side as we chase her through the halls, saving her from herself.
Last night, as the sparkly ball dropped into 2013, and Jenny McCarthy smooched her chosen service man, (Do they screen for cold sores?) I looked down the couch at our littles in their various state of alertness and wondered:
Would 2013 signal the end to spelling words above Miss Q’s head as she learns to read? The end of nighttime diapers for Miss S? We’re on night 3. And would this be the year Miss C adds her voice to the chorus of littles requesting a bakery cookie and little shopping cart at the grocery store? (You give in one time…)
New beginnings are everywhere when you have children, but most are bittersweet markers of how old they’re getting. New Years is one of those rare beginnings where everyone walks into the blank chapter together.
My first New Year’s Resolution was to get to bed at a decent time, but that seems to have fallen flat. So my second New Year’s Resolution for early January 2nd is to remember this feeling of space and promise next week when we return to our regularly scheduled activities.
Happy New Year!
Carrots for Santa’s reindeer.
Wondered why you were drilling into mini carrots… cute idea!