By Megan Wirts T’was the day after Christmas and all through the house, everyone else was sleeping in except for me. Sorry, that doesn’t rhyme, but I’m exhausted. Our family had a wonderful holiday season filled with all the usual goodness, friends, family and lots of delicious food. We saw family we hadn’t seen in a few years and we spent quality time with the ones we love the most. On Christmas Day, our smallest small person woke us up at exactly 7am, it would have been 4am, but when he tried to wake me up I grumbled, “Shhh…not till 7, go away!”. He waited patiently next to my bed watching the clock tick by for 3 hours until it hit 7am and he yelled in my good ear, “WAKE UP IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!”. I rolled over and looked at my husband and said, “coffee” and then we were off to see what Santa left under the tree. Our teenage daughter was up the stairs in a flash. Which is a Christmas miracle right there, because like most teenagers, she loves to sleep and hates waking up in the morning. Not on this day though, she too had been sitting and waiting like her little brother. Miraculous indeed. When we were all gathered around the tree and I had my coffee in hand, the unwrapping could begin. I know of some families that sit around and each person opens one gift at a time, while all the other family members get to see what the others receive, and the gift giver gets to see the gift receivers face light up and everyone oohh's and aahh's. That doesn’t happen in our home. No matter how many times I beg for everyone to do it that way, it doesn’t. As soon as one gift is in hand, the paper is flying, and the boxes are being torn apart. It’s pandemonium and chaos and I just have to accept it and let it go. Once the dust settled and it looked as if a tornado had blown through my living room, we brought out the big stuff. Every year, we give the kids a few small things that they have been asking for, like new socks, underwear (I’m not even kidding, my kids both asked for new socks and underwear and they loved it.), books, new water bottles and things like that. Then, we get them one big thing that they have really been dreaming of but never in their lives think that we will actually get them. This year, those big things were a beautiful handmade ukulele made by the talented Donald Benson, (Seriously, see him for all your handmade musical instrument needs, his instruments are gorgeous.), and a drum set. Yes, a real drum set. A loud, wall shaking drum set. (I’m sorry neighbors!) Why would any sane mother get her 10-year-old boy a drum set?!? No, I’m not asking to go deaf in my other ear, I’m trying to create a band people!! Our daughter is already a fantastic ukulele player and singer, my husband can shred on the guitar and I love to sing. So, why not get the boy in on the band. WE ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!!! Ok, I may be getting ahead of myself, but a mom can dream. When we gave our girl her amazing new ukulele, she cried tears of delight and when we brought our son down to the basement where the drums were all set up, he screamed and jumped for joy. Then just 5 minutes after my husband showing him a few beats, they were rocking!! My heart was full seeing the huge grin on my husbands face as he taught our boy to rock out to Metallica and my ears were ringing. Hello, earplugs and noise cancelling headphones. Our little family foursome spent the entire day, playing with our new goodies, laughing, stuffing our faces with fancy chocolates, cheesecake and cookies. Then, after I spent the evening preparing our Christmas dinner, we sat around the table and told each other all the things we loved about one another. It’s super cheesy, but I love cheese and I fully believe it’s nice to hear that you are loved and appreciated, especially by your family. It started out with my daughter telling my son that she loved him because he smelled like farts and ended with tears streaming down my face because the love I feel overwhelms me and just leaks out like that. We ended our Christmas Day watching some of our favorite holiday movies and all the Christmas episodes from The Office. It was a magical day filled with love, joy and lots of noise. Someday, I will miss it so for now, I will slip on my ear plugs and let the happiness and love leak from my eyes. Comments are closed.
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October 2024
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