Making Spirits Bright

Friday was one of those days; I was tired, I was having a terrible day, both boys were melting down, and I tried to sneak into the bathroom to shed a few tears and calm myself when both boys stood outside the door, banging on it and crying.  It's moments like that that I try to take a deep breath and think about how all of those little frustrations that come along with being a mother are signs that I truly have everything in life that I could want; if I didn't have those frustrations, I also wouldn't have kids. There was a time in my life that I thought that maybe I might not be a mother, I would have done anything to have even just those moments of frustration.  Instead, I made other plans for myself; I went to graduate school, I thought about a PHD, I worked really hard at my job, but all my daily actions felt hollow.  I didn't have what I really wanted.  In a strange way, I think those days have made me a better mother. Now all the yogurt Ollie throws on the floor, all the snot I find wiped on my shirt, all the crying and banging on the bathroom door, are little reminders of how I have two little dreams come true in my life.

Friday, I picked myself up off the bathroom floor, and took Creed and Ollie to the lighting at the Shops at Riverwoods.  I promised Creed we would go as a reward if he memorized his part for the Primary Program.  Larry was stuck late at work so we headed off to fight the crowds on our own.  I wish you all could have seen Creed's face light up when Santa arrived!  The line was so long and Ollie was so tired so I promised we would visit Santa the next day.

We usually put off visiting Santa until much later in the season, but Creed REALLY wanted to see him, and I must confess that Larry and I had an ulterior motive. For weeks Creed's been telling us he's going to ask Santa for a Barbie Princess Dream Castle. Yikes!  It's not the princess castle I have a problem with, it's the massive unstorable size of the plastic monster and the $150 price tag.  I tried to explain to him that it's too big and too expensive and he patiently reminded me that it doesn't matter how much it costs because Santa's elves will make it in his workshop. Hard to argue with, so Princess Dream Castle it looked like it would be.  We let it go. Who are we to crush his Christmas Dreams?

But then, with no prompting from us, Creed told us he would wait until next year to ask for a Dream Castle because this year what he really wants in an accordion.  What?  And AWESOME!  So we were in a hurry to get Creed to Santa to make that wish official.  Wouldn't you be?

Saturday evening we went to the mall, we got in line, and about a minute later one of Santa's helpers told us Santa was leaving to feed his reindeer and would be gone for an hour.  Creed was heartbroken.  I told him we would visit Santa another day, there is still a lot of time before Christmas.  He looked at me with eyes full of tears and told me this was really important to him, he needed a chance to actually talk to Santa.  So we headed off to see where Santa's reindeer took him next.  Luckily, he didn't fly too far and we found him at the Riverwoods (Which is an awesome place to visit Santa if you're in town.  There was no line, Santa was wonderful, and they didn't even have a photographer so they expected you to take your own picture.)

Ollie was a bit bewildered by the whole experience, but he didn't mind sitting on Santa's lap one bit.  And Creed was all smiles once he had the chance to tell Santa how much he wants an accordion for Christmas (we've taught him that he can only ask Santa for one gift. Is that wrong?)

PS-earlier in the day we took some pictures for the Christmas card I have in mind this year.  Here are the out takes.

Poor Ollie!