I’LL BE HURRYING FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Ah yes, the holidays are upon us… and once again I’m running around like C3PO from Star Wars missing his body – what happened to me?? Where are my arms??  I”M BACKWARDS??    I’m waaaaaaay behind, stressed, and of course, grumpy.  Basically, the exact opposite of holiday spirit.

It kinda reminds of this picture of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer my son drew.  Rudolph doesn’t look happy… he looks like he’s gotta get places!  No time for eggnog and cookies — get the hell outta the way – we gotta sleigh coming through!!  Crap.  Is that me now???

It seems my youngest son has decided life is all about yelling and kicking a soccer ball at anything and everything… CONSTANTLY!  My oldest doesn’t want to get out of bed, or get dressed, or basically do anything that doesn’t involve a “Valkyrie level 11” and a video screen(sadly, i’m not even sure what that’s from).  And then of course, you’ve got me.  Upset that i’ve still got a ton of Xmas shopping to do, behind on “real” work deadlines, worried about marketing my book, worried about my next book, and panicked that I haven’t sent out holiday gifts to my clients(which are still clustered all around my desk).  YES.  It’s the perfect Xmas recipe for disaster.

Remarkably, there haven’t been any real blow-ups.  No screaming matches.  No door slams.  And that’s because… of the real problem I’m getting to… we don’t seem to have time!  Everybody in the family is running around so fast, there’s no time to get upset at anything.  Honestly, I don’t think that’s a good thing.  Basketball, soccer, work, school, piano, guitar, work, work, etc.  etc.  etc. etc. etc.  You get the idea.  Basically, every parent is going through it.  I think?  How do you get it all done?  How do you manage it all… with a cheery-let’s-have-a-cup-of-cocoa smile!  Ummmmm… if you’re like me, you probably don’t.  In fact, you probably whine about it in a blog.

So I sat down, slowed down, with the boys – and had breakfast.  From 7:58 to 8:04.  A moment.  6 full minutes of bonding time… where we discussed “Lava hounds, inferno dragons, ice wizards, and wrath-somethings(?)”  I didn’t say much, cuz i didn’t know what we were talking about.  But it was a great moment to slow down and really talk about the important things in life.

What I got out of it was that “we’re willing to trade Lava hounds, but not inferno dragons”  so if you’re looking for a lava hound – you’re reading the right blog!  Yup, true bonding.

Anyway– back to the panic.

Happy Holidays all!

Sandy