I digress, as normal.
After we are officially underway, with Bing Crosby singing away naturally, my nearly 7 year old begins "the whine". He is the one who has been hounding me since Thanksgiving day to get a move on w/this, of course. "Are we done yet? Can I go play Play Station now? How much more do I have to do?" You get the idea. My DH is fending him off with lines about how important this tree decorating thing is to me, etc.
I know it's not right, but I start to feel a bit upset by this whole shebang. You see, growing up in my folks house, Tree Decorating Day ranked right up there with Birthdays. It's a big deal. Special dinner, lots of hot chocolate, Bing and other favorites that we would pick out in advance to play, laughter, jokes, lights tangled everywhere, cats pouncing on everything in sight... You get the idea. Even doing the tree w/my Mom-In-Law had been a time similar to homestyle. But at our house, it was so different, and well... To be honest it was disappointing.
I can hear my Momma, BF, and DH telling me now... "Expectations are premeditated disappointments."
And they are right. So, to continue... We finally let the rascal go and do his thing simply because he was ruining it for all of us. We chose not to fight that battle, plain and simple. Our other boy helped us and had fun, so it was not a complete bummer. I made the mistake at one point though to say out loud that I missed doing Decorating Day with my parents. I think I hurt my DH's feelings with that one... Hmmm... For the record, I apologize.
Anyway... I think he felt bad for my bummed out mood, 'cause he offered Chinese for dinner. Now, for any of y'all out there who do not know me, like at all, I LOVE Asian food!!!!!!!!!! No end in sight for my love of the stuff! Good thing I can cook it, too! I digress, yet again. We had take out from the place in town, which thankfully is great! While our order was cooking, I was able to go to the store a few shops down and get a massive CHOCOLATE FIX! YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yeah, I'm hungry right now...) While I was there I happened past a movie clearance bin, and what to my wond'ring eye should appear? The Last Samurai DVD for FIVE $!!!!!!!!!! I am a happy camper now. So, I learned my lesson(s) from this year:
1 Do not do the tree the day after doing someone else's.
2 Do the tree earlier in the day, so Kiddos won't be crabby.
3 DO NOT EXPECT MY FAMILY TO ACT JUST LIKE MY PARENTS AND I DID!
4 Have Chinese and Chocolate on hand for afterwards.
5 Always leave some ornaments in the box to laugh at next year. (Ya know, the ones given to you that are just weird or make no sense, like blown glass chili peppers the size of my forearm.)
6 Plan ahead so that the couch is cleared off (no laundry or magazines allowed), the dishes done (way too guilt inspiring), no NFL games on to compete with, etc...
7 (Just because I cannot leave it on 6-- I don't like the #6.) RELAX and HAVE FUN!!!
So, there you have it. My new Christmas traditions. We'll see how they hold up...
"And now for something completely different..." I must be off and pick up the Kiddos from school. Hopefully we'll get internet at home soon... (Please, Y'shua?)
Loves to all!!
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