Holiday Ideal: Achieving the perfect family photograph, all decked out
in your finest holiday attire, every member with a dashing smile in front of a
festive background.
Reality: No festive
background and no holiday attire - we cropped a picture that my dad took on my phone of us
on Thanksgiving (to remove the deer head) and changed it to
black-and-white to try to hide as many flaws as possible. No fuss, less stress, cheap.
Holiday Ideal: Sending out Christmas cards the first week in December,
including a family photo, and perhaps even a family letter if you’re feeling
extra ambitious.
Reality: Tried to
hand-deliver as many cards as possible because we couldn’t afford that many
stamps.
Holiday Ideal: An afternoon
baking goodies with your little ones, Christmas music on in the background,
sipping hot chocolate in-between applying sprinkles to cookies.
Reality: Ten minutes into the process, Adalynn burns herself badly
on melting chocolate while reaching for the sprinkles. She’s screaming and crying, as do I after
seeing her burns. (Don’t worry, she’s
fine now but that definitely put a damper on the goodie-making afternoon).
Holiday Ideal: Santa is able to get THE gift your child has been wanting
badly for Christmas, and your kid goes bonkers over it.
Reality: Even though the
Stuffie she’s been wanting for the last two months is waiting for her under the
tree, Adalynn barely glances at it and decides to check out Wesley’s present
instead. The Stuffie has hardly been
touched the last few days.
Holiday Ideal: The whole family
attends church together and everyone is in tears because the service is so
beautiful and heart-felt.
Reality: I got my family there, but we were in the third row from
the back with people chatting behind us the entire time and we couldn’t see
much of anything on the stage, including Adalynn when she ran up to help sing
the last song along with other children from the church.
Holiday Ideal: Everyone in the
family is healthy and can enjoy spending time together.
Reality: Mom was sick so we
had to postpone our Christmas Eve celebration.
Eddie's (ex) step-dad wasn't expected to live past Christmas Day so Eddie
had to leave us to spend a couple of hours with him.
Holiday Ideal: A big budget is available
to get all your loved ones the very best for the holiday.
Reality: A teeny-tiny budget
was available and we just weren't able to do that much this year in the way of
presents.
The differences between
the ideal and the reality could go on and on, but it’s all in how you react to
it. The fact is, some things were
perfect. Adalynn was a superstar in her
Christmas Sing at preschool; neither Wesley or Addy cried when visiting Santa;
Adalynn seems to understand the real reason for the season and can tell you the
story of Jesus’ birth; we had snow but not too much of it; and we were still able to at least get everyone a
present, albeit on a strict budget. And
the best part? It’s over!
Hope you all had a
wonderful Christmas and looking forward to the New Year! God Bless!
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| Wesley and Adalynn visiting Santa |
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| Adalynn working on her snowman (later named Lilly) |
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| Baby's First Christmas |
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| Addy with the donkey at the live nativity set we visited |
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| The kiddos in their festive Christmas outfits |
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| With their gifts from Santa |
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| Holiday Ideal: Big sister reading a Christmas story while little brother listens intently. Reality: Little brother promptly rips a page out of the book the second after this photo was taken. |
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