Friday, March 2, 2012

Happy New Year

Christmas came and went like a tsunami this year! So much joy, so much fun.  Myself and the terrible trio, who is becoming true to the word "terrible" every day that goes by,  have endured all traditions!

Once again I let myself indulge in all the painful inventions our capitatilstic society has so succesfully inflicted on mothers:
1) our very own ginger bread house (made from scratch),
2) Christmas cookies, and
3) a night at the theater to see the Nutcraker.

Oh repeat that sounding joy!


1) our very own ginger bread house (made from scratch), 
2) Christmas cookies, and 
3) a night at the theater to see the Nutcracker


 Every year we enter Christmas full of joy and come out of it full of stress, as we quickly come to the vivid realization that there is very little magic and joy accompanying some of these traditional Christmas activities. Yet we do it over and over again!

In the middle of making our gingerbread house, stress levels reached a record high. The children started to cry at the sight of the house slowly collapsing. The royal icing was not so royal after all and way too thin and drippy to keep the pieces together.  While trying to keep the house from falling apart with all my fingers strategically positioned, I also had to fight my 5 year old urge and compulsion of licking off the drips of icing using any available body part I had left...consequently more melt downs and temper tantrums.
The straw that broke the camel's back (or the house in this case) was when my 9 year old and, most capable and trusted helper in this endevour, dropped the entire side of the house on the kitchen floor...suddenly a tired and flustered mummy turned into the wicked witch from Hansel and Gretel.

My only choice was to turn to a Martha Stewart recipe book or to the Witch's guide to cooking (with) children! (No need to tell you which one was my preference).

In the end Daddy saved the day with a special trip to the supermarket!

Shaken by frustration and anger and with my nose glowing, not due to the Christmas spirit, I recomposed myself quickly and decided to access a more positive and dignified state of mind....

So my 9 year old and I pondered a better solution by turning our sideless gingerbread house into an open plan construction!

The Boston performance of the Nutcraker was a much more positive experience, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was indeed my yearly punishment for 3 out of the 4 boys in my life.
They loved it at first!  Fritz and Clara and the fight scenes kept them very alert, but then the Enchanted Land of Snow and Land of Sweets slowly but surely lost their interest. My 5 year old passed out, my husband slowly retreated in his sit and my nine year old summed up the whole evening quietly whispering in my ear  "So many dances...sigh"
I just could not help laughing, his comment was so timely and so hilarious, his expression so serious yet so comedic at the same time.... tears streaming down my cheeks ...I could not contain myself ...that made my evening!