The Happiest Of Holidays To You and Yours….

“MIKE,” I said urgently into the phone, “Can you come home RIGHT NOW?”

“What? Babe? Yes!  What happened?  Is everything OK?  Are you OK?  I’m coming home now…”

[sounds of feet shuffling, a bump]

Oh.  Riiiight.  When you are married to a breast cancer survivor, the drama ramps up quick.

“Ummm…” I began, sheepishly.  “There’s only ONE tree left at the corner market and it’s too big for me to haul and WE DON’T HAVE A TREE YET, MIKE” (I am gathering steam now) “and it’s almost Christmas and nothing is baked and the kids want to decorate something and WE DON’T HAVE A TREE!!”

There is a long pause.  I hear some deep cleansing breaths through the phone.  “Babe” he starts.  “Baby.  Work is nuts right now.  I can’t just up and leave…” his voice trails off.

Stony silence on my end.

Mike heaves a great sigh.  “Ok” he says.  “Let me see what I can do.”

In the end, he left work roughly 43 minutes early on a Friday (#whoscounting) and showed up on our doorstep, tree in hand.   SWOON.  My hero.

I don’t often pull the Pouty-Pouty-Princess Routine, but the situation was dire.  (Not, mind you, cancer dire, just holiday-stress dire.  I was, to quote a dear friend, “appropriately upset”.)

So Mike came home and we decorated a tree (by “we” I mean “the boys” and by “decorated” I mean “threw on stuff”).  The tree looks EXACTLY as one would imagine a tree might when decorated by two boys under the age of 9.  I’ll post a pic on IG – it’s hysterical.  (And bottom heavy.)

And then my mother, who is always attune to me in some weird way, mailed a Box of Happiness:  three types of homemade Christmas cookies, Chex-mix (she has the best recipe), candy from Donkers, and….the piece de resistance: Nanaimo bars (for you Canadians out there).  So of course I sobbed.  Had myself a good cry, surrounded by wrappers and cookies, and a few broken ornaments.  And then I read the seriously wise comments on last weekend’s post and cried a little more.

The holiday season can be hard on so many levels.  For me, it represents another year come and gone.  I see my two little guys changing before my eyes, I see my parents showing their age, I see Mike and I evolving (slooowly) into real adults and carrying the proverbial torch that my dad once wielded with so much energy and strength….and it’s almost as if I can feel the earth spinning.  As if the passing of time is a physical thing, slipping through my fingers.

If only I could grab it and hold on.

So instead I grab my boys.  My lights.  I squish what’s left of Pax’s chunky thighs, and kiss their freckled noses.  I wrap my arms around Raines’ lanky frame, realizing that his shoulders are getting broader and that sometimes, he wraps his arms around me.

I have no answers at the moment.  No theories or new understandings or meaningful insights.  So I read and re-read the wise comments on last week’s weekend post from mums more experienced than I:

My only wisdom to share this holiday season, and it’s so applicable: PRESENT, NOT PERFECT. The best gift we can give to out families is not a stressed-out mama but a calm, happy one. She might not have homemade cookies to feed her kidlets and a perfectly decorated house, but she’s pleasant and loving and knows what her priorities are.   -Laura

For us, we have focused on the relationships. The world will always be there to push and pressure and remind our children that to be successful they (and you) need to be doing more, having more, experiencing more. But the thing the world isn’t so good at is helping our children learn how to have good relationships. What matters isn’t the gifts or the parties or the decorations but what you taught them along the way.  -Renae

I think you have to be more intentional about things as they get older, and really make decisions about what’s most important to your family. I ask my kids what their most important Christmas traditions are so I can make sure we get to them. -riseuppup

We moms have an endless ability to acclimate & adapt! What seems crazy-busy at first just becomes the new normal of parenting that age/stage of children–& we handle it. Just like we always do.  -Shan

The final thing for a perfect Christmas is love. Really the kids just remember that you were together and you did stuff and laughed. -MJ

It’s like that Walt Whitman quote I love so much:  “We were together.  I forget the rest.”

This.  This will be my mantra for 2017.

Mike and I have managed to pull off a small Christmas miracle (assuming we don’t screw it up in the next 24 hours):  in lieu of gifts, we’re taking the boys to Colorado.  We leave the day after Christmas.

And the best part?  It’s a SURPRISE.

I realize this might be the last year I can blog about surprises like this, but gang:  I’m so freaking excited I had to tell SOMEONE.  Over drinks a few weeks ago, Mike and I came up with a Percy Jackson inspired prophecy that the boys will open up on Christmas morning.  From there, they’ll have to decipher and search for a set of clues that will help them understand the prophecy.  We’re using those Russian nesting dolls as the “oracle”.

Want to hear the prophecy?  [clears throat]

Two mountain born must answer the call

In the early morning hours, the world will fall

Away from the ground to the city in the sky

Where through the pow you carve…or cry.

OMG SO FUN, RIGHT???  I’m seriously over-the-moon.  And thank goodness for Pinterest – there’s a ton of fun scavenger hunt ideas for kids.

So that’s what’s happening over here!  I’ll probably be posting mostly to Instagram over the next week or so (find me @shanachristine), but the rest of the TME team has a few more posts planned for the remainder of 2016.  Cam has one more styling fail to share with you (but the fix is perfect for NYE), we’re already keeping an eye on post-holiday sales (which have started, geez), and I have a few NYE outfit ideas involving….turtlenecks. Because unlike our quickly-growing children, some things are constant.

The last weekly newsletter of the year will be coming out tomorrow…and with it, what the TME team is *planning* (hoping?) to read over the holiday break.  You can subscribe to our newsletter here.

Readers, we feel so very lucky that you have taken time out of your busy schedules this past year to read this blog, to comment, to share, and to make this little corner of the internet an inspiring, hopeful place.  On behalf of the entire TME team, we wish you a holiday filled with peace, laughter and love.  May you and yours be all together…and forget the rest.

All our love,

TME