I’m sure I’m not the only mom that has been laying awake at night A Beautiful Mind-ing all their Christmas plans;
The last one up to turn off the lights, and feed the cats, and wash the dishes in the sink,
not the only one going to bed exhausted, but still completely unable to sleep.
My mom tried telling me to relax.
She said it was OK, and that it would “all happen like it always does.”
(She said this to my zoned out face, probably imagining slapping my cheeks)She said, “It all ends up so beautiful every year.”
I reminded her it all ends up that way because of me: The hag on her left, lurching around retail stores like a zombie until late at night.
Those Santa-faced pancakes don’t just appear on a plate!
The house decor? The stocking stuffers? The activities? That would all be me.
This year things feel extra frantic.
Maybe it’s the shorter time between Thanksgiving and Christmas than usual, but I’ve been finding myself at a break-neck pace, wondering why my stomach hurts, and I’m trembling so much, only to realize you can’t really exist strictly on an iron pill and 3 coffees all day.
“Pulling it all together”
That seems to always be the Mom Christmas theme.
On Christmas day everyone lounges about fluffed, primped, and fed,
and I inevitably stand back in some doorway looking like roadkill with sprinkles,
screwing in some battery pack, and smiling weakly at the deadline I somehow made.
Legend has it that The Twelve Days of Christmas actually has nothing to do with the gifts of a lover, actually, but instead originated from the amount of time, in total, a mother feels like she has to pull off two back-to-back holidays.
No, there are not ACTUALLY only 12 days, but what is one full day to an average person,
for a mother, passes at three times the speed.
(Think of it like reverse Dog Years)
“God Bless us every one” is a good sentiment,
but God should bless the mothers a little extra at Christmas time, if you ask me.
So, there I was last night “pulling it all together” once again,
rifling through my pantry, trying to see what I could come up with for dinner without having to go to the store again, because the Good Lord knows that if I have to think about things like Overnight Pumpkin French Toast casserole for Christmas breakfast, I need a few nights of simple freebies.
I unearthed three cans of turkey chili, a can of corn, and a tumbleweed.
“Perfect! Corn-bulked turkey chili it is!” I thought, victoriously.
I contemplated how much I wished for the miracle that would be actually finding a box of cornbread mix to go with it, so the menu would feel like more of a thing.
Somehow I knew “Canned turkey chili” and “Turkey chili with cornbread” would be two completely different dinners to my family.
I imagined their faces while telling them each, and I knew the cornbread would be it:
The pivotal thing,
And what do you know? I found cornbread mix!
(It was a purposeful act to avoid looking at the expiration date)
Next, I started pulling from my refrigerator all of the complimentary things.
I pulled shredded cheese, green onions, salad supplies, and sour cream, until what was before me started to look like the makings of a true feast.
I had pictured Mickey’s Christmas at first, with us splitting one solitary bean,
but this was truly something to behold!
“Someone call Gordon Ramsey for me! Am I right?” I said to myself, nodding and pleased.
Instead of griping, the family shocked and amazed, when not only did they say chili sounded delicious, but my mom, oldest daughter, and granddaughter heard about it and decided to stay.
How four cans, a small salad, and an 8×8 pan of cornbread fed 8 people I will never know, but
it was like The Loaves and the Fishes.
There were even leftovers, and my husband’s work lunch was made.
Everyone was home. Anyone who has teenagers knows this, in itself, is a miraculous thing.
We lounged around with the pets.
The dogs looked like they were smiling as they cleaned up the baby’s highchair mess.
It was chaos. It was loud. Not one part of it was Pinterested or planned,
but I was so incredibly content just looking around.
A perfect feeling night that was born out of four random little cans.
I looked around at my family with fresh, renewed eyes,
because I saw in it a Christmas as good as any I had ever labored over last night.
The house was warm.
We were present, and laughing a lot.
We got the baby down from her high chair and she just took off down the hall wobbling like a drunkard, and she squealed to be chased and caught;
And in that tiny moment, hovering overhead,
I realized that maybe I CAN relax a bit, after all.
Maybe Christmas happens no matter what.
Maybe it isn’t the frantic pace, or the to-dos, or the midnight lists of a thousand things.
Maybe it’s much more simple than I have made it out to be.
It isn’t about perfection.
It doesn’t all come from me,
And sometimes the spirit of it can even come from a dusty can of corn,
and three cans of chili beans.
Mom Outnumbered
Hi! My name is Kerri Green; Wife to Justin, and mother to four highly entertaining daughters -Alena, Chloe, Tessa, and Paige. I am an artist, a writer, a daycare provider, a lover of people, a believer that there is humor and beauty in all things, and the author of Mom Outnumbered; a blog about real family life, and my observations of it. My goal is to make people laugh, to be there for them when they cry, and most importantly, to let them know that they are not at all alone in this up and down world. I live with my family in Sebastopol California, and I am opening the window into our life. So welcome! Come in. Sit down. Just please don’t mind the mysterious wet spots.
