Whelmed

"I know you can be overwhelmed.  And you can be underwhelmed.  But can you ever just be whelmed?"

Ten points to you if you happen to know the correct answer (and the end of this movie quote) is "I think you can in Europe." Bonus points to anyone besides my sisters who can name the movie it came from. :)

So.  How's your Christmas prep coming?  Per usual, I was crazy excited for the holiday season to start.  I had lists, ideas, and activities all planned out.  I made Kent print me out a December calendar to keep track of my fun-bullying plans.  I have little printouts in our Advent calendar- some days a gift or something fun for the kids; other days a fun activity of how we can serve others.  I have Kent has scheduled the DVR to record any and all Christmas movies you can imagine. I have written a daily plan for what our Elf on the Shelf  will be doing each day. You guys I even made a Christmas binder to organize it all.  I know. 

And today I find myself trying to do so very many things and that perhaps by doing so many things, I'm not doing any of them well.  Decorations are up, but not exactly what I had envisioned.  Some gifts are bought but I'm getting annoyed at "out of stock" messages and all the running around from store to store. Plus there's the guilt of overspending.  And the holiday baking I usually do just sounds like unnecessary extra calories this year.  And this weather feels more like Spring Break than Winter Break and I just can't get as into the holiday spirit as I want.  I'm so whelmed.

I tried.  I made Grinch Punch as the kids and I settled in for a movie night last night.  Turns out the punch didn't taste that great and the movie scared the heck out of Kylee. Total bust.

What I really want is for the kids to enjoy it all.  I want the season to be as magical as possible. I also want them to experience the joy of giving.  The fun of doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. I want to spend time with family, friends and neighbors.  I want  be available when friends need me.  I want to relax which is soooo hard for me to do.

Last night I pulled out some coffee filters and asked the big kids to help me make some good old fashioned paper snowflakes to decorate the house.  We sat around chatting, perfecting snowflake designs for like half an hour- way longer than I anticipated on snowflakes keeping their interest. Then, out of nowhere, an easy, happy smile came across Kael's face.  "This is so much fun, Mom.  Thanks for doing this with us." 

It's always the little things, isn't it?