Christmas family cheesiness

Christmas really is a lot more fun with kids around. The previous Christmases with Daniel have involved the fun of watching him rip open gifts and things of that nature. But with all the conversations about Santa, baby Jesus, along with his cries of "Wow! Look at those lights!" everytime he sees Christmas lights, I'm starting to realize just how much fun is in store for us during the coming years. So, here are some pics and favorite Christmas sayings from this year:

Overheard this Christmas:

me: "Do you want to sit on Santa's lap?:
Daniel: "No, I want to sit on the Snowman's lap. Little boys sit on the Snowman's lap, only little girls sit on Santa's lap"

As we entered the trail of lights, we encountered a display based on the book "Where the Wild Things Are" Immediately Daniel pointed at Max, the main character, and said "Look, its baby Jesus!"

Taking a walk in the neighborhood, looking at lights. Daniel is naming off people who're going to be there at Christmas. After naming off Santa, reindeer, snowman,
me: "Baby Jesus will be there too. Its his birthday, you know."
Daniel: "NO! Its not Baby Jesus' birthday, he's NOT going to be there!!!"
me: "Yeah, he is. Really, its his birthday. Don't you like Baby Jesus?"
Daniel: "NO! I DON'T like Baby Jesus!!!"
Let's just hope that conversation doesn't go down in his permanent record.....

Its good to have friends...

So, I've been feeling like I'm about to lose my sanity lately. And that's why I was extra thankful for days like today, when I got the brood out of the house and went to hang out at Julie's house. Even if I don't tell friends that my nerves are frayed and I'm on my late ounce of patience, even if we never get the chance to spell it all out to each other, just being around other people is so great. It really gives me strength to go on. Like today.... I had no food in the house, no milk, no coffee even! I know, horror of horrors. I got a late start, and even though I hung around after other folks left, Julie was kind enough to let us stay to lunch. That helped me out more than she knew. I was saved from going to the grocery store with 2 cranky little ones in the middle of their usual lunch time. I am so thankful for the generosity of friends, and from having friends who are down in the trenches of raising kids, so even though its not easy for any of us, we're all in it together. I wish I could return the favor of generosity more often. I'm generous in spirit, really I am. One of these days I swear I'm going to get it together and become one of those people who always has something fresh baked and yummy to share. I'm just thankful to have enough people who share what they have with me and know that when they are in need I'll be there for them.

I have a lot to say these days. But, you'd never know it from my blog updates. I just never have the chance to write it down. Or I get too overwhelmed by too many things to say, too many directions that I could take any given entry. So, I'm just going to write. Today, I feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of raising my children. I am completely disappointed in myself and my lack of patience, kindness, and caring towards my toddler. And embarrased at the realization that many times I'm way too hard on Daniel. I think I expect too much of him sometimes. I found myself saying to him this morning, as I was trying to hustle him out of the house to Mother's Day Out "Come on, I know you can concentrate better than this because you're ...." and then I thought, how should that sentence end? "Because you're two?" Yeah, cause we all know two year olds are known for their ability to concentrate on complex tasks. Sometimes I feel so bad that I can't devote more time to him and just him. And other times I feel so guilty for not oohing and aahing over every little thing that Georgia does. Sometimes I feel like they get so little of me, that neither one of them really get what they need. Which ushers in the mother guilt of having my kids so close together. I guess this is where the casual observer might say "I told you so" and where all heads will start to wag at the fact that we broke the sacred rule of 2.5-3 year child spacing. Yeah , yeah, I know. I thought it might be slightly easier by now, but the truth is, it never gets easier. It just gets different. The difficulties rearrange themselves, but the level of constant work, of feeling like my head is barely above water, its, well, constant. Ah, I had so much to say. But the non-napping 2 yr old has started throwing cars in his room which has woken up the very miserable 10 month old. And the fun begins again.