But wouldn't it be funny if someone exposed the raw cuts...you know, the ones where the toddler is arching his back trying to get away from your grip, the newborn is puking, the dad's eyes are closed, and the mom is yelling at everyone to just smile darn it! (yes, I just described my own family photo shoot from earlier this month!) Anyway, it just got me thinking about what the holidays are really like for most American families....and it ain't the image of the gorgeous family in their holiday best, sitting in front of a beautiful Christmas tree. It would look a little more like my family - chaotic, stressed and tired! Wouldn't it take the pressure off all of us if we all just kept it real? So let me be the first to keep it real and share what the 2011 holiday season has really been like so far for the David Clan, despite the glowing way in which I describe it in my last post....
As much as I try to get into the holiday spirit, it just hasn't hit me yet. Maybe it's because I am caring for a newborn and a toddler and want to pull my hair out on a daily basis. Or maybe it's because every time I try to listen to my Christmas music Jack makes me put on the CARS soundtrack. If I have to hear "Life is a Highway" one more time I am going to jump off a bridge. Jack couldn't have cared less about the Santa we saw on our visit to the North Pole as much as we tried to hype it up. But I don't blame him, he was pretty lame. He had this crooked mustache and a fake Scottish accent. Hey buddy, last time I checked Santa wasn't from the UK. We completely forgot to buy the professional picture with Santa so we had to frame a snapshot that our friend took. So I feel like Gavin got jipped out of his first visit with Santa. Whatever, he'll never remember it.
Shopping has consisted of making several harried runs to Target and Toys R US and ordering gifts online. We've avoided the malls as much as possible - how Ba humbug are we?! The day that we went to the Mom's Club holiday party for Jack I was running an hour late so he missed pretty much all of the festivities. He had to decorate his cookie with all the left-over frosting and sprinkles that 20 toddlers before him had their dirty little hands in. Yes, I am the mom of the year!! I have yet to bake Christmas cookies and never got around to sending out Christmas cards. Ok, let's be honest, I never send them out. But I really wanted to this year! Jack hasn't watched a single Christmas classic on TV - unless the Phineas and Ferb Christmas special counts. We missed a trip to Disneyland because it poured rain all day. Of course the one day it rains in SoCal is the day we want to go!
And the day we got our Christmas tree and decorated the house was actually one big disaster after another. We got hosed at the tree lot and paid $120 for our tree - only in Irvine! When we got home and tried to put the tree in the base, we realized the base was broken. Christian and Jack had to go the three different places to find a new one. Then Christian tried to string the lights but they wouldn't work. So he had to go out and buy new ones. They still don't work! In the midst of all this Jack threw a tantrum so bad that he puked something pink all over our new cream rug. While I was trying to clean him up I burned the hot cocoa. Gavin cried pretty much all day so decorating the house took forever. Christian and I stayed up til midnight trying to get it all done and ended up getting into a fight - I can't even remember what it was about. So we never even finishe the tree. This was so not the Norman Rockwell day that I had envisioned.
So just when you start to feel like you are the only stressed out crazy person around the holidays and that everyone else in America has it all together, just think of me and my insanity and of my pathetic little Christmas tree that 2 weeks later is still sitting bare in the middle of the room. And remember that behind all those beautiful holiday picture cards is the real story. Happy Holidays!
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