Feeling Down As a Parent? Declare 2nd Christmas!
It was 2016 and I was in the kitchen with my little boys decorating Easter sugar cookies. They were plastering them with copious amounts of pastel coloured icing and licking EVERYTHING. It was a picture perfect moment, except for one thing. Right behind those adorable, icing covered chubby cheeks was a big picture window, and outside that window, was a massive blizzard. Happy Easter!
This was my first spring since moving back to Calgary. Well, I guess you could say it was actually my 3rd winter, because everyone who lives here knows that from March to May we have 1st spring, then 2nd winter, then 2nd spring, and sometimes 3rd winter, to our final 3rd spring. Ridiculous? It really can be.
However, that year, after Easter and after that blizzard blew through, we got a surprise… 4th winter.
When seeing the forecast I wasn’t just shattered, I was Shatnered. Yes, like William Shatner, which is 1000 times worse than just plain old shattered. I was so tired of it taking 30 minutes of wrestling snowsuits and boots onto little kiddos every time we left the house. It was supposed to be spring in May! Then I had an aha moment. If this was December 23rd and they were calling for snow I would be thrilled! Like, over the moon excited for a white Christmas. So… let's do Christmas again!
I immediately sent a message to all our family in the city, inviting them to 2nd Christmas. Instantly, what was once dread for the impending May snow storm, turned to excited planning!
A few days later, with a fresh blanket of snow outside, both my husband’s and my family gathered in our little home. It was SO fun! The kids had helped decorate again and I had wrapped some little gifts from the dollar store to put under the tree. Christmas music rang through the house while we ate our potluck Christmas dinner and partied the evening away. It was decided that night that any year the forecast calls for snow in the first week of May, we will declare 2nd Christmas!
As a parent, unmet expectations happen many times a day. From dressing, feeding, napping and everything between, it never goes as planned. So every now and then, toss out the expectations and declare a holiday. It doesn't always have to be something big like Christmas. I've been known to run out and get a boxed cake mix and balloons to celebrate it being Wednesday! But when the kids hear that we're having a party, all of a sudden the tantrums slow down and it flips the negative mood of everyone in the house to excitement. It's just enough to get us happily to bedtime.
This was my first spring since moving back to Calgary. Well, I guess you could say it was actually my 3rd winter, because everyone who lives here knows that from March to May we have 1st spring, then 2nd winter, then 2nd spring, and sometimes 3rd winter, to our final 3rd spring. Ridiculous? It really can be.
However, that year, after Easter and after that blizzard blew through, we got a surprise… 4th winter.
When seeing the forecast I wasn’t just shattered, I was Shatnered. Yes, like William Shatner, which is 1000 times worse than just plain old shattered. I was so tired of it taking 30 minutes of wrestling snowsuits and boots onto little kiddos every time we left the house. It was supposed to be spring in May! Then I had an aha moment. If this was December 23rd and they were calling for snow I would be thrilled! Like, over the moon excited for a white Christmas. So… let's do Christmas again!
I immediately sent a message to all our family in the city, inviting them to 2nd Christmas. Instantly, what was once dread for the impending May snow storm, turned to excited planning!
A few days later, with a fresh blanket of snow outside, both my husband’s and my family gathered in our little home. It was SO fun! The kids had helped decorate again and I had wrapped some little gifts from the dollar store to put under the tree. Christmas music rang through the house while we ate our potluck Christmas dinner and partied the evening away. It was decided that night that any year the forecast calls for snow in the first week of May, we will declare 2nd Christmas!
As a parent, unmet expectations happen many times a day. From dressing, feeding, napping and everything between, it never goes as planned. So every now and then, toss out the expectations and declare a holiday. It doesn't always have to be something big like Christmas. I've been known to run out and get a boxed cake mix and balloons to celebrate it being Wednesday! But when the kids hear that we're having a party, all of a sudden the tantrums slow down and it flips the negative mood of everyone in the house to excitement. It's just enough to get us happily to bedtime.